A junior doctor says he has been overwhelmed with donations after running a marathon on his way home from his hospital shift to raise money for vital personal protection equipment (PPE).
Dr Kieran Togher, 25, who works at the Luton and Dunstable hospital, ran to his home in Enfield after work on Wednesday, an exact distance of 26.3 miles (42km), to raise money for Covid Crisis Rescue UK .
Togher gave himself just three weeks to prepare for the feat, and has never run more than 10km competitively before.
After completing his challenge he said he was grateful for the support, “not only [from] my nearest and dearest but also people who have no idea who I am”.
Explaining his motivation ahead of his run, he said: “Unfortunately, due to years of neglect, we have been caught short in our supplies of PPE by the coronavirus pandemic. Even senior consultants have been driven to using makeshift PPE for protection, or worse, have had nothing at all.
“We have already lost several healthcare professionals across the country, including Mary Agyeiwaa Agyapong, a young nurse at Luton & Dunstable hospital where I work, who has left behind a husband and newborn child.
“But PPE doesn’t only protect us, it protects you too.”
So far his appeal has raised almost £3,000, three times his target, for Covid Crisis Rescue UK, a small group run by two doctors raising money to buy PPE for frontline healthcare staff. He said they were “undertaking an inspiring operation to get PPE to where it’s needed, bypassing the bureaucracy and red tape that has been hampering efforts across the country”.
“This is not just to hospitals, but to overlooked healthcare centres, including domestic abuse shelters, care homes, hospices and ambulance services.”
Helping Big Issue vendors
Celebrities including actors Ray Winstone and Hugh Jackman, and writer-director Armando Iannucci, are among the stars who have offered prizes in a Big Issue raffle to help support its vendors during the coronavirus pandemic.
The magazine, which offers homeless and vulnerably-housed people in the UK a way to earn income, has seen crucial sales hit since lockdown.
The editor, Paul McNamee, said: “Since the end of March we’ve been going all-out to completely change, and save, the Big Issue during the Covid-19 crisis.
“We’ve come so far, with the generous support of the public. But the battle is not over, nor is it won. We have one more big idea.”
The Big Raffle prize draw opened on Thursday. Winstone has offered to record a personalised video message in the style of his favourite characters. Jackman will send a personal message to a winner. Iannacci is giving four people the chance to take part in an hour-long conversation with him in a topic of their choosing.
TV presenter Lorraine Kelly is offering a winner the chance to go backstage at her ITV programme, as well as going for breakfast with her afterwards.
Emotional reunion
A video of an NHS healthcare worker’s emotional reunion with her young daughters after nine weeks apart due to the pandemic has gone viral on social media.
Suzie Vaughan, 43, from King’s Lynn, Norfolk, who works as an operating department practitioner in the intensive care unit at the Queen Elizabeth hospital in the town, had spent more than two months separated from Bella, 9, and Hettie, 7, who are staying with her sister.
The heartwarming video showed her creeping up behind them as they watched TV, unaware she was there. There were tears of joy as they finally hugged.
Vaughan said initially she had thought they would only be apart for a maximum of one month, “but nobody knew at the beginning of this how it was going to go.
“It was amazing to see them again. I missed the girls terribly. When they started crying I felt so bad but so relieved I was back with them.”
