GEM Appeal receives £1,000 donation towards equipment from Persimmon Homes

Karen Johnson accepts Special Recognition Pride of Britain Award from Gary Barlow and Howard Donald, Take That

The GEM Appeal has received £1,000 towards a vital piece of equipment for Manchester Children’s Hospital, after being named one of Persimmon Homes North West’s Community Champions.

The donation will go towards funding a £280,000 Tandem Mass Spectrometer, which analyses blood samples to detect genetic disorders – the quicker these are identified, the sooner treatments can begin, lessening symptoms and making for a better quality of life.

The GEM Appeal has currently raised £202,000 towards this life changing equipment.

The GEM Appeal raises money to fund research and find cures for genetic diseases, and was founded in 1993 by Rochdale’s Karen Johnson, whose sons Simon and Mikey were born with Hunter Syndrome. To date, the GEM Appeal has raised a staggering total of over £2.9 million.

Tragically, both boys lost their lives to the incurable disease at the age of 12, but their names live on in the Willink Unit laboratory at Manchester Children’s Hospital.

Last year Karen won a Pride of Britain Special Recognition Award which was presented to her by Take That.

Speaking about the donation, Karen said: “Since the Pride of Britain, it’s been phenomenal. It’s absolutely superb. For so many years we’ve raised a lot of money locally, in Rochdale, but now the word is spreading. People who I knew years ago have been getting into touch wanting to help. The support has been massive and has spread to people who didn’t know about the GEM Appeal.

“The first person to start enzyme replacement therapy is doing really well; he’s about 29 or 30 now and runs his own events management business. This was the first research we funded.”

Charity fundraiser and GEM Appeal trustee Wendy Mills, who applied for the funding, said: “Thank you so much Persimmon Homes, this is amazing- the donation will make such a difference.

“We are pulling out all the stops to make sure we get to our target quickly, and your donation will not only help us to do that, but also spur us on.”

Dave Hodgson, sales director for Persimmon Homes North West, said: “It is an absolute pleasure to be able to help with The GEM Appeal’s bid to buy this specialised piece of equipment for Manchester Children’s Hospital. We know that it will go a long way to helping children born with genetic disorders and their families.”

The Community Champions is a national programme where charities and groups can apply for funding up to the value of £1,000.

A total of £750,000 will be donated to charities nationwide by Persimmon Homes North West.