“We are taking on this huge challenge for a little-known charity called Action Medical Research. Action was founded in 1952 by Duncan Guthrie in his quest to find a cure for polio, and for his daughter Janet. Early research funded by the charity helped to develop the first oral polio vaccine which eradicated new cases of the disease in the UK. Later, Action helped to develop the use of ultrasound in pregnancy and the rubella vaccine – helping to save thousands of children’s lives and change many more. Action have continued to fund vital research projects and have made some remarkable discoveries which have prolonged the lives of poorly children the world over, more recently the cooling cap for new-born babies, research into childhood cancers, meningitis research for kids and the list goes on.

As a team, assisted by some key sponsors, we are supporting Action Medical Research’s “Born Too Soon” campaign, supporting research into premature birth and its ongoing effects. Every year in the UK alone, over 61,000 babies are born prematurely with many suffering illness and disabilities which can remain with them throughout their lives. Globally, premature birth is the biggest killer of children under five years old.

Our team’s name is Elijah’s Star and is named after baby Elijah who was born prematurely at 25 weeks weighing just 1lb 13oz. Elijah tragically died at just 37 days old. Before he died, his parents allowed Elijah to become part of a study (funded by Action) trying to find a way to identify conditions in premature babies before they become life-threatening. Jenny, Elijah’s mum, explained why they took part in the Action research “Elijah led a very traumatic little life so any change that could stop another child going through this would be amazing”. With permission from Elijah’s family, we are racing in his name and will aim to row across the Atlantic in just 37 days, for every day that Elijah lived. It will be quite a test for four 50 – something chaps, but we’ll put our backs into it and do the hard yards.”

Dean Frost
Clade Engineering