Thanks to you we can buy a PEA-POD!
Imagine: your whole future rests on your first moments of life
"You open your eyes. Light. Noise. Confusion. Everything's new and strange, but soft arms surround you, and you slowly fall asleep. You grow from that wriggling bundle into a jumping toddler. The doctors say that you weigh quite a bit.
You're larger than the other kids at nursery, and you get sick a lot. You don't like being teased, and it doesn't seem to matter what you eat.
Years later, you'll find you were predisposed to obesity and diabetes from the start because your mum, through no fault of her own, had developed temporary gestational diabetes when she was pregnant with you. The doctors had no way of knowing you'd be one of the unlucky ones."
For 1 in 6 babies, this isn't just a story ...
But thanks to you, we're tackling this at Warwick Medical School.
Thanks to donations to a recent urgent appeal, we're now able to test a theory that birth-weight and body fat composition could be the key to predicting the above conditions. We have 4,500 mums and babies who are ready to take part in a trial at local hospitals but we needed a piece of equipment called a PEA-POD to further the research.
The PEA-POD is the best way to accurately and safely get the measurements needed. It keeps a newborn baby safe and comfortable while it measures a huge range of variables.
With 89% of funding from Trusts and Foundations already secured for a PEA-POD, Dr Ponnusamy Saravanan appealed to donors earlier this month for help - we needed to raise another £10,000 by 17th July or we would lose all the funding.
Almost 100 donors generously helped us raise £10,000 by the deadline and we're enormously grateful!
I’m absolutely delighted with the response to this appeal - it’s wonderful to see such enthusiasm for Warwick’s medical research. Your gift will ultimately help us to reduce the incidence of childhood obesity, early onset diabetes and other conditions.
Thanks to you we will now have a precise, efficient and safe way of measuring newborns so we can try to predict which babies will develop these conditions and then take preventative action. We’ll also be able to use the PEA-POD in other clinical studies with infants too. Thank you again!
Dr Ponnusamy Saravanan (Associate Clinical Professor)
As Sara says, your gifts will ultimately help us to reduce the incidence of a range of conditions. You’re also helping to improve the nation’s health and reduce the long term burden on the NHS too.
Thank you again for your support of this appeal at Warwick. You will change lives.
"You open your eyes. Light. Noise. Confusion. But soft arms surround you, and after a quick weight check there are doctors who know exactly how to help you from that very first yawn and stretch. You'll never know it, but this makes all the difference in the world."
Would you like to make a donation to healthy baby research at Warwick?