I was hoping you could close your eyes and imagine this.
It’s 3 am. You’re tired. It’s cold and quiet outside — the glow and hum of your local Hospital Emergency Department (ED) cutting through the darkness. You’ve lost count of the number of times you’ve walked through those glass doors, presenting with the same debilitating symptoms. You know your healthcare team are doing everything they can to get you better with the tools they have. But you can’t stop feeling helpless and frustrated that there is no answer as to why. Your doctor has an idea that a simple pinprick test could diagnose the cause of your pain. But you feel disappointed when learning that the research to develop that test does not exist; its funding deemed non-essential.
As the CEO of the Foundation for the past three years, doctors and researchers at Royal North Shore Hospital, Ryde Hospital, Hornsby Kur-ring-gai Hospital and the Kolling Institute are asking me for help every day. And, I am now asking you for help because you and I share something in common – we believe in our hospitals, we believe in our healthcare workers, and we believe in excellent patient care.
The patient I mentioned above isn’t you, but she is an actual patient.
I’m pleased to say, thanks to her healthcare team, she was finally able to learn that her symptoms resulted from a reaction to pre-prescribed medication. However, if we had the funding to progress her doctor’s idea, the resulting diagnostic test would have saved her months of experiencing painful, itchy skin rashes and chronic fatigue. Months she cannot get back.
Why is that okay? She believed that it is not okay.
Grateful for her care and motivated to change this experience for others, she donated to the NORTH Foundation to progress the research needed for this test to be created and become accessible.
I am fortunate in my job to see the difference donations like hers make every day.
Thank you for your support.
Gilbert Lorquet
CEO, NORTH Foundation
