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The Stephanie Marks Diabetes Appeal raised a record £5,750 as the official charity of this year's Communiqué awards for Healthcare Public Relations and Medical Education, hosted this year by Graham Norton at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London, on Tuesday 19th July 2005.
The audience of more than a thousand people from the pharmaceutical industry and its PR and medical education agencies supported the Appeal through a 'Dream Ticket' prize draw of two return plane tickets to anywhere in the world, generously donated by AdOration Events International.
The audience heard from Stephanie's father, Chris Marks, and from cricketing legend Ian Botham OBE, who are all supporting the £2.5m appeal for a dedicated resource centre and satellite clinics to improve diabetes care across north Surrey and south west London. Over £230,000 has already been raised by public support for the initiative towards the £500,000 public support target. A further £2m is now sought from corporate donors, research and development companies and the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries.
Stephanie's father, Chris Marks appealed to the audience to "make sure that this day is a day that will make a real difference - the day that changed the way diabetes is managed in the UK for the best, the day that defined that Steph's death was not in vain."
Ian Botham also spoke from the heart as a parent of a daughter with diabetes. He urged the audience to "be generous, help us fight this dreadful disease and make people aware of what diabetes is all about."
Chris Marks, went on to tell the audience how proud Stephanie - whose passion and vocation was to be a doctor - would be to know that a diabetes centre bearing her name was to be built. He also tried to express in words the effects of her sudden death on himself and his family: "The devastation, the injustice lives with me and will for the rest of my days. A beautiful and courageous girl, for whom diabetes was merely a stumbling block to be overcome in her pursuit of her dream of helping others, was snatched from us by the complications of diabetes."
Shortly after Stephanie died, Dr Mike Baxter, Consultant Diabetologist and Medical Director at Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals NHS Trust, approached the Marks family and asked if they could turn the tragedy of her death into something positive - a lasting memorial to Stephanie in her chosen profession. They suggested a new, inclusive model of care for diabetes that involved primary and secondary care, the patients, carers and families in one cohesive and integrated management system.
Diabetes is a growing problem in the UK and globally. Currently, about 1.8 million people in the UK are known to have diabetes - that's about three in every 100 people - and this figure is estimated to double if not treble by 2010.
Stephanie Jane Marks was born at St. Peter's Hospital in 1984 and died in June 2002. She was only 17. Stephanie had Type 1 diabetes for six years and sadly died as a result of complications. Friends and family describe her as vibrant, loving, caring and positive. Above all this, she epitomised optimism; to Stephanie, diabetes was merely a stumbling block that she would easily overcome in pursuit of her dream of becoming a doctor.
The Stephanie Marks Appeal was launched in June 2003 by Ashford & St Peter's Hospitals NHS Trust with the aim of raising awareness of diabetes and providing funding to create a specialist Resource Centre, together with a series of satellite clinics that will be established with the help of GPs who have a special interest in diabetes. The purpose is to provide first-class local accessibility to diabetes treatment, education and research, in a ground breaking 'hub and spoke' model of care, benefiting 450,000 people covering the area of north west Surrey and south west London.
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