TOO500 Charity Bike Ride: Improving outcomes for children & young people through innovation

Posted on: 20/02/2019

On Wednesday 12th June 2019 the TOO500 charity bike ride will be taking place to raise money towards investing in UK paediatric healthcare innovation.

TOO500 is a 500-mile bike ride departing from Oxford Children’s Hospital and visiting five of the UK’s top children’s hospitals over the course of five days. The challenge, which aims to raise over £500,000, commences on Wednesday 12th June 12th, with the purpose of raising awareness of the need to invest in UK paediatric healthcare and innovative projects that will improve child health. The other five hospitals include Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, Sheffield Children’s Hospital, and Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Thinking of Oscar (TOO) was created in memory of Oscar Cole, who sadly died suddenly and unexpectedly on Thursday 19th June 2014 aged just 16 months, after being diagnosed with Osteomyelitis, an infection in the bone. It is thought that while in hospital he had contracted Rotavirus, which in rare cases manifests itself in Encephalitis, a dangerous inflammation of the brain which quickly proved fatal. TOO was launched as a registered charity to increase awareness of the necessity of investment in UK paediatric healthcare to improve the outcomes for children and their families. Child health currently lacks funding and focus on a global scale – the purpose of TOO500 is not just to raise funds to invest in innovative projects, but also to act as a catalyst for change.

To date, Thinking of Oscar has raised over £200,000, with the aim of surpassing £500,000 on completion of the bike ride, which marks the fifth anniversary of the charity and of Oscar’s death. Funds raised from the bike ride will enable a number of children’s hospitals across the UK to embark on innovative projects focussed on improving child health and wellbeing. Each hospital will be spending their share of funds raised, according to their strategic priorities, on either people or projects which have a common theme of leveraging innovation in order to improve outcomes in child health. For instance, Great Ormond Street hospital will be using the funds to run a data challenge which sits within their Digital Research and Health Informatics Programme.

To find out more about TOO500 please click here.

You can donate here.

To find out more about the charity please click here.

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