Boston woman in bid to raise cash for Nottingham Hospital Burns Unit
A BOSTON woman is taking part in a series of events to raise money for a hospital that changed her brother’s life.
Laura Nicholson, 30, who works at Workforce Unlimited in the town, will be running the Milton Keynes Half Marathon on March 10, cycling from Lincoln to Boston on March 23 and running the Virgin London Marathon on April 21 for the Nottingham Hospital Burns Unit.
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GRATEFUL: Joshua Battram and Laura Nicholson
Mrs Nicholson decided to take up the challenge to give something back to the hospital that saved her brother’s foot after it was ‘de-gloved’ during a boating accident in America.
She said: “On August 31, 2009 my youngest brother Joshua Battram, at the time aged 14, was in Ogdensburg on the St Lawrence when he had the accident.
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“At the time he was about 250 miles from the Syracuse University Hospital, New York. He was taken first by ambulance then by helicopter to the hospital while his parents had to go back and arrange a hire car to drive eight hours to get to him.
“In this time the hospital was already operating to save his foot. The hospital had to call and get permission to do so as they couldn’t wait for them to get there to sign the consent forms.
“Over the course of the week there he had two operations to clean the foot and pin the heal and also to make sure the wound was clean. By then it was time for him to fly back to the UK having had a vac-pac machine attached to his foot to keep the wound clean on the flight to Heathrow and transfer back to Queen’s Medical children’s ward in Nottingham.
“Mr Chel, the surgeon, came to look at the wound and operated the next day with Mr Geary who took the pin out and put a screw in and then transferred Joshua to the burns unit.”
Mr Geary operated to take muscle from Joshua’s back and skin from his leg to re-construct his foot and ankle. Another couple of minor operations to help encourage the skin growth have also taken place since.
Mrs Nicholson added: “It has taken a lot of hard work and determination from Joshua, our family, friends and all the medical staff at all the hospitals over the last three years and now I am pleased to say it has finally healed.
“From hearing that the worst case scenario was for Joshua to lose his foot he now enjoys playing sports and can continue to lead a normal life, although having time out from sports and some encouragement from me Joshua has learnt to play the guitar and now is part of the local band ‘Lost in Orbit’ who regularly play the Boston pub circuit.
“I decided to do all of this to say thank you to everyone who has helped with this and to show mine and our families appreciation of all of their help.”
These races are the first Ms Nicholson will have taken part in.
Mrs Nicholson has also organised a charity gala evening in Boston with her friend Keelie starring Lost in Orbit and special guests on March 23 from 7.30pm at Boston United’s Pilgrim Lounge.
Anyone who would like to sponsor Ms Nicholson can do so by logging on to www.justgiving.com/lauranicholson or popping in to Workforce Unlimited.
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