Mindful Mayhem is an organisation that provides mental health support and coaching sessions to children in the West Somerset area. Elliot's Touch has recently provided funding to expand the provision of its services to local schools by paying for additional sessions to help the growing number of children suffering with anxiety, OCD, loss and bereavement.

Mindful Mayhem is an organisation that provides mental health support and coaching sessions to children in the West Somerset area. Elliot's Touch has recently provided funding to expand the provision of its services to local schools by paying for additional sessions to help the growing number of children suffering with anxiety, OCD, loss and bereavement. 

Having worked at Old Cleeve in Washford for several years, Mindful Mayhem is also now providing its services to Knights Templar school in Watchet. The team are able to offer more sessions thanks to the money Elliot's Touch is donating.

"We always have a waiting list and I hate the task of selecting which children are the most in need, so to be given this extra lifeline of extra slots a week is such a gift!" Emma Murch, Headteacher Old Cleeve First School.

Elliot's Touch approached Musgrove Park Hospital to see if they needed any equipment, having previously donated some monitors for the children's ward. The Musgrove team were the first to care for Elliot when he showed signs of being seriously unwell, and Paul and Donna Stevens were keen to support the hospital in any way they could.

Elliot's Touch approached Musgrove Park Hospital to see if they needed any equipment, having previously donated some monitors for the children's ward. The Musgrove team were the first to care for Elliot when he showed signs of being seriously unwell, and Paul and Donna Stevens were keen to support the hospital in any way they could.

The bereavement team at the maternity department had asked for some new furniture, but on visiting the suite it became apparent that the facilities for bereaved parents required significant refurbishment in order to provide the best possible care for patients. The midwives discussed how they wanted to knock two rooms into one to create a self-contained bedroom, living room and bathroom to parents when dealing with the loss of a baby.

Elliot's Touch enlisted the help of local surveying and project management firm Morse Consultants to provide some existing and proposed plans for the facility. These plans will shortly be submitted to the hospital's estate team so that Elliot's Touch and the Bereavement Team can obtain permission and costings for the works to go ahead. Speaking about the project, Bereavement Lead Midwife and Maternity Clinical Leader Lucy Blackmore said:

“The changes proposed to the Rowan Suite will significantly improve the experience for families who are sadly using this space. This will allow them to meet their baby in a more private, nurturing and sensitive environment. It will provide a more comfortable space, dedicated for extended family and loved ones to also visit, providing a home from home in those precious days. Located away from the noise of labour ward and with improved facilities for families to stay comfortably for as long as they wish. 

We want to be able to support families in a calm, safe space aiding recovery.  We are so grateful to Elliots Touch for supporting and enabling us with this project and the huge impact this will have to many families in Somerset.”  

Dr Sanjay Prassad and his team of researchers at Royal Brompton Hospital have received funding from Elliot's Touch, as they look to find more efficient ways of identifying genetic heart disease and improving treatments and outcomes for patients.

Dr Sanjay Prassad and his team of researchers at Royal Brompton Hospital have received funding from Elliot's Touch, as they look to find more efficient ways of identifying genetic heart disease and improving treatments and outcomes for patients. 

Their work has already enabled them to identify hundreds of individual proteins in the blood which can allow doctors to tailor more specialist treatments to their patients. The findings from this research have been published in the American Journal of Cardiology, which has led to widespread data sharing with cardiology teams in Europe and the USA. 

"If we can pick up these conditions early, that's when we have our best opportunity to prevent rather than cure, and that is ultimately our goal," said Dr Prasad.

Elliot's Touch funds are helping Dr Richard Issit's research team at Great Ormond Street Hospital to help find more accurate ways of monitoring patients who are being kept alive by LVAD machines, which are used to pump blood around the body whilst patients wait for heart transplants. Dr Issit's team are looking at ways of identifying complications and intervening at an early stage in order to improve outcomes for these patients, who can become prone to strokes and infection whilst on the machines.

Elliot's Touch funds are helping Dr Richard Issit's research team at Great Ormond Street Hospital to help find more accurate ways of monitoring patients who are being kept alive by LVAD machines, which are used to pump blood around the body whilst patients wait for heart transplants. Dr Issit's team are looking at ways of identifying complications and intervening at an early stage in order to improve outcomes for these patients, who can become prone to strokes and infection whilst on the machines. 

Dr Issit's team are closely monitoring bloods in these patients and identifying changes in proteins so that doctors can adjust medication appropriately before the signs of serious illness are displayed.

"The funding from Elliot's Touch is vital in helping us to improve outcomes for patients on LVAD machines," said Richard. "They are the patients' only way of surviving, but can also cause very severe issues like strokes which we need to know before they happen."

Professor Shamim Rahman was one of the early recipients of Elliot's Touch funds shortly after Elliot passed away. She is an expert in paediatric metabolic diseases and founded the Mitochondrial Research Group at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health. She has been heading up a project entitled “Genetic metabolic diseases – Understanding of the Molecular Genetic Basis of Mitochondrial Diseases”.

Professor Shamim Rahman was one of the early recipients of Elliot's Touch funds shortly after Elliot passed away. She is an expert in paediatric metabolic diseases and founded the Mitochondrial Research Group at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health. She has been heading up a project entitled “Genetic metabolic diseases – Understanding of the Molecular Genetic Basis of Mitochondrial Diseases”. 

The principal aims of the research are to obtain a more complete understanding of the molecular genetic basis and natural history of mitochondrial diseases and aims to improve outcomes for children with mitochondrial and other metabolic diseases. By studying the mechanisms leading to disease in patients with mitochondrial or nuclear gene mutations that cause mitochondrial disfunction, Professor Rahman and her team can begin to develop more effective treatments whilst improving diagnosis and management until a cure is found.

"Our long term goal is to translate this genetic knowledge into curative treatments for mitochondrial disease," said Professor Rahman.

Elliot's Touch funded the purchase of several new monitors which were donated to the Musgrove Park Hospital Children's Ward.

Elliot's Touch funded the purchase of several new monitors which were donated to the Musgrove Park Hospital Children's Ward.

Having been in the ward with their son Elliot, Donna and Paul Stevens knew that the introduction of monitors that could do several tasks from one machine, would be a great asset to the nursing staff, helping them to work more efficiently. They would also make the experience far less scary for the child patients, who would only have to have one machine introduced to them whilst they are being checked and treated.

Leading up to Elliot's Touch being set up, Elliot's family, friends and people in the local community began to raise funds for Bristol Children's Hospital via The Grand Appeal. This was a charity set up in 1995; initially to raise funds for a new building for the hospital. Over time, the charity has evolved to provide support for patients and their families which include accommodation, therapy and play programmes, state of the art equipment and funding of medical research.

Leading up to Elliot's Touch being set up, Elliot's family, friends and people in the local community began to raise funds for Bristol Children's Hospital via The Grand Appeal. This was a charity set up in 1995; initially to raise funds for a new building for the hospital. Over time, the charity has evolved to provide support for patients and their families which include accommodation, therapy and play programmes, state of the art equipment and funding of medical research.

The Elliot's Touch team were extremely proud to have donated £6000 to The Grand Appeal, and hope to help more in the future.