Thanks for taking the time to visit Purely Creative’s JustGiving page.

‘Why We Care’

The Purely Creative and Club Creative team members are committed to supporting local, national and international charities. Giving something back is really important to us. Over recent years, our staff have taken part in numerous fundraising events including The London Marathon and Great Manchester and Great North Runs. Our primary charity is local – the Lancashire based Ryan Stanford Appeal (registered charity number 1134498). We are very proud of our employees’ and customers’ amazing on-going support for this incredibly worthwhile cause.

Ryan Stanford is a little boy from Lancaster who first fell ill in May 2009 aged 9 months. He stayed in hospital for 3 months, part of which time he was in an induced coma in intensive care. Shortly before his first birthday Ryan was diagnosed with Alpers’ Syndrome – a genetic disorder which affects both the brain and the liver. It also causes progressive loss of developmental milestones and severe epilepsy. Ryan has uncontrollable seizures, is fed directly into his stomach, has extremely low muscle tone and cannot support his own head. Currently, there is no cure for Alpers’ Syndrome.

This heart-breaking illness is very rare and little is known about it. It is thought to affect less than 1 in every 200,000 people. Whilst Alpers’ Syndrome is not common enough to qualify for government funded research, the condition has a devastating effect on sufferers and their families and friends.

Ryan’s parents, Anne and Dave, set up The Ryan Stanford Appeal to raise money to fund research into mitochondrial disease and Alpers’ Syndrome in particular. Anne is working with the medical research facility in Newcastle that first identified the faulty gene, enabling a diagnosis of Alpers’ to be made via Ryan’s many blood tests. They are currently carrying out research into mitochondrial diseases, and Anne and Dave are aiming to raise as much money as possible to fund the project.

Purely Creative is committed to supporting this very worthwhile cause, to help fund research that could give children like Ryan a brighter future. To date, we’ve raised over £8,500 for the Ryan Stanford Appeal, and the research funded by the charity has already delivered some exciting results. But - more funding is needed to complete the research objective of saving the lives of Alpers’ children now and for generations to come. So please donate – every penny really does count.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - we raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Please click ‘Donate’. Thank you for your support.