Fight Against Rare Disease
FIGHT AGAINST RARE DISEASE
By Rachel Harrison
Friday 23rd June 2006
A family who lost a wife and mum are setting up a special trust to raise awareness of the flesh eating bug that took the life of Holywell Primary School teacher Kathy Jacobs.
Husband Alan Jacobs, together with his daughters Jenny, Sarah and son Martin, is fighting for recognition that more funding needs to be injected into research into the disease Necrotising Fasciitis (NF).
The Quorn family is working with the Loughborough school where Mrs Jacobs was a teacher for around 13 years and organised a fund-raising challenge to climb the equivalent of Mount Everest using a portable climbing wall.
Mrs Jacobs, 52, died suddenly in May last year after an operation to remove a tumour. She contracted the infectious, but very rare disease.
Mr Jacobs, 55, is now working towards getting charitable status for The Katherine Jacobs Trust and has already set up a website at http://www.kjtrust.com/.
The aim of the trust is to raise awareness and fund research into NF and to support the development of educational excellence in subjects that Mrs Jacobs especially enjoyed teaching, which included Science, Physical Education, English and Music.
Mr Jacobs said:”It’s a horrible disease. After Kathy died we had no support. I want to do what I can to raise awareness. That is the whole reason for setting up the trust.
“It’s a disease that kills the skin and it can be treated, but it’s such a virulent infection.
“We want to work with the professionals and we are working closely with the school, they have been so good to us, they have been brilliant.
“The event on Friday was really successful and we reached the target to climb Everest. It was a good day and the children had a really good time. We have decided to do one major fund-raising event each year.”
Thanks goes to everyone at Holywell Primary School as well as all the extra helpers and volunteers who gave up their time on Friday to help with the fund-raising climb.
MP for Loughborough Andy Reed has also shown his support for the work of the trust.
Mrs Jacobs’ sister Sheena has already raised more than £2,000 by doing a sponsored walk.
The trust follows the creation of The Lee Sparks Foundation which was launched by Doreen Marsden who lost her 19-year-old child to the disease.
For more information about NF visit http://www.nfsuk.og.uk/.