Team Odell
Still Saying Thank You
Richard Odell began his relationship with the hospital by raising funds as a ‘thank you’ in 2003 following a very serious road accident in 2002 which left him in ITU for 5 weeks and a total stay of 10 weeks at the hospital. In the intervening years, as Chairman of the Charitable Appeals Committee, he has put considerable energy into helping raise funds throughout the hospital for various departments but recently felt he wanted to again support the department which helped save his life, ITU.
Richard was very touched when his son Jonathan told him of his idea to raise funds for ITU and take part in the Paris Marathon.
It came about whilst on holiday in Australia last year, when Jonathan met up with old University friend Bruce Cameron and over a few ‘tinnies’ the idea was born, to run a Marathon and raise money for the Northampton General Hospital ITU department. Their thought was that they and a group of friends who could enter the Paris Marathon, so Jonathan and Bruce recruited the support of Ben, Catherine, Bruce and Alexi who all willingly gave the commitment to train and raise funds to support the fantastic work of ITU.
On Sunday 11th April 2010 they completed their challenge of 26.2 miles around beautiful springtime Paris and raised a fantastic £23,000 to purchase a portable echo-cardiography ultra sound system for the ITU department.
The echo-cardiography ultra sound system will help by improving diagnostic as well as therapeutic skills in Critical Care. The ultrasound machine will be able to perform echocardiography and ultrasound of the chest. Jo Dilley, Critical Care Matron said “We are so grateful to Richard and his family for all the ongoing support they have given ITU over the years, this new piece of equipment will make a huge difference to how we treat ITU patients and will really ensure we can give the best possible care through better diagnosis and therapeutic care.