Saracens and Duchenne UK to raise funds for DMD Hub at Evelina London Children’s Hospital

Money raised will fund clinical trials, doctors’ posts and new research into finding a cure for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Today (Monday 2 December) Saracens and Duchenne UK have announced that their two-year partnership will raise money to support the ongoing work into finding a cure for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy at the DMD Hub site, Evelina London Children’s Hospital.

Funding at Evelina will give more boys in London the opportunity to take part in crucial clinical trials over the next year and will fund a clinical research fellow and a physiotherapist to ensure that further research into DMD can take place at the hospital in central London.

Evelina is one of a network of 11 DMD Hub sites across the UK undertaking clinical trials into Duchenne.

Since the DMD Hub was set up in 2015, Duchenne UK has helped recruit more than 250 boys to take part in DMD trials who otherwise may not have had that opportunity.

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Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is a devastating muscle-wasting disease that currently has no cure. It almost always effects boys with around 2,500 boys in the UK and 300,000 worldwide affected by this aggressive disease.

Duchenne UK is committed to continuing to drive momentum to deliver treatments to help this generation of those with DMD.

Duchenne UK and founding partner charity, Joining Jack has a long-standing relationship with Saracens. Owen Farrell has supported the charity personally through his relationship with co-founder and family friends, Andy and Alex Johnson and their son Jack, who has DMD.

Duchenne UK has raised over £15m since launching in 2012 and is making huge inroads to finding treatments, but Duchenne UK still needs support to find a cure as they hope to eradicate DMD in ten years.

Emily Crossley, Duchenne UK co-founder, said:

“Alex Johnson and I are incredibly grateful to Saracens for this two year partnership which will help us to raise the vital money and awareness that we need to beat this disease. Everyone at the club has gone out of their way to help us and the boys fighting Duchenne and we are so thankful for their support.”

Gordon Bank, Saracens Chief Community Officer, said:

“The work and desire shown by Duchenne UK to find a cure for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is hugely inspiring.

“We are a club that cares about our community and we are really excited that by fundraising for the work at Evelina London, we will be able to help families across London tackle this disease.”

Brad Barritt, Saracens Men Captain, said:

“We have been fortunate enough to hear from Emily about the amazing work Duchenne UK are doing and how places like Evelina London are helping find a cure for Duchenne.

“Saracens is more than just a rugby club and I know everyone at Sarries will pull together to ensure that the team at Evelina London can continue to help boys with Duchenne.”

*Photo above of Finley Donohue, DMD Hub patient at Evelina London, with Sasha Corbin - Saracens Mavericks captain, Mike Hynard - Saracens Academy Manager, Jade Knight - Saracens Women scrum-half and Dr Vasantha Gowda