RAISING £13,400 for charity and increasing awareness of Facial Palsy earned Kay Turner a trophy for her hard work.
Kay, Haslingden High School Headteacher Mark Jackson’s Personal Assistant, has been affected by Bell’s Palsy twice, first in 2003 and then again in 2012, which is when she discovered the charity Facial Palsy UK.
She said: “Bell’s Palsy is a condition which leaves one side of the face completely paralysed.
“One of my initiatives for the charity was for us to hold an Awareness Week, which we did for the first time in March of this year.
“In preparation for Awareness Week, I worked with Karen Johnson, from the charity, to create Facebook statuses and fundraising ideas.
“On 6 March I organised a charity music concert in Preston and had raffle prizes donated by many organisations, including some Rossendale stores such as Tesco, Asda and Concept Hairdressers.”
Former Haslingden High School student Sam Aston, Coronation Street’s Chesney, kindly donated a signed photograph of the Coronation Street cast, which raised a substantial amount of money.
Kay was invited to London to a presentation at the charity’s annual general meeting but she was unable to attend because of illness and so her son Matthew Turner and his partner, Suneet Dhinsa, received the award on her behalf.
At the presentation Kay was described as having made ‘a significant impact on many lives this year’.
Kay discovered the charity while searching the internet after she was affected a second time by Bell’s palsy.
“As I started with my fundraising ideas, I realised that in order to raise the money we needed to raise awareness of the condition,” she said.
“After all, I had never heard of it before I got it, and most people I came into contact with didn’t know what it was or understand the effect it had on the affected individual.
“My hope is that one day everyone will know what facial palsy is, they will know where they can go to get the help they need and they won’t feel frightened or isolated by it.
“I hope that treatment will be available for everyone and that is why we have to continue doing what we are doing.”
If anyone would like any further information about the condition and the charity they can visit the Facial Palsy UK website, where they can also make donations if they wish, http://www.facialpalsy.org.uk/