Join my mission: Saving children undergoing cardiac surgery

My name is Francesca and I am a PhD candidate at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and University College London, researching the prediction and prevention of acute kidney injury in children after an open-heart surgery. I appeal to all of you to secure the crucial funding needed to drive forward this groundbreaking medical research and save young children's lives.

Shockingly, about 25% of children who undergo vital life-saving open-heart surgery will go on to develop acute kidney injury after the surgery. This condition not only has serious medical implications but also profound emotional and financial impacts on the child and their family. From prolonged hospital stays to the potential for chronic kidney failure, the consequences of acute kidney injury can be devastating. Sadly, overcoming one life-threatening condition can give rise to another.

It is essential that our understanding of acute kidney injury and our ability to predict and prevent it is improved. Over the next three years, I will be developing an innovative machine learning model to predict and prevent acute kidney injury in real-time during open-heart surgeries through my PhD at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and UCL. This model is expected to significantly improve outcomes for 125 children annually at Great Ormond Street Hospital alone!

These children and their families have already endured so much in facing open-heart surgery, and it is my mission to lighten their load by alleviating this additional burden. This research has the power to transform the expected outcomes for young patients and their families, ultimately saving lives. But I cannot do this alone.

Pre-Brexit, I would not be writing this message. Yet in the post-Brexit university world, PhD costs for EU students have soared, and we increasingly rely on external funding. Our current backers include theGOSH Charity, the Hendrik Muller Fonds, and the Vreedefonds.

Yet we remain ~60k short of fully covering my PhD fees through this research. We continue to apply to other grants, among which Google PhD Fellowship and the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds. But at this stage, every penny counts. That is why I am calling on my friends and community for support.

If the necessary funding is not secured, I will be forced to halt this pivotal research, denying crucial support to these vulnerable children in critical need.

So, I ask of you.

Please help me help these children.

Let's not let children in need be side-lined because of tuition fee costs!

❗This research is already being partially funded by GOSH Charity, the Hendrik Muller Fonds, and the Vreedefonds.

❗We are also applying to other grants, including Google PhD Fellowship and the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfond.

❗All the funding will go strictly towards the payment of the tuition fees.

❗If, for any reason, the crowdfunding money cannot be used towards the tuition fees, the full amount will be donated to GOSH Charity.

If you are in any way interested in the content of this research, please reach out to me on LinkedIn.

Thank you for considering this vital cause. Let's come together to make a tangible difference in the lives of these young patients and their families.

Please leave your email in your donation message or send on LinkedIn if you want me to keep you updated about the progress of the research!