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The 2024 Charity partner is......Back Up

Posted by Taina Slenderbroek on 29th May 2024

The October Club is delighted to announce that their chosen charity partner for 2024 is Back Up, a spinal cord injury charity.  

For almost 40 years, Back Up has helped people and their families to rebuild their lives after a devastating spinal cord injury. Its award-winning, practical services are designed and delivered by people affected by spinal cord injury. They challenge the perceptions of what is possible and increase injured individuals’ skills and confidence.

The charity was founded in 1986 by James Bond stuntman, Mike Nemesvary, a world champion freestyle skier who broke his neck during a routine training session on a trampoline aged just 24. Mike wanted a world where people with spinal cord injury can reach their full potential.      

Back Up supports adults and children affected by spinal cord injury with a range of services, from wheelchair skills training, activity courses, mentoring and support in getting back to school or work, to helping the families of those injured. Last year the charity supported 2,182 people with their life changing services. 

NHS figures released this month show that last year 4,400 people in the UK were injured or diagnosed with a spinal cord injury – not 2,500 as previously thought.  This means that someone sustains a spinal cord injury once every two hours. 

The Back Up / October Club partnership will facilitate the national roll out of bespoke support packages to injured people, following Back Up’s successful three-year pilot with the NHS. As an essential component of this transformational project, Back Up will extend its specialist programme from the NHS specialist centres to all 33 of the UK’s major trauma centres.

Abigail Lock, CEO of Back Up Trust said: “Back Up’s partnership with the October Club comes at a critical time. We want to be there for everyone affected by spinal cord injury but almost 4 out of 5 people sustaining spinal cord injury do not get to specialist NHS centres. The October Club’s support will be an absolute game changer enabling us to scale our services to reach many more people that need our support.”

Samantha Huggins, Chair of the October Club said: “On behalf of The October Club committee, we are thrilled to be partnering with Back Up in support of its expansion into trauma centres across the United Kingdom. Back Up’s incredibly successful model is desperately needed throughout the nation to help those with life-altering spinal cord injuries rebuild their lives with confidence and expertise.

I have full confidence that the October Club community will be 100% behind Back Up and the transformational project we are endorsing.”

For more information about Back Up, please refer to Back Up Spinal Cord Injury Charity (backuptrust.org.uk).