28 June 2016
A group of 16 Omar employees are taking on the Three Peaks Challenge this August to help raise funds for a fellow employees daughter, Maisy Hutley. Maisy has spinal muscular atrophy type 2 (SMA), a degenerative disease affecting the muscles; funds raised will go towards equipment that will allow Maisy to be more independent.
SMA is a rare degenerative disease that affects all muscles and causes severe muscle weakness. Affected children can sometimes sit without support, however they cannot stand or walk unaided. At present there is no treatment or cure.
The first signs of the disease appeared in Maisy when she was just 10 months old and at 15 months she was diagnosed with the condition. Although she will never be able to stand or walk independently, Maisy is a bright and happy six year old who loves to talk and make people laugh.
Craig Hutley, Maisy’s father, an electrician for Omar has been fundraising over the years to buy specialist equipment, which unfortunately isn’t available through the NHS. Equipment includes: a Panthera lightweight manual wheelchair that will allow Maisy to self-propel giving her more independence; a mobile standing frame to help delay the onset of curvature of the spine and ceiling tracking to enable Maisy to be safely hoisted from her bedroom directly into her wet room. These pieces of equipment will all go towards helping Maisy to be more independent and greatly improve her quality of life.
Having heard about Craig’s fundraising efforts, Lisa Tigue, Omar’s Customer Services Manager, decided to get together a group to help raise funds by taking on the Three Peaks Challenge. From just a few coming forward it wasn’t long before the group swelled to 16! The group includes Omar employees from CAD, purchasing, sales, customer services, production and even Omar’s Sales & Design Director, Peter Berwick!
The well-known challenge involves 24 miles of walking, 10,000 feet of ascent, 450 miles of driving and all in 24 hours! The team will start their challenge at Ben Nevis in Scotland, then travel down to Scafell Pike in England and finally to Wales where they will climb Snowdon.
Dean Westmoreland, Omar Group CEO commented: “One of the things we pride ourselves most on at Omar is the sense of team and to see everyone coming together to help make a difference to a little girl’s life is really special. I feel very proud of Lisa, Craig and the team for taking on the three peaks and wish them every success. I also thank them for not asking me to join them! We will however sponsor them generously.”
You will be able to follow the teams progress on Facebook and Twitter; find out the latest using #OmarPeaking.