The Douglas Bader Foundation - » DBF Starts 2012 on a High Note

DBF Starts 2012 on a High Note

Friday, January 13th, 2012

THE Douglas Bader Foundation is going into 2012, the year of what will be our 30th Anniversary, on a high note.

Not only have we been in existence now for almost 30 years following the charity’s inception after the death of Sir Douglas, 30 years ago in September this year (no mean feat for a small charity) but, during that time, we have gone from strength to strength with new initiatives and help for amputees and other disabled.

We recently incorporated BADER BRAVES, a joint acknowledgement of Sir Douglas Bader’s honourary Chieftainship of a Canadian Indian Tribe and the bravery of children with limb deficiencies and other disabilities specifically to help children. Our BADER BRAVES Young Aviators Days are already a proven success with a programme increasing every year and we’re broadening the BRAVES line-up to include more Adventure Weekends and many other activities and opportunities.

We have enlisted new DBF AMBASSADORS, thereby broadening the team and the support, advice and service we can offer.

Thanks to one of these Ambassadors, Margaret Biggs, and some loyal participants, the Limb Loss Information Centre Forum (reached either though the DBF or LLIC Websites) is now widely held to be one of the strongest and most successful in the amputee community. As well as being a communication centre, the Forum gives the opportunity for amputees, those with limb deficiency or their families, friends or carers, advice, support, or simply a sympathetic ear from people who have first hand knowledge and experience.

For one-to-one communication, we have our already popular LimbLine run by Leggz and available through the LLIC Website. Leggz will either be able to offer you advice herself or will put you in touch with someone who she feels may be in a better position to help. The DBF will, of course, endeavour to do the same if you contact the charity direct.

With another of our Ambassadors, Wyn Jenkins, the DBF is intending to create a Peer Support Programme, an ambition dear to Wyn’s heart and certainly an enterprise that we know Sir Douglas would back wholeheartedly as well. He spent many hours and travelled hundreds of miles to visit and encourage amputees and other disabled people and it was as a result of literally sackfulls of letters received following his death by those he inspired with his motto: “an amputee who fights back is not handicapped but inspired“, that the DBF was created in the first place.

The LIMB LOSS INFORMATION CENTRE, an online resource created to guide individuals with congenital or acquired limb loss and their friends, family and carers through the emotional, physical and psychological process of coming to terms with limb loss, was set up in 2005 by the Douglas Bader Foundation with the help of the Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust. We are about to revamp this Website to bring the information up to date with some of the amazing advances and developments in both medicine and Prosthetic Technology and the opportunities that offers for amputees and those with limb deficiency. In the meantime, we hope that you will still find the information on the site comprehensive and useful but, if there is anything you can’t find or feel should be there and isn’t, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us so that we can put you in touch with the right person to help. We are always delighted to have your input and positive suggestions.

We are going into 2012 with more supporters than ever and plan to make this a bumper year for the charity. The Bader Braves Young Aviators Day schedule will soon be announced and we already have a Winter Wonderland Adventure Weekend set up for Braves with more to follow as well as a variety of sporting events and challenges that you can become involved with.

Several of our Ambassadors have exciting ventures planned or in the pipe-line for 2012 and we will keep you informed so that you can support them and thereby the DBF. With 2 of the Ambassadors being keen cyclists, we anticipate a flurry of cycling events to support or participate in so keep watching this space! Designs for a cool DBF Supporters Cycling Kit are already underway…

You can find out more about all the aspects of the Douglas Bader Foundation mentioned above through the various pages of the Websites or, for any information you can’t find, by contacting us direct.

However…We need your help. The Douglas Bader Foundation relies almost entirely on donations to continue our vital work on behalf of amputees and other disabled so do, please, keep supporting us.

Your Support

You can do this by sending in donations or organising events etc. to raise funds. We will always be happy to offer advice and support with events you organise on our behalf and will be able to publicise them on the Website. You can also participate in other organised events, which will be posted on the Website hopefully in plenty of time for you to get fit and enter for! We are also delighted to have your participation and support in the form of ideas and suggestions and, of course, input to the Website in the form of relevant stories and photographs etc..

We look forward to hearing from you and to your participation in 2012. Please help us to continue our positive start to 2012 and to make this the charity’s best ever year.