Helpline 07939 046 030
Freephone 0300 102 17 22*

Ava’s amazing work on World NF Awareness Day

20 May 2019

Ava's amazing work on World NF Awareness Day

Ava (NF1) age 15 went above and beyond for World NF Awareness Day last Friday in an attempt to generate as much awareness as possible. 

Ava first started out by sending a letter to the Head of her School, Reddam House, in which she asked everyone to add some "blue and green to their uniform" to show support and create awareness for everyone with Neruofibromatosis. The Headmistress complied with Ava's wonderful idea and sent out an email asking everyone to dress up and show their support!

Ava at Reddam House

Ava holding up her Shine A Light poster in front of her school!

Ava's next achievement: 

As tremendous as what Ava had already accomplished, she was far from done as she managed to generate awareness not only in her school but across the globe! 

With the help of one of Ava's class mate's Mum Melinda, who runs an international nursing healthcare company, Ava managed to get the word out to over 34,000 employee's and health care professionals in places such as India, the Philippines and South Africa!

All employee's, nurses, healthcare proffesionals etc. across the world dresed up in blue and green in support of Ava and thousands of others with NF while also generating their own awareness by posting about Neurofibromatosis to their own social media platforms. 

Below are a selection of photos sent to Ava by medical teams in Philippines, South Africa and India: 

Ava's last Achivement: 

On top of the stupendous awareness Ava generated around the world she also managed to carry out a great deal of fundraising for Nerve Tumours UK through her JustGiving page.

Donations were sent in from the UK and America again highlighting the incredible amount of people she has managed to influence around the world! 

We all at Nerve Tumours UK would like to firstly say thank you to Ava for her fantastic efforts and also congratulate her on what is a remarkable achievment!

Masterclasses in NF: Constitutional Mismatch Repair Deficiency Syndrome as Differential Diagnosis to NF1/Legius Syndrome - Prof. Dr. Katharina Wimmer

Constitutional Mismatch Repair Deficiency Syndrome as Differential Diagnosis to NF1/Legius Syndrome

Prof. Dr. Katharina Wimmer, Medical University of Innsbruck

Masterclasses in NF: Rare NF1-Associated Tumors in Adults - Eric Legius & Prof. Ellen Denayer

Masterclasses in NF: Rare NF1-Associated Tumors in Adults

Eric Legius, MD, PhD, University Hospital Leuven

Prof. Ellen Denayer, University Hospital Leuven

Masterclasses in NF: Optimising Hearing Outcomes in NF2-Related Schwannomatosis - Simon Freeman

Masterclasses in NF: Optimising Hearing Outcomes in NF2-Related Schwannomatosis

Simon Freeman, MPhil FRCS, Manchester Royal Infirmary and Salford Royal Hospital

Masterclasses in NF: NF1 Dermatological Manifestations - Pierre Wolkenstein, Laura Fertitta & Sirkku Peltonen

Masterclasses in NF: NF1 Dermatological Manifestations

Pierre Wolkenstein, MD, PhD, Hopital Henri-Mondor, Paris, France

Laura Fertitta, MD, Hôpital Universitaire Henri Mondor

Sirkku Peltonen, MD, PhD, University of Gothenberg, Sweden

Masterclasses in NF: Breast Cancer in NF1 - Gareth Evans

Masterclasses in NF: Breast Cancer in NF1

Gareth Evans, MD, University of Manchester, UK

Masterclasses in NF: Pain in Non-NF2-Related Schwannomatosis - David Pang

Masterclasses in NF: Pain in Non-NF2-Related Schwannomatosis

David Pang, MD, ChB. Guys and St Thomas' Hospital NHS Trust, London

Masterclasses in NF: Distinguishing Non-NF2-Related from NF2-Related Schwannomatosis - Clinical and Genetic Approaches - Said Farschtschi

Masterclasses in NF: Distinguishing Non-NF2-Related from NF2-Related Schwannomatosis - Clinical and Genetic Approaches

Said Farschtschi, MD, University Medical Center, Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany

Masterclasses in NF: NF1 Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis - Eric Legius & Prof. Ellen Denayer

Masterclasses in NF: NF1 Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis

Eric Legius, MD, PHD, University Hospital of Leuven, Belgium

Prof. Ellen Denayer, University Hospital of Leuven, Belgium

NF2 Working Together: from a tentative diagnosis and beyond

Understanding the impact that a tentative diagnosis has on a parent. Information and access to the existing NTUK and Specialist Nerve Tumours medical and non medical care network.

NF1 Working Together Part 2: from a tentative diagnosis and beyond

Understanding the impact that a tentative diagnosis has on a parent. Information and access to the existing NTUK and Specialist Nerve Tumours medical and non medical care network.

NF1 Working Together Part 1: from a tentative diagnosis and beyond

Understanding  the impact that a tentative diagnosis has on a parent. Information and access to the existing NTUK and Specialist Nerve Tumours medical and non medical care network.

Masterclasses in NF: Surgery in NF2 - Michel Kalamarides & Andrew King

Masterclasses in NF: Surgery in NF2

Michel Kalamarides, MD, PhD, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France

Prof Andrew King, MBBS FRCS FRCS(SN), Salford Royal Hospital, Manchester, United Kingdom. Member of the MAB of Nerve Tumours UK

Masterclasses in NF: Cognition and Behaviour in NF1: Phenotype and Treatment Approaches - Shruti Garg, Andre Rietman

Masterclasses in NF: Cognition and Behaviour in NF1: Phenotype and Treatment Approaches

Dr Shruti Garg, MBBS, MRCPsych, MMedSci, PhD, Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, United Kingdom. Member of the MAB of Nerve Tumours UK

Andre Rietman, PhD, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Masterclasses in NF: Emotional Challenges in NF1, NF2 and Schwannomatosis - Susie Henley, Thomas Pletschko & Verena Rosenmayr

Masterclasses in NF: Emotional Challenges in NF1, NF2 and Schwannomatosis

Susie Henley, DClinPsy, PhD, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, London UK

Thomas Pletschko, PhD, Medical University of Vienna, Austria

Verena Rosenmayr, Clinical Psychologist, Medical University of Vienna, Austria

Masterclasses in NF: NF1 Pediatric Management - Rianne Oostenbrink

Masterclasses in NF: NF1 Pediatric Management

Rianne Oostenbrink, MD, PhD, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Masterclasses in NF: Associated Glioma in Children - the Optic Pathway and Beyond - Amedeo Azizi

Masterclasses in NF: Associated Glioma in Children - the Optic Pathway and Beyond

Amedeo Azizi, MD, PhD, Head of the Paediatric Neurofibromatosis Program and Paediatric Neuro-Oncology Program, Medical University of Vienna, Austria

Masterclasses in NF: NF1 Orthopedic Manifestations - Eric Legius and Christophe Glorion

Masterclasses in NF: NF1 Orthopedic Manifestations

Eric Legius, MD, PhD. Head of Clinical Genetics Department of the University Hospital Leuven, Belgium

Christophe Glorion, MD, PhD, Department of Paediatric Orthopedic and Traumatologic Surgery, Hopital Necker-Enfants Malades, Paris, France. 

Masterclasses in NF: NF1 Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumours - Rosalie Ferner and Viktor-Felix Mautner

Masterclasses in NF: NF1 Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumours

Prof Rosalie Ferner, Consultant Neurologist and Lead Clinician for Neurofibromatosis, Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London. Member of the MAB of Nerve Tumours UK and Trustee of Nerve Tumours UK

Viktor-Felix Mautner, MD, PhD. University Medical Centre in Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany. Head of NF Outpatient Department

Masterclasses in NF - Neurofibromatosis Type 1: Cutaneous Neurofibromas - Pierre Wolkenstein and Sirkku Peltonen

Masterclasses in NF - Neurofibromatosis Type 1: Cutaneous Neurofibromas

Pierre Wolkenstein, MD, PhD. Hopital Henri-Mondor, Paris, France. Head of the Department of Dermatology

Sirkku Peltonen MD, PhD. University of Gothenberg, Sweden. Professor of Dermatology

INFER (International NF Educational Resources) is a series of online educational lectures for medical professionals by leading neurofibromatosis experts. The Masterclasses take place online approximately once a month, each on a different topic, and include real-time interaction between the expert presenter and the participants. The presentations are conducted in English, with real-time audio interpretation available in 6 additional languages: French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. A recording of each INFER masterclass is then be made available online in each language for those who could not attend an event. INFER is an initiative of Children’s Tumor Foundation Europe, supported by an educational grant from AstraZeneca. https://ctfeurope.org/research/masterclasses-in-nf

BPNA Keynote Lecture - Prof Rosalie Ferner - Neurofibromatosis 1 in the 21st Century

‘Neurofibromatosis 1 in the 21st Century’

Keynote Lecture at the 48th British Paediatric Neurology Association Annual Scientific Meeting on 21st January 2022

Prof Rosalie Ferner, Consultant Neurologist and Lead Clinician for Neurofibromatosis, Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London. Member of the MAB of Nerve Tumours UK and Trustee of Nerve Tumours UK