Fund to Help Willow Walk a Step Closer After Drax Donation

An appeal to raise money needed to give a local girllife-changing surgery is close to reaching half its total after a£3,700 donation by Drax .

The parents of seven and a half year old Willow Emmison-Nealfrom Skipwith, set up Willow’s Wish to raise £60,000 to fly her toAmerica for a pioneering operation after being diagnosed withcerebral palsy.

Willow needs the procedure, Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR), tohelp her walk unaided. Alongside the operation she will also needintensive prolonged physiotherapy.

“We are grateful and would like to thank Drax for supporting ourappeal.” said Willow’s mum Sally Emmison. “We’re getting nearer toour target each week and to have the backing of a local business ismost welcome.”

The money was raised during this year’s outage, which is when asingle generating unit is shut down to allow for inspection,renewal and maintenance work. During each outage, Drax operates ascheme which focuses on health and safety performance at the PowerStation, with the added motivation that £500 is donated by thecompany for every week in which any accidents require no more thanbasic first aid treatment.

This year, the scheme raised £7,400, split equally betweenWillow’s Wish chosen by Drax staff and The Steve PrescottFoundation, a charity in Hull, which was selected by Draxcontractors.

Peter Emery, production director at Drax said: “During outageperiods we have around 1,500 employees and contractors workingtogether on site carrying out a broad range of engineering andcrafts skills.

“Safety at work is always a top priority at Drax, but duringoutages the sheer logistics of the exercise and the number ofpeople involved mean that we have to focus very hard on safeworking practices.

“The initiative we put in place continues to be successful, andit shows a real commitment to safety all the way through theorganisation, with the added benefit of helping two very worthwhilecauses.”

For more information, please contact:

Melanie Wedgbury/Rachael Hudson
Drax Power 01757 618381

Sam Addie/Richard Harrison
Imagen PR 01943 468778