The runner up regional heroes 2011

Here are our very worthy runners up:

East Midlands finalist – Alexandra Wade
Alexandra is 9 years old, autistic and suffers from a serious heart defect for which she needs regular operations. Despite this she has still helped her mum through the loss of 2 babies, severe depression and when she is  in the heart ward during operations, she always takes the time to entertain and play with the other children on the ward. She is now organising a fundraiser to raise money for the children’s heart ward.

East of England finalist – Tracey Saunders
Tracey is suffering from her second bought of breast cancer, this time more aggressive than before but despite her own suffering and uncertain future, she continues to live her life in a positive manner. She helps and advising as many people as she can through her nursing but also fundraising for those less fortunate than herself. 

London finalist - Carol Foyle
Carol has worked within services for people with disabilities and their families for over 20 years, where she has always worked tirelessly to ensure that families and children with disabilities are given the same opportunities as everyone else.

North East finalist – Nicola Minnes
Nicola set up an ADHD support group to help families across the country and is now working to set up a social enterprise to help adults and children affected by ADHD. She is changing the lives of people with ADHD by fighting the stigma and disabilities that accompany the disease.

North West finalist – Alison Ganson
Alison sadly lost her son last November when he was just 20 to the illness Epidermolysis Bullosa. This is where the skin is so fragile that it blisters and peels off at the slightest touch both internally and externally. Even whilst dealing with huge amounts of grief Alison has put her heart and soul into setting up a charity in memory of her son Scott to send other sufferers of this awful disease on much needed holiday breaks.

Northern Ireland finalist – Mary O’Neil
Mary works tirelessly with people who have learning disabilities. She arranges summer schemes, clubs, and weekends away to help improve their confidence and quality of life. 

RAF finalist – Amy Smith
Amy has been a significant and dedicated volunteer at her local RAF youth club for nearly two years giving the children a fun, safe place to go to get to know others in their community.

RAF finalist – Christine Schofield-Downing
Christine worked tirelessly as the driving force for the youth activities at RAF Lyneham for more than 6 years, she ran groups as a Senior Leader every Friday evening for RAF and civilian young people from 8-16 years.

Scotland finalist – Martha Fraser
Martha has fostered literally hundreds of children over the years whose parents haven’t been able to look after them. When she found out that three of the children which she fostered were unable to go back to their birth parents and would have to be split up if adopted, she gave up fostering and adopted these three children so that they could stay together.

South East finalist – Elaine Kerly
Elaine is 64 years old and gives all her time and energy to her two grandsons who are both have muscular dystrophy, taking them on holidays and trips whenever she can.

South West finalist – Hilary Marsh
Hilary has been a huge support to her son who had to have open heart surgery aged 11, keeping his spirits up even when she was feeling very low.  Hilary also goes above and beyond for the teenagers she works with at the local college. She has gained a huge amount of respect from these teenagers who tell her about any problems they may have.

Wales finalist – Anneliese McCarthy
Anneliese was nominated for this award for the dedication and support she has given to one severely autistic child she works with as a play therapist. On top of this she has given tremendous help and support to his family.

West Midlands finalist – Sarah Baker
Sarah is a nurse in an adolescent’s psychiatric ward who always goes beyond the call of duty. One of her patients recommended her for this award and writes, ‘When everyone else turned their back on me, Sarah was the only one who I could trust. She helped me to get a relationship with my family and would stay with me until I stopped crying even if her shift finished hours ago.’

Yorkshire and Humber finalist - Tracey Antcliffe
In January 2009 Tracey received a devastating phone call where she was told her 16 yr old son had died in his sleep whilst staying with a friend. In spite of her grief she threw herself into charity work to ensure Daniel had not died in vain. She has donated an award to the college he attended which is presented every year in his memory and she has raised funds for SADS UK to buy defibrillators which are presented to schools and will hopefully save young lives.