Introduction - History - Current Aims - Achievement Record - Your Support - Trustees

The Gwen Bush Foundation

Patrons: Debbie Thrower, Norman Croucher MBE

Professor David Blake FRCP

Gwen Bush

The Gwen Bush Foundation commemorates a woman who, though having spent many years of her life in pain, lost neither the courage to go on nor her concern for others. As a fitting tribute, this foundation has been established to help others in their fight against pain.

Introduction - History - Current Aims - Achievement Record - Your Support - Trustees

Gwen Bush Foundation History

The Gwen Bush Foundation was set up in 1989 by Edmund Bush, the current chairman of the trustees, with the aim of raising funds for research into the treatment of pain.

Since that time the Foundation has been successful in raising funds to support various research projects at the Pain Relief Foundation of Liverpool, particularly the Morphine Estimation project, followed by work done at the Thomas Lewis Pain Research Centre at University College London, which culminated in 1997 with the endowment of a 2-year post-graduate research fellowship on neo-natal pain. Latterly the Foundation has helped to fund a Migraine research programme at the Oxford Pain Unit and a Central Pain Mechanisms study at the Bath Institute for Rheumatic Diseases.

In selecting projects to support, the Foundation takes advice from experts in the field to ensure that the research involved is directly in line with the objectives of the Foundation, in particular a better understanding of the pain mechanism to form the basis of improved methods of dealing with pain, and better dissemination of pain treatment information to both the medical profession and the general public.

The methods used by the Foundation to raise funds have been varied, ranging from 'Gardens Open' through bric-a-brac and carboot sales to fund-raising appearances of well-known personalities and direct appeals for donations through advertising.

Introduction - History - Current Aims - Achievement Record - Your Support - Trustees

Gwen Bush Foundation Current Aims

Most of us know pain as a warning signal that there is something wrong with us. When this has been put right the pain will be gone.

For a great many of us, however, it's not as simple as that, and pain is there to stay, day after day, week after week, and even those of us who have had relatively pain-free lives are faced with the risk of dying in pain...

But, surely, we have all these drugs that deal with pain?

Then why are there so many people in pain? Most of us know of someone who is suffering pain. Researchers have estimated that pain afflicts one in every three people world-wide at any given time.

So what about drugs, are they not helping? Well, they are, but often at the cost of reduction in the quality of life and, in many cases, harmful side effects if used long-term. Continually increased dosages are required to remain effective, and even in best practice hospices some patients still die in severe pain which is resistant to the strongest drugs.

160 years after the introduction of anaesthesia we would regard having to endure the pain of an operation without anaesthetics as barbaric. Yet we accept a situation where the lives of millions of our fellow humans are continuously blighted by pain.

Currently less than 1% of total medical research funding goes into pain research, and most of this is dedicated to projects set by pharmaceutical companies rather than those favoured by independent researchers.

The Gwen Bush Foundation aims to change this by funding independent research organizations to carry out research approved by independent experts in the field.

The principal aims of the Foundation can be summarised as follows:-

1. A better understanding of the pain mechanism through research

2. The dissemination of the results of this research to the medical profession and to those afflicted by pain

Introduction - History - Current Aims - Achievement Record - Your Support - Trustees

Gwen Bush Foundation Achievement Record 1990 - 2007

2003 - 2007: Work supported at the Bath Institute for Rheumatic Diseases

Central Pain Mechanisms and the Rheumatic Diseases

A study funded by the GBF at the Bath Institute in May 2005 was aimed at establishing exactly where in the brain the mismatches in information processing established in a previous study may occur, and thus facilitate the development of more effective therapies.

This, together with the prior pilot study at the Institute funded by the GBF in November 2003 aimed at understanding the mechanisms behind the pain experienced by people suffering from fibromyalgia, eventually helped to provide material for the book "Insights into Pain and Suffering" compiled by Professor Blake and his team.

A report on the fibromyalgia project was presented at the British Pain Society Annual Scientific Meeting March/April 2004, and at a joint meeting with the German Society for Rheumatology Annual Meeting April 2005. A manuscript summarising the findings was submitted to the Royal College of Physicians in January 2005.

2000 - 2002: Work supported at the Oxford Pain Unit

The Migraine Meta-analysis Project

In September 2000 the GBF helped fund a migraine research project at the Oxford Pain Unit, which used the technique of systematic review and meta-analysis in its assessment of the effectiveness of current treatments world-wide.

The results of this work were published in 2003 with an acknowledgement to the GBF, under the title 'Bandolier's Little Book of Pain' by Oxford University Press. This is aimed at healthcare professionals and informed lay people. The Oxford Pain Research Unit also has a migraine specialist resource centre at www.ebandolier.com which is currently being accessed at the rate of 250,000 per week.

We can safely assume that the above will have been of help to at least some of the 20% of the population affected by this condition.

1995 - 1999: Work supported at the Thomas Lewis Pain Research Centre at University College London

Mechanism of Wound Healing and Nerve Growth

In 1997 the GBF funded a summer vacation student, and subsequently a two year post-graduate fellowship for a researcher supervised by a director of the Centre. This work entailed a detailed study of the relationship between nerve sprouting and pain during wound healing especially in neo-natal conditions. An abstract was submitted to the 1998 Forum of European Neuroscience in Berlin, and now forms a stepping stone towards a better understanding of both neonatal pain and pain in general.

Pre-emptive Analgesia

From 1995 the GBF helped to fund a study of phantom limb pain, and assisted by supplying an Analgesiometer to the Centre. One of the researches undertaken concerned pre-emptive analgesia, i.e. the use of local anaesthetics prior to operations where general anaesthesia is used. As a result of extensive trials at University Hospital and abroad, it was found that post-operative pain was reduced in a third of patients treated in this way.

1990 - 1994: Work Supported at the Pain Relief Institute Liverpool

The Morphine Estimation Project

From 1990 the GBF assisted the funding of this research, which was aimed at terminally ill patients at hospices who did not respond to morphine - some 15% of those treated. The results of this work were sent to all UK hospices and led to the general adoption of oral methadone for patients who are unresponsive or poorly responsive to morphine.

As a consequence of this work the percentage of patients in hospices dying in pain has been reduced to less than 5%, and this practice has become standard in most UK hospices and North American hospitals. In terms of the total reduction in numbers of people suffering terminal pain in the UK alone, the benefit of this research has been inestimable.

Introduction - History - Current Aims - Achievement Record - Your Support - Trustees

Your Support

You can help us by making a donation by cheque, Visa or Mastercard, or via the CAF (the Charities Aid Foundation) if you are a member. If you are a British tax payer we can, with your agreement, claim the tax relief.

Another method of aiding the Foundation is to make a provision in your will.

Payments by cheque and CAF should be made payable to Gwen Bush Foundation and sent to the address below.

Tel/Fax: 01962-776315

Introduction - History - Current Aims - Achievement Record - Your Support - Trustees

The current trustees and their details are as follows:-

Patrons:

Debbie Thrower is well known as a television and radio reporter and presenter. Her caring attitude towards both her subject and the people involved have made her one of Britain's best loved presenters.

Norman Croucher, MBE twice BBC's Man of the Year and author of several books dealing with his life and mountaineering exploits in spite of of having both legs amputated after an accident in his teens, he is no stranger to pain.

David Blake FRCP, Professor of Bone and Joint Medicine at Bath University and the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, with numerous contributions to the science of inflammation and pain to his credit, including a recent publication entitled "Insights into Pain and Suffering".

 

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Introduction - History - Current Aims - Achievement Record - Your Support - Trustees