Our Goals

Nikki’s Trust has 3 goals; we feel it is important that the results are measurable and we hope that the goals identified all will provide tangible benefits that we can see making a difference.

Awareness of the HPV vaccine that can prevent Cervical Cancer

400 lives a year could be saved by the vaccine, but for some reason according to Meridian TV only 50% of girls offered it (in the South East at least) have taken it up. We need to firstly find out why and then tackle this issue.

Access to the vaccine for older girls

The vaccine is offered to girls around the age of 13 as it is ‘less effective’ once the recipient is sexually active. It has been confirmed by the department of health that it is available for free to all girls up to the age of 18 via the school vaccination program or GP’s.  However it is available for individuals to buy themselves, with every medical professional we’ve spoken to so far confirming it is medically beneficial, we would like to help out. Certainly it’s evident that even if you are prepared (and able) to pay for the injections the process is not straightforward and this is a situation we hope to tackle head on.

Pain control

Nikki’s ultimate problem was bone cancer which caused an immense amount of pain and whilst in Nikki’s case it was too late it will be a goal to get equipment and training into hospitals and hospices to help tackle this problem for those in her position.

Pain control is to be our first target, as whilst we are pursuing getting charitable status that will allow us to act independently fundraising wise, we know this is going to take a minimum of 13 weeks. In the mean time the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice have kindly offered to allow us to collect money through their established channels.

The hospice provided Nikki and the family with some amazing care during the illness. However because she took up a chance to use an epidural pain control system (not common as yet in palliative care) the hospice weren’t able to take her for the final few weeks of her life; the system requires both equipment (epidural pumps) and staff training before they can take patients. Donations will be split between making this possible at the Phyllis Tuckwell in the first instance, with remaining funds used for exploring the vaccination goals and taking the pain control goal further afield once the Trust is independent.