Kidney Research UK welcomes Andrew Cole as charity ambassador Maria Thompson
Kidney Research UK is proud to announce former Manchester United and England striker Andrew Cole, as ambassador for the charity.
Andrew, who had a kidney transplant just two years ago, made an official visit to University of Bristol yesterday (February 12), where he was introduced to a few of of Kidney Research UK’s funded researchers.
Andrew understands the struggles of kidney disease and hopes through his involvement with us he can raise awareness of living as a transplant patient as well as helping to strengthen the charity’s fight to find a cure.
He said: “A transplant is not a cure and it comes with a whole new set of challenges. For me it’s been hard to come to terms with living day-to-day not knowing if your new kidney will continue to work or not – it leaves you in a sort of limbo and which is hard to explain to family and friends who think I’m ‘cured’.”
Researchers including Professor Moin Saleem, Dr Alexander Hamilton, Dr Gavin Welsh, Dr Becky Foster and Dr Pippa Bailey explained some of the work being carried out at Bristol, which will have a direct impact on the lives of patients.
Kidney Research UK CEO, Sandra Currie, said: “We are delighted to welcome Andrew and very pleased to have him as an official ambassador for the charity. Andrew knows better than most how devastating kidney disease can be and like us he understands the need to improve treatments and outcomes for patients. Andrew shares our sense of urgency to make swifter progress to improve the daily lives of patients.
“We have been funding research for almost sixty years and many of the scientists we introduced to Andrew today are on the cusp of some very exciting treatment breakthroughs. We were all there because we want to make the lives of kidney patients better and with the help of Andrew and all our supporters, I know that can happen.”