Julian Gent, Sales Consultant at Saracens RFC"Having worked in rugby for many years in sales and marketing roles, formerly with Quins and latterly with Saracens, I have come across Wooden Spoon on many occasions with dinners, collections, PR events and such like. However, for one reason or another, I have never got to see Spoon's work first hand....until this past couple of months.

Having suffered severe back pain for a number of years and tried countless remedies, I finally reached the head of the queue for a spinal fusion at my local hospital, Stoke Mandeville in March. The procedure, although major, is pretty mainstream nowadays and my surgeon was very confident of success but did outline the risks involved in surgery, something I appreciated fully and acknowledged by signing the consent form. Unfortunately, 2 days after the operation and whilst still in hospital, a very observant doctor spotted a problem, that was diagnosed very quickly as a Pulmonary Embolism and the prompt action of that doctor may well have saved my life.


Once I was discharged, I was put in the care of the Wooden Spoon Haematology Unit at Stoke Mandeville, a unit I didn't know even existed but I'm very glad it does! Daily and then twice a week and then weekly check ups were needed to monitor my Warfarin levels to start breaking down the embolism and the care and professionalism of everyone in the unit was outstanding. I shall be forever grateful to them and Wooden Spoon for making my recovery so stress-free and easy and will doubtless be that little more aware of Spoon's activities in the world of rugby and at Saracens in the future."
We love hearing from people who have encountered or been helped by Spoon funded facilities, so if you, your friends or family have been helped by us any way, please let us know!