Global shipping community’s OSCAR campaign raises £3.5 million for Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity

Maritime recruitment and HR consulting business Spinnaker has reached a major milestone with its fundraising, raising £3.5million for Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity (GOSH Charity) to help seriously ill children.

The OSCAR (Ocean and Shipping Community Advancing Children’s Health and Research) campaign was set up in 2011 by Spinnaker Global CEO Phil Parry (pictured) after his son Oscar was treated at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) for a form of childhood cancer. To date, the OSCAR Campaign has raised a total of £3.5million to help support the hospital’s most urgent needs. 

Oscar was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukaemia when he was a three-years-old. He underwent three transplants and was ultimately cured thanks to groundbreaking medical research and care at the hospital. Today he is 26 and working as a chef in Leigh-on-Sea, in Essex

Phil Parry said his son “really shouldn’t have survived. He was saved by experimental treatment after regular chemotherapy treatment stopped being effective. He needed three transplants, the third with highly specialised cells - he was the first child to be treated in the UK with this treatment.

“Thanks to a lot of great people in shipping, the OSCAR Campaign has raised £3.5million for GOSH Charity to go towards supporting the hospital’s most urgent needs, including helping to build the world-leading new Children’s Cancer Centre at GOSH.” 

GOSH Charity is currently fundraising to help build a new Children’s Cancer Centre, to drive transformation in children’s cancer care and save more lives. This state-of-the-art new facility will be a new home for breakthrough treatments and pioneering research, helping to beat cancer for more children. 

This year’s Oscar Dragon Boat Race in London is taking place in September. Further details can be found here: The OSCAR Campaign | Charity | Spinnaker