From CDH International / CHERUBS Founder, Dawn Ireland:
We’ve worked with families in the UK since 1995 and had International Representatives for our charity until 2004 when we helped our contracted volunteers, Kevin and Brenda Lane, start CDH UK (it started as CHERUBS UK) 16 years ago.
They signed our legal contracts as volunteers of our charity and became part of our team.
In 2004, they used our name “CHERUBS UK” and registered a charity in the UK. They had our member list, contact list, materials, information and our blessing in order to help more families in the UK.
Around 2011, they changed their name to “CDH UK” and legally retained “CHERUBS UK” without our permission. “CHERUBS” has been affiliated with our charity and our work for 25 years.
Please note that we are 2 separate charities. CDHi UK is short for CDH International in the UK. Just as we use “CDHi” for CDH International. We still use “CHERUBS” for our global support division.
In 2009, they attended our conference in San Antonio, TX and we awarded them a crystal statue, congratulating them on getting NGO status.
We were always whole-heartedly supportive of the work of CDH UK and remain so.
By the time of this trip (photos below) in 2013, they had sadly decided to compete instead of collaborate and we had 3 new UK Representatives for our own charity. I stopped by London to meet one of them for the first time. A year later, our UK Reps put together the first CDH Conference ever in Ireland. Our charity had many events in the UK before this starting in 1997.
In the past few years I’ve made a dozen trips to the UK and stayed months working on projects. We set up new collaborations, hired solicitors and began our quest to get NGO status in Europe. We chose the United Kingdom because of our long history in the country, our network there and the language.
Now, in 2020…. we no longer have Representatives but a Board of Trustees in the UK made up of medical researchers. We do not provide services to families in the UK because we don’t wish to compete with CDH UK, or anyone else.
Quite sadly, they do not feel likewise.
CDH International is a registered UK Charity. We are very upfront where money goes and are independently audited annually.
We hope that patient families, researchers and donors will question the motives of any charity who tells them not to support another charity or who speaks ill of another charity.
We should all foster a positive, collaborative, supportive, inclusive and constructive Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia community. This is why ACDHO was created and why we support of those fantastic charities who never compete and always put patients first.
CDH International – Registered UK Charity no. 1189819
http://www.cdhi.uk
Phone – +44 0788 747 4571
Direct E-mail – uk@cdhi.org
Mailing Address – CDH International, 77 Victoria Street, Box 135 London SW1H 0HW, UK
Please note: We have never, and would never, dissuade anyone from working with or donating to any CDH charity or participating in the global CDH Awareness Day that all other charities participate in, on April 19th or any research collaborations.
We are not responsible for the behavior of others. Please do not judge the whole CDH community on the behavior of a few.
We continue to extend an olive branch and soldier on and focus on our own work. CDH Research is too important to let anyone hold it back or to lower ourselves to compete with anyone. Our only enemy is Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia. We truly wish them well and congratulate them on their work helping CDH families in the UK.
We have lots of exciting news from CDH International in the UK and globally in 2020 to celebrate our charity’s 25th Anniversary as a registered nonprofit. Stay tuned!!!
