Ambassador – Rebecca Adlington
Double Olympic gold-medal winning swimmer Rebecca Adlington, has accepted an invitation to become the latest Ambassador of the Encephalitis Society, a national charity and the only resource of its kind in the world supporting people affected by the illness.
Rebecca’s sister Laura was seriously ill in 2005 with Encephalitis, a life threatening illness which leaves many of those who survive with injury to the brain. Laura made a good recovery, however the experience and its effect upon the family has stayed with Rebecca. Following Rebecca’s success at the Beijing Olympics and her subsequent rise in popularity, Rebecca was determined to make charitable work part of her agenda – an obvious choice was of course a cause close to her heart.
Rebecca says: “Having seen at first hand how the illness affected my sister Laura and how little we knew about it at the time, my hope is to work with the team in order to raise awareness of the illness to help sufferers and their families. I’m pleased that my success in the swimming pool will enable me to increase the understanding of the disease and make sure that other families don’t have to go through the experience we had.”
Ava Easton, Development Manager, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have Rebecca join our team of VIP supporters. We can’t wait to tell the members of the Society, especially since Rebecca has made it clear she wants to be really hands-on, meeting as many of them as she can. It is a timely year for Rebecca to come on board, 2009 is our 15th birthday and so this makes the year even more special for us all”.
Rebecca Adlington
Ambassador – Mathew Bose
Mathew got in touch with the Society in
2006 following a close friend being affected by Herpes Simplex Encephalitis and
he formally became our Ambassador in 2007 following the subsequent support he had
received during the illness and recovery of his friend.
Mathew is an English actor, most currently known for his role as Paul Lambert in
the television series Emmerdale.
Mathew Bose was born in London and has lived in India, Milan, Paris, New York, and
Los Angeles.
Mathew now lives near Leeds with his partner James, a television director, and he
also has a home in Islington,
In the early days of his career, Mathew was a model.
Mathew has appeared in the TV sitcom, My Family and starred in the shows such as
Doc Martin, Cutting It, Silent Witness, D-Day and Coupling. Mathew has also produced
and narrated the 2001 spoof documentary, American Mullet. He won the role of Paul
Lambert in early 2004 and his first Emmerdale debut was in September 2004. In mid
2007, Mathew and former cast mate, Hayley Tamaddon aka Del Dingle were crowned winners
of ITV show, Soapstar Superchef.
www.mathewbose.com
Last modified: 7 November 2008