Message From John Kelleher, CEO Cellnutrition

ONE week ago we at Cellnutrition Sport decided to try to help, in some way, with the incredible effort of those fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. 

My Team in the UK and Ireland, decided that we would give away our entire stock of our premium sports supplement Totum Sport, to help fuel and condition the truly heroic Frontline staff who are fighting coronavirus on all our behalves.

We knew, that by donating every single box of the hundreds of thousands of units of product that we have, may be woefully insignificant in the greater fight against COVID-19. 

However, if we could help to condition and fuel those making the ultimate sacrifice as they risk their own health, then we will have helped in some small way, albeit insignificant in the overall scheme of things

We know all about sports conditioning, and there is no difference in providing Informed Sport – Trusted by Sport to those who are dealing with the toughest physical and mental endurance conditions, on a minute-by-minute basis. 

We set out on our journey, in the scientific knowledge that our products aid and improve the performance and recovery strategies of elite athletes like Rafael Nadal, and that our product would benefit physically and mentally exhausted medical staff on the frontline.

 It was clear then, and is much clearer now, that things are extremely challenging out there for these brilliant medical professionals. Just how bad it is, we couldn’t fully appreciate.

CONDITIONS

Since our campaign to support and help doctors, nurses, consultants, paramedics, ambulance drivers, first responders, virus testing staff and all those on the frontline, we have been hearing first-hand how extreme it is out there. 

One nurse, a former NHS worker now working in the US, told us about what her typical shift looks like:

“We work 12 hour shifts and many’s a time (sic) I only have time to drink 1 cup of water and have a quick snack throughout that whole shift.”

This amazing professional is like the countless medical staff working in this emergency who have requested our products to help with nutritional and hydration needs, as staff try desperately to prepare their bodies and minds for some of the most difficult endurance challenges ever experienced. 

Dr Brendan Daly who works for the Midlands Hospital in Tullamore also reached out on behalf of his colleagues, and even went to the trouble of generously shouting us out on Twitter, when he received our delivery on Thursday.

We’ve sent a large amount of Totum Sport to the Northeast Ambulance Service (NEAS) NHS Trust after they told us about their daily challenges for their thousands of staff

We have shipped 12 pallets – 12,000 boxes – to help fuel their entire 2,400 staff who are working around the clock in what must be extremely trying circumstances. 

A Hurling club in Galway which normally purchase our product for their senior team – Clarinbridge GAA Club - reached out to us to ask us if they could buy product at a discounted rate from us, to help their local hospital – University Hospital Galway.

We turned down their generous offer for any money and we will provide product and deliver, on their behalf, to the hospital in the coming days.

We’ve sent a pallet of product to the Southend University Hospital NHS Trust in England, after getting in touch with staff there as we went ‘live’ with our campaign one week ago.

Our partners, Laboratoires Quinton in Spain, have sent Totum Sport to the Police and the Fire Brigade as they battle conditions, which we can only glimpse in horror at through news bulletins.

In Dublin we have pallets of product going to one of Ireland’s main testing centres at Tallaght Stadium, home to the legendary Shamrock Rovers Football Club, but which has now been turned into a place where the public can go and get tested.

And the list goes on, and on.

I must admit, that when we decided to try to help in some way in this great effort in the UK and Ireland that there weren’t moments of fear.

However, one week in, and having been able to bear witness to the absolute and unconditional effort, bravery and dedication – at the expense of their own personal safety – I have never before seen anything like the super heroic feats of our frontline saviours.

We thank all of you for your service to all of us. Thank you for your patience to the many of you who have so humbly requested product and support from Totum Sport, ever since Head Nutritionist Marie Farag’s video message went out on March 27.

TEAM

I am blessed to have the most wonderful and talented Team who have all put in incredible time and effort on this, and I will mention more about them individually as we communicate to you more in the coming days and weeks. 

For now, from a logistical and organisational perspective in what has been a tremendously busy and challenging week for the company, I would like to give a big shout out to Karen Hodgson in our UK office, Paula Cuddy in Ireland and Tarriss Sauerer in New York.

These amazing people do incredible things in normal times, but suffice to say that they have taken to the warehouse operation and delivery of product like naturals this week.

We in turn have reached out for support for forklifts, couriers and just about anyone else who could help us in our delivery effort.

I would like to thank Transglobal Express and BM Stafford for assisting us with the shipping of the many pallets that we have sent nationwide. I'd also like to give thanks to Complete Material Handling, they have kindly borrowed us one of their forklifts for the foreseeable future, meaning we can load stock onto the trucks, faster. One last thank you goes to Where The Trade Buys, who have printed hundreds of copies of posters, detailing our campaign.

But these guys and all of our staff are relatively safe compared to all of you who have reached out to us, and hopefully the many more who I would like to invite to get in touch in the coming days, including:

• · Doctors
• · Nurses
• · Consultants
• · Ambulance workers
• · First Responders
• · Emergency Isolation Centre staff
• · COVID-19 testing centre workers and volunteers
• · Health administration staff
• · All those fighting on our behalf

You have confirmed what we knew when we set out on this journey, that business and balance sheets are certainly not the be -all and end-all, in fact, they’re completely irrelevant in times like these. 

What matters to us at Cellnutrition Sport Ltd is Life, Health and Happiness, and the Safety of everyone.

For us this is a small gesture, but for those of you fighting on all of our behalves, you are making the ultimate gesture of all.

We are with you.