Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, who has always been generous with her money, announced on Saturday that she is donating £1 million to be split between Refuge and Crisis, two charities which help victims of domestic violence and homeless people respectively.
News of her gift came on the same day as a top Indian- origin consultant in intensive care medicine, Dr Manu Shankar-Hari, revealed a crucial contribution of another sort — he is co-leader of a research programme at Guy’s and St Thomas’ trying out the efficacy of injecting plasma from recovered Covid-19 patients into those who are critically ill.
“As a new disease, there are no proven drugs to treat critically ill patients with Covid-19,” he said. “Providing critically ill patients with plasma from patients who have recovered could improve their chances of recovery.”
The Biomedical Research Centre at the hospitals says if the trials show the treatment is effective, NHS Blood and Transplant will begin a national programme to deliver up to 10,000 units of convalescent plasma per week to the NHS, enough to treat 5,000 patients each week.
Shankar-Hari is working with experts from NHS Blood and Transplant and the University of Cambridge.
The importance of the Indian doctor’s cutting edge research was emphasised by the health secretary Matt Hancock who emphasised: “I have every hope this treatment will be a major milestone in our fight against this disease. Hundreds of people are participating in national trials already for potential treatments and the scaling up of convalescent plasma collection means thousands could potentially benefit from it in the future.”
Meanwhile, announcing her gift on Twitter, Rowling said: “Today’s the 22nd anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, but I’m going to be honest and say that it feels inappropriate to talk about fictional deaths today. Too many people are losing loved ones in the real world.
“So on this anniversary of a great wizarding victory, I’m thinking of the people who’re out there doing their jobs to protect us and our way of life.”
The author usually marks the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts – the showdown between Harry and the Hogwarts students and Lord
Voldemort and his Death Eaters in the final book, The Deathly Hallows – on 2 May each year.
Rowling said: “I have 3 key workers in my immediate family, and like all such relatives, I’m torn between pride and anxiety.” She went on: “As ever in a crisis of this sort, the poorest and most vulnerable are hit hardest, so in honour of the Battle of Hogwarts, I’ll be making a donation of £1m…. we know that domestic abuse has, sadly, increased hugely during the lockdown.”
To help children during lockdown, Rowling is also launching a new platform, Harry Potter At Home, to keep them entertained. This is “where you’ll find all the latest things to keep you occupied – from special activity kits from Bloomsbury to Scholastic, to nifty magical craft videos (teach your friends how to draw a Niffler!) fun articles, quizzes, puzzles and more. We’re casting a Banishing Charm on boredom.”
She said she recognised that parents, teachers and carers looking after children “need a bit magic”.
