The best of chances for a happy change
There is in the worst of fortune the best of chances for a happy change - Euripides Ἰφιγένεια ἐν Ταύροις
It is so easy to curse one's lot, to only see the dark in the crueler twists of Fate. But the course of life flows like a river carrying its bobbing human cargo from one landing to the next. A bump along the way can send you spinning at odds with the direction you had plotted for your life. The detritus that struck me was Mastocytosis, a disease of the blood, the skin and, potentially, every other organ. In Mastocytosis exercise risks mast cell degranulation and patients are advised to avoid it. I've ignored this advice and completely changed my life to allow exercise back in.
I've built a metaphorical raft and taken control as best I can and Fortune has responded by offering up an opportunity to show that Mastocytosis doesn't mean you cannot exercise, cannot get on with your life and - even more importantly - this opportunity gives me the chance to raise funds for research into blood cancers. The term 'Mastocytosis' covers a spectrum of ills from milder, cutaneous disease (the form most often seen in children) to, thankfully more rarely, mast cell leukaemia. As the river flows so can patients progress from the milder forms to the more severe. I could allow this to loom, vulture-like, over me or I could move out from the shadow and get on with living the life I have.
In this spirit I entered the Vodafone Just Text Giving Fittest Fundraiser competition and remarkably won! I have been given the awesome opportunity - and responsibility - to run all of the last seven Bupa Great Runs of 2013 in aid of Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, supported by Vodafone Just Text Giving. I say responsibility because I now have to really look after my body so that it can do its job. I can't take any risks I have to stay fit and run, safely, all seven races stretching from this Sunday until October.
The challenge:
If you can help out please do! Research into rarer blood cancers simply doesn't get the big pharmaceutical funding (no rare disease does because the financial returns won't match the outlay) and it's those same blood cancers - like mast cell leukaemia - that have the shortest life expectancies.
You can donate by mobile: text TINY81 and your chosen amount of money (e.g. TINY81 £3) to 70070
Or visit my Just Giving page: Tiny Runner Just Giving
It is so easy to curse one's lot, to only see the dark in the crueler twists of Fate. But the course of life flows like a river carrying its bobbing human cargo from one landing to the next. A bump along the way can send you spinning at odds with the direction you had plotted for your life. The detritus that struck me was Mastocytosis, a disease of the blood, the skin and, potentially, every other organ. In Mastocytosis exercise risks mast cell degranulation and patients are advised to avoid it. I've ignored this advice and completely changed my life to allow exercise back in.
I've built a metaphorical raft and taken control as best I can and Fortune has responded by offering up an opportunity to show that Mastocytosis doesn't mean you cannot exercise, cannot get on with your life and - even more importantly - this opportunity gives me the chance to raise funds for research into blood cancers. The term 'Mastocytosis' covers a spectrum of ills from milder, cutaneous disease (the form most often seen in children) to, thankfully more rarely, mast cell leukaemia. As the river flows so can patients progress from the milder forms to the more severe. I could allow this to loom, vulture-like, over me or I could move out from the shadow and get on with living the life I have.
In this spirit I entered the Vodafone Just Text Giving Fittest Fundraiser competition and remarkably won! I have been given the awesome opportunity - and responsibility - to run all of the last seven Bupa Great Runs of 2013 in aid of Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, supported by Vodafone Just Text Giving. I say responsibility because I now have to really look after my body so that it can do its job. I can't take any risks I have to stay fit and run, safely, all seven races stretching from this Sunday until October.
The challenge:
- Bupa Great Manchester Run on 26th May 2013
- Bupa Great North 10k on 23rd June 2013
- Bupa Great Edinburgh Run on 14th July 2013
- Bupa Great North Run on 15th September 2013
- Bupa Great Yorkshire Run on 29th September 2013
- Bupa Great Birmingham Run on 20th October 2013
- Bupa Great South Run on 27th October 2013
If you can help out please do! Research into rarer blood cancers simply doesn't get the big pharmaceutical funding (no rare disease does because the financial returns won't match the outlay) and it's those same blood cancers - like mast cell leukaemia - that have the shortest life expectancies.
You can donate by mobile: text TINY81 and your chosen amount of money (e.g. TINY81 £3) to 70070
Or visit my Just Giving page: Tiny Runner Just Giving
If I had wings and I could fly
I know where I would go
But right now I'll just sit here so contentedly
And watch the river flow
My heartfelt thanks xx
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