I thought I'd write a wee blog to accompany the JustGiving link. Please donate if you feel like it's a worthy cause!This blog is a slight exception to the rule for me, it actually has a purpose. My most successful new year's resolution to date started on the 1st January 2013; a rather dull promise to get fit and healthy. Living at home in Norwich, without much excitement to perk up my days, I bought a bike with my first pay-packet. While the first few days on the modest 3 mile cycle to work took it out of my dormant quads, my legs and heart soon adapted to the art of cycling and I'm still going strong. A year on, now living amongst the bright lights and dark shadows of London, I'm a huge advocate of the bike as the most effective form of transport; a way to avoid the hellish suffocation of rush-hour tubes, the temperamental timetables of buses and the huge dent that they both leave in a poor student pocket (my choice, I know). Yes, the daily struggle with those people I call 'the lycras' prevails but, overall, I couldn't recommend it enough.
Anyway, the point I'm meandering towards is this: I am doing the British Heart Foundation cycle from London to Brighton on the 15th of June. Having heralded the positives that I have personally gained from learning to cycle properly (oh if only you could see me in my bright yellow helmet and and fluorescent jacket), I will now move on to the positives that the money that could be raised from this cycle can bring.
As you may or may not know, I am currently training to become a children's nurse, and the decision to do this cycle has also coincided almost perfectly with some lectures on cardiology. With a bit of fresh knowledge in mind, I thought I'd take this opportunity to give an example of exactly what the money raised for heart research can achieve.
Have you ever heard of a 'Tetralogy of Fallot'? No. Not surprised. Its a rather dry and unattractive name for a very unforgiving congenital heart defect. I won't go into the minute details of it but basically it is a defect that some babies are born with which involves four anatomical abnormalities of the heart. Basically, this leads to blood leaving the baba's heart which has not properly picked up oxygen from the lungs. As you may imagine, this causes many adverse effects as the growing body is left with insufficient oxygen, and if there's one thing a baby needs, it is a hearty (appropriate!) supply of O2. As well as this, the heart (tiny tiny, we're talking the size of a new-born baby's fist here) has to pump super hard to get the blood around the body due to a malformed pulmonary artery. This, as you may imagine, is a lot of strain for a wee bab's heart to be under. 25% of children born with this die in the first year of life. Adult health is not my area of expertise, but I must highlight that TOF can and does affect all ages so this is a problem that can affect anyone around you, not just the young'uns.
Now I don't want this to be a cling-to-your-tissues-wipe-the-tears-from-the-keyboard moment. The conclusion that I want to get to is that scientific research has changed the prognosis for this defect incredibly. There now exists a three stage surgical intervention to correct the malformed artery that can restore a near-normal oxygen supply to the body. And by-gum is it complicated, involving expanding balloons, meshes put inside the heart, insertion of stents, removal of stents, bypass machines....the list goes on. It is incredible that this stuff exists, let alone that it really can work. This can, and does, extend the life of many sufferers, making it possible to lead a practically normal life.
I have to note that there are many many heart problems that affect people and their families in all kinds of ways. TOF is just one of these and by focusing on it, I am by no means trying to take away from the other life changing heart defects and diseases that people suffer with. However, the point still remains that the money raised by events such as London-Brighton cycle contribute to the development of treatments and care interventions, such as the surgery for TOF, that I help patients with on the wards. It really happens and it's awesome.
So here's the crux: it would be awesome if you could donate even just a couple of pounds to help push this forward and make the lives of those affected by heart disease much improved. I'm aiming for £150.
Moral bit over, thankyou!
Please donate here if you want to support me in this!Reading for the interested and geeks amongst you:
Tetralogy of fallot and surgical interventions: Patient.co.uk
BHF: Tetralogy of Fallot
Apitz, C., Webb, G.D., Redington, A.N. (2009) Tetralogy of Fallot. Lancet.
Walker WT, Temple IK, Gnanapragasam JP (2002) Quality of life after repair of tetralogy of Fallot. Cardiology of Young
