Giving You Back YOUR Life
Thank-you to everyone for your generous support!
My wife Alison and I spent the last Bank Holiday in May in Edinburgh for the Edinburgh Marathon Festival. Early on the morning of Sunday 27th, I set off through the cold sea fret (technically a haar) from our AirB&B to find the start of the Half Marathon. The buses were full, so I walked the couple of miles with a nice group of Portuguese who didn't have exact change for the bus, and we talked.
Wow it was crowded! Start time was 8am (still pretty chilly!), so I pulled off my shoes, shoved them in my bag and put it on the baggage bus, thought that it would be a bit easier to jump on the bus myself, and went to the start of the race to "warm up".
There must have been 4000 people ahead of me at the start, it took a little while to cross the line, which made guessing my time a little difficult, but I was aiming for 2 hours. Edinburgh is steep and beautiful, and after winding through the streets discussing barefoot running, we set out along the coast to Musselburgh. The mile counters helpfully counted up the miles as i got more and more tired, and i could feel the stones on the soles of my feet. B12 deficiency is a bit of a drag for trying to run half marathons, especially when you then ignore all the warnings about sensitive feet (because of demyelination) and run barefoot. Then, less than 2 miles from the end, the mile marker said "25 miles". Yes - it felt like it (no, it wasn't true - the half marathon and marathon have the same finish line so this was the marker for real people who really run 26.2 miles - we were only at mile 12!).
At about that point Andrea McPhee shouted out encouragement and took photos.
Final time 1:57 and 57 seconds - quite a tight squeeze getting in below 2 hrs!
Many of our beneficiaries will know that we've been unable to get hydroxocobalamin at the bulk buy price we usually obtain. As a result of your generousity with sponsorship, i could find another supplier and afford to pay a higher price, so 200 boxes of hydroxocobalamin arrived a couple of days ago and Alison has been packing them ever since. 30 boxes of methylcobalamin arrived this morning so that will be the next job! They should start to go out from Tuesday onwards
The definitive and original guide to B12 deficiency, Dr Chandy interviewed by Chris Jackson of UK BBC Inside Out Team broadcast 31 Oct 2008.
Dr Joseph Chandy explains symptoms and shows the restorative effect on one patient (other patients' families have asked that we edit out their stories unfortunately)
The Scottish Parliament discusses Pernicious Anaemia and vitamin B12 deficiency on Wednesday 7 March 2012.
This video is over 1 hour long and represents real political change - we are at last on our way.
Donna, like so many women, wants to live a normal life. Vitamin B12 could give her that chance.
June describes her suffering when doctors didn't follow the standard protocol after any stomach or intestinal operation - to offer B12 replacement therapy
Just the way it works for humans, oral B12 can make a world of a difference for your pet. My old cat Smudge chases the young cat again, climbs ladders (and climbs down herself), and is generally as fit as she was many years ago.
Frankie tells of how she suffered, the tests she had to endure until doctors worked out what was wrong, and what a difference it has made.
Dr Chandy was nominated for the North East Local Heroes award. The interviewer was at first surprised - people don't get awards for doing what they are paid to do - but she persisted.
Janette first appeared in the BBC InsideOut documentary in October 2006. Since then the NHS has forced her doctor to withdraw B12 replacement therapy on a number of occasions, and she tells of her struggles with having B12 and then having it taken away.
She has bravely agreed to be filmed without her usual wig, but her memory is playing up because it is so long since her last injection.
Julia found her eyesight going as her eyes refused to focus on the same things as each other. She's been for all sorts of tests and treatment, but now that she's on B12 replacement therapy she's starting to see an improvement.
The local MP (Grahame Morris MP for Easington - who was a BMS (BioMedical Scientist) in the labs at Sunderland Royal Infirmary) interviews people with B12 deficiency to hear their story (August 27 2010). Here Jane describes the symptoms, and how she can't wait for her next B12 injection (in fact, she knows that she needs injections every 2 weeks because she's keeping a diary of the symptoms). We're restricted how often the GP can give injections, which is why we want to raise awareness.
