Tameside’s Got Talent ... in aid of ADSHG
Our wonderful supporters never fail to amaze us with their dedication and generosity, but our latest star fundraiser, Lorraine, takes the cake...
Lorraine’s husband, Bill, sadly passed away from cancer last year. Bill had lived with his Addison’s for a number of years and Lorraine wanted to put on a fundraising event in his memory, to increase awareness of Addison’s and raise funds for the ADSHG. She organised a ‘Tameside’s Got Talent’ evening in her home town of Tameside in Manchester, which saw over 200 people come together to enjoy an evening of entertainment and to raise a wonderful £4,500 for the ADSHG. The event gained huge support from Lorraine’s local community, with many people volunteering their time and local businesses pitching in to donate raffle prizes. It was also attended by Bill’s endocrinologist, Dr Haris Rathur, who gave a great speech about Addison’s.
Lorraine said, “I was married to the most wonderful man who was my rock and I just wanted to do him proud by putting on this event. We’ve raised a fantastic amount and hopefully that will help to raise more awareness of the complications that can arise with patients suffering from Addison’s, if left untreated.”
A fabulous effort, Lorraine, and we are so grateful for your efforts in putting on this truly memorable event.
Jennie Evans
Lorraine presents Noel and Katherine with the big £4.500 cheque from her
Tameside Got Talent fundraising event (Copyright Society for Endocrinology)
Dragonera open sea swim
Rachel was diagnosed with Cushing’s in 1997, making her steroid-dependent. To show her appreciation of the advice and support given by the ADSHG, Rachel’s husband, Ian, took part in the 5th annual swim around the island of Dragonera.
This is a Spanish national park off the south west coast of Majorca. The swim is 9.5 kilometres long – that’s 380 lengths of a pool. Ian raised over £2,250 jointly for the ADSHG and the Pituitary Foundation. Ian completed this sea swim in just under three hours – in near ideal conditions – but he doesn’t want to give you the impression it was easy!
Ian about to set off on his 9.5k sponspored swim around the island of Dragonera,
which is a Spanish national park off the coast of Majorca. He met a lot of jellyfish!
On the day, the round-the-island route was changed to avoid large numbers of jellyfish in the last quarter of the course. Instead, he swam half way round the island and back, completing the same distance of 9.5km. Unfortunately there were still plenty of jellyfish on the revised route. Ian was stung multiple times, but fared better than some others who abandoned the swim due to repeated stings.
In the event briefing, swimmers were told the current was not very strong but Ian says it didn’t feel like it! He reached the turnaround point in just under 80 minutes; it took him 100 minutes to get back. At times he was barely moving forwards.
Even with the 100 competitors and support boats, Ian says there were still stretches of time when he was completely alone, so that it was a real wilderness experience. All he could see was open water on one side, a towering sheer cliff face on the other while swimming in water so deep it was black.
Toward the end of their holiday, after the swim, Rachel was taken ill and, for the first time in 20 years, Ian had to administer an emergency injection. Rachel and Ian cannot praise enough the clear instructions and well-designed kit supplied by ADSHG. This shows you never know when support from ADSHG is going to be needed and why we must do what we can to support its good work.
Ian Carswell
This article was first published in the special fundraising insert accompanying the ADSHG December 2015 newsletter.
