MARK McLAUGHLIN
Evening News (Edinburgh)
August 14, 2010, Saturday
A CANCER sufferer who raised GBP10,000 to visit Italy for controversial treatment has died.
In March, the Evening News told how father-of-six Robert Fyvie shunned chemotherapy in favour of a radical treatment.
The procedure - which sees cancer "as a fungus" - is overseen by Tullio Simoncini, and sees a catheter inserted straight into the liver in an intricate operation which cannot and will not be performed in the UK.
His other cancer treatments include baking soda.
Mr Fyvie, 59, of Eskview Terrace in Musselburgh, died peacefully at home last Friday, four months after the trip to Rome which was funded with his children's savings, money raised by his family and members of the local community.
Devastated wife Angie, 39, said: "There had been a bit of a problem with his treatment, getting the stuff delivered from Rome.
"He was in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary for just over three weeks in June. By the time we got him back home we couldn't catch up with the medicine.
"It's terrible, but what is a great comfort to us is that I was sleeping beside him when he passed away so it was very peaceful. Now I just feel like I'm in limbo.
"He was the most courageous person you could have ever met. God broke the mould when he made him."
Mr Fyvie's son Marc, 15, had hoped that his dad would live to see him take part in his first boxing match at the Bronx Boxing Gym in Tranent on October 10.
Alex Brown, who runs the gym, said: "It was quite a shock, it was certainly a bit quicker than expected.
"He was still taking treatment when he got home here and I saw him about a week before he passed away.
"I knew Robert because his son comes in to do boxing at the gym. It was really sad that the treatment in Italy didn't prolong his life at all."
The former transport business owner was first diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2006 and underwent an operation to remove the tumour, but the cancer spread to his liver.
Doctors in Britain refused to operate, saying it was too close to his biliary system and could potentially kill him.
He had always refused chemotherapy as he feared that lowering his immune system would make him less able to fight the cancer.
Mr Fyvie's search for an alternative cure took him to Thailand last summer where he spent 12 weeks taking herbal medicines, which he said made him feel stronger.
Mrs Fyvie eventually found the treatment after endless internet searching for a solution.
A funeral takes place on Monday at Richmond Craigmillar Parish Church in Niddrie at 1pm, and then at Mortonhall Crematorium at 2pm.
Showing posts with label Annals of Medicine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Annals of Medicine. Show all posts
Sunday, 10 October 2010
Thursday, 27 May 2010
ANALYSIS: Slim Pickings
MARK McLAUGHLIN
Edinburgh Evening News
20 May 2010
With obesity a growing problem in Scotland, the demand for diets, slimming products and more extreme weight loss measures is also on the rise. MARK McLAUGHLIN investigates the best way to fight the flab
SCOTTISH consumers spend nearly GBP 90 per household on products such as slimming shakes, low-fat processed meals and weight-loss pills.
Recent Scottish Parliament figures show that 229 people in the Lothians had obesity listed on their death certificate in the last five years.
With obesity-related illness in the Lothians higher than anywhere in Scotland, local nutritionists Emma Conroy, of Edinburgh Nutrition, and Edinburgh University's Dr Fred Pender have their work cut out helping people navigate their way through the marketing spin toward a slimmer waistline.
Here, they cast their eye over some of the top fitness fads that promise to help us to achieve a healthy lifestyle, to see how likely they are to deliver on their pledge.
SLIMMING DRINKS / MEALS / PILLS
SCOTS are clearly being lured by the growing range of brands tempting us to eat ourselves thin on their products, with Weight Watchers increasing its product range by 14 per cent, Kellogg's Special K now available in 31 different varieties and muscle-sculpting range Maximuscle more than tripling its range in two years, while diet pills continue to spark controversy over their effectiveness and effect.
Emma said: "There's no substitute for eating good healthy food. You can't fool your brain with processed rubbish.
Dr Pender said: "There's nothing better for losing weight than a natural balanced diet.
"Some of these slimming drinks do very little to help."
GASTRIC BANDS
AROUND 3,000 people are on weight-loss waiting lists while about 155 surgeries are carried out across Scotland annually.
Emma said: "I find the fact that they're now offering gastric band surgery on the NHS depressing, especially when I read stories or encounter people who have had it at a young age.
"The obesity is often a symptom of an underlying emotional problem.
"The weight will come off initially but if you don't treat the emotional problem the weight will soon go back on again."
"It's a pretty drastic and brutal way to try to lose weight."
Dr Pender said: "It's a sign of the times that people are starting to accept more radical approaches to weight loss."
NINTENDO WII FIT TRAINING
NINTENDO'S Wii Fit range of games are widely seen as the antidote to sedentary computer geeks spending hours in the armchair moving nothing but their thumbs. It is currently the third best selling console game in history, and pits players against a series of fitness challenges intended to give them a workout while keeping them entertained.
Emma said: "I always believe outdoor exercise is best. Having said that, the games are very enjoyable and the way it measures your weight and performance is motivating for some people. If people are encouraged to use it regularly then it's fine."
Dr Pender said: "While Wii-fit is aerobic, I would question how regularly people are using it."
GYM
JOINING a gym is often the first step in any new weight-loss regime, but with private memberships costing as much as GBP 50 a month, few can afford to the break the bank to break a sweat. However, some city gyms are now offering annual memberships for as little as GBP 19.99 a month.
Emma said: "Some people love the gym or love going for a swim, which is great, but I think the best way to lose weight to is to incorporate exercise into your daily routine.
"Most of us lead pretty sedentary lives, at home and at work, but you can get a lot of benefit from ditching the car and walking."
Dr Pender said: "It's vital to remember that if you're going to the gym you have to work. Some people think that just walking through the door will make you lose weight."
FIVE-A-DAY
THE World Health Organisation recommends eating a minimum of 400g of fruit and vegetables a day to lower the risk of serious health problems, such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and obesity. The NHS has translated this to an easy to remember regime of five 80g portions a day.
Emma said: "Encouraging people to eat five portions of fruit and veg a day is really just the lowest number that the department of health thought they could get people to follow. In the Mediterranean most people eat over ten portions a day.
"I'm not a fan of these fruit juices and smoothies that claim to offer 'two of your five a day'. I'd prefer it if people just ate apples and oranges rather than something that's been heavily processed."
Dr Pender said: "Five a day is the minimum you should be eating, whereas ten a day would significantly increase the balance of your diet. If you're eating ten a day there's less room for rubbish like sweets."
Edinburgh Evening News
20 May 2010
With obesity a growing problem in Scotland, the demand for diets, slimming products and more extreme weight loss measures is also on the rise. MARK McLAUGHLIN investigates the best way to fight the flab
SCOTTISH consumers spend nearly GBP 90 per household on products such as slimming shakes, low-fat processed meals and weight-loss pills.
Recent Scottish Parliament figures show that 229 people in the Lothians had obesity listed on their death certificate in the last five years.
With obesity-related illness in the Lothians higher than anywhere in Scotland, local nutritionists Emma Conroy, of Edinburgh Nutrition, and Edinburgh University's Dr Fred Pender have their work cut out helping people navigate their way through the marketing spin toward a slimmer waistline.
Here, they cast their eye over some of the top fitness fads that promise to help us to achieve a healthy lifestyle, to see how likely they are to deliver on their pledge.
SLIMMING DRINKS / MEALS / PILLS
SCOTS are clearly being lured by the growing range of brands tempting us to eat ourselves thin on their products, with Weight Watchers increasing its product range by 14 per cent, Kellogg's Special K now available in 31 different varieties and muscle-sculpting range Maximuscle more than tripling its range in two years, while diet pills continue to spark controversy over their effectiveness and effect.
Emma said: "There's no substitute for eating good healthy food. You can't fool your brain with processed rubbish.
Dr Pender said: "There's nothing better for losing weight than a natural balanced diet.
"Some of these slimming drinks do very little to help."
GASTRIC BANDS
AROUND 3,000 people are on weight-loss waiting lists while about 155 surgeries are carried out across Scotland annually.
Emma said: "I find the fact that they're now offering gastric band surgery on the NHS depressing, especially when I read stories or encounter people who have had it at a young age.
"The obesity is often a symptom of an underlying emotional problem.
"The weight will come off initially but if you don't treat the emotional problem the weight will soon go back on again."
"It's a pretty drastic and brutal way to try to lose weight."
Dr Pender said: "It's a sign of the times that people are starting to accept more radical approaches to weight loss."
NINTENDO WII FIT TRAINING
NINTENDO'S Wii Fit range of games are widely seen as the antidote to sedentary computer geeks spending hours in the armchair moving nothing but their thumbs. It is currently the third best selling console game in history, and pits players against a series of fitness challenges intended to give them a workout while keeping them entertained.
Emma said: "I always believe outdoor exercise is best. Having said that, the games are very enjoyable and the way it measures your weight and performance is motivating for some people. If people are encouraged to use it regularly then it's fine."
Dr Pender said: "While Wii-fit is aerobic, I would question how regularly people are using it."
GYM
JOINING a gym is often the first step in any new weight-loss regime, but with private memberships costing as much as GBP 50 a month, few can afford to the break the bank to break a sweat. However, some city gyms are now offering annual memberships for as little as GBP 19.99 a month.
Emma said: "Some people love the gym or love going for a swim, which is great, but I think the best way to lose weight to is to incorporate exercise into your daily routine.
"Most of us lead pretty sedentary lives, at home and at work, but you can get a lot of benefit from ditching the car and walking."
Dr Pender said: "It's vital to remember that if you're going to the gym you have to work. Some people think that just walking through the door will make you lose weight."
FIVE-A-DAY
THE World Health Organisation recommends eating a minimum of 400g of fruit and vegetables a day to lower the risk of serious health problems, such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and obesity. The NHS has translated this to an easy to remember regime of five 80g portions a day.
Emma said: "Encouraging people to eat five portions of fruit and veg a day is really just the lowest number that the department of health thought they could get people to follow. In the Mediterranean most people eat over ten portions a day.
"I'm not a fan of these fruit juices and smoothies that claim to offer 'two of your five a day'. I'd prefer it if people just ate apples and oranges rather than something that's been heavily processed."
Dr Pender said: "Five a day is the minimum you should be eating, whereas ten a day would significantly increase the balance of your diet. If you're eating ten a day there's less room for rubbish like sweets."
FEATURE: Flesh Eating Infection And A Child Without Hope
MARK McLAUGHLIN
Edinburgh Evening News
30 April 2010
Viki O'Donnell says the warning signs were there before her daughter's tragic death two days after birth.
Despite being a rare condition which is deeply frightening for the parents of newborns, most babies make a full recovery from NEC. But not all.
MARK McLAUGHLIN speaks to one mum who is still coming to terms with the death of her daughter six years on and why she is still seeking answers
'I LOOK at photos of Tilly now but I couldn't at first," says Viki O'Donnell, reflecting on the child she held for just 48 precious hours.
The photographs are now all she has of her daughter, and while she cherishes the opportunity to see her face every day, the pain that once caused her to hide the photos away has never faded.
Although Viki carried her daughter to full term, Tilly was born underweight, underdeveloped and with a range of illnesses commonly associated with premature births.
Chief among these was necrotising enterocolitis (NEC), an inflammation of the bowel that can cause its contents to leak into the abdomen.
NEC is rare in full-term babies. As Andy Cole, chief executive of Bliss, the charity for premature and sick babies, explains: "NEC is a very serious condition which most commonly affects premature babies. However, ten per cent of NEC cases are found in full-term babies. These cases are often associated with an underlying health issue. It is often difficult to diagnose but can usually be successfully treated either medically or with surgery."
Usually, but not always.
It was a cruel turn of fate for Viki, who had already seen her fair share of heartache since she learned she was pregnant in December 2003.
Viki was only 20 when she met the father of her tragically short-lived daughter on an internet chatroom earlier that year.
"I wasn't looking for a relationship," says Viki, who is now 27 and lives in Penicuik. "We were just chatting but one day he asked to meet up. I wasn't too sure but we had been chatting for a good six or seven months, so I agreed and we met on 27 September, 2003. We really hit it off.
"On 17 December that year, I found out I was pregnant. I was absolutely shocked. It obviously wasn't planned. We weren't serious about each other, we were just having fun.
"I texted him - which probably isn't the best way to tell someone they're going to be a dad - but I didn't receive a reply."
Aside from a couple of apologetic texts and a few vague promises over the term of the pregnancy, Viki never heard from the boy again.
Despite the emotional trauma of facing life as a single mother, the pregnancy went off without a hitch until about three weeks before term when she noticed a watery green discharge.
In two separate tests over the next week, nurses dismissed the greeny liquid first as normal pregnancy discharge and then thrush, but after two weeks the discharge still hadn't stopped.
"I finally got to see a doctor on 16 August, 2004 and he told me that I was 3cm dilated and that I was about to go into labour. When the baby was born, there were no waters.
"The midwife was shocked that it was a dry birth, but Tilly was crying so I thought everything was all right."
Everything was far from all right. Despite her full term, Tilly was found to have a gestation age of just 31-34 weeks and an inflammation of the bowel that required an urgent operation.
Despite the doctors' initial hopes that the operation was a success, her condition soon deteriorated.
"A nurse and two doctors came into my room," Viki continues. "They sat me down and said that they had some bad news. One doctor told me that they didn't think Tilly was going to make it. I wasn't prepared for that.
"He asked if I was in contact with Tilly's dad. I still had his mobile number, but it just went through to answer phone.
"I left him a message saying that if he wanted to see his daughter he better hurry because she was dying, but I never received a reply and he didn't make any effort to be there.
"My own midwife came in to see me and I gave her a big cuddle. I wanted my family with me to come and see Tilly before she died, but my brother-in-law only had a two-seater car so the midwife went all the way from Edinburgh Royal Infirmary to the other side of Edinburgh to collect them.
"We took Tilly to be baptised and after that she passed away."
It was a devastating blow for Viki, who had to undergo counselling to come to terms with the loss and still feels aggrieved that the early warning signs she presented in the weeks before weren't picked up by the nurses.
She says: "The cause of death was put down to the hole in her bowel and necrotising enterocolitis. They did a full investigation and found that no-one was at fault, but I'm convinced that the discharge I had for weeks was my waters slowly leaking out.
"I think Tilly must have been inside me for about two weeks without any fluid, which is why she was so small when she was born because she hadn't developed properly.
"We would just like someone to turn around and say 'I'm sorry, we were wrong' but no-one admitted any fault even though I had been telling them something was wrong for weeks.
"The warning signs were there. I just want an apology."
An independent consultant was brought in to review the case and found no evidence of negligence.
The consultant stated: "Tilly had several risk factors associated with the development of NEC in a full-term baby.
"She was of low weight for her gestational age. She had polycythemia [a rare blood disorder], a recognised association of intrauterine growth restriction.
"There was also prolonged rupture of the membranes . . . I am unable to determine from the case notes whether the paediatricians who were at the delivery were aware that there was the possibility that the membranes had ruptured at 38 weeks or indeed that the obstetric and midwifery staff attending Tilly's delivery considered this likely.
"It is my opinion that Tilly's post-natal management was reasonable. The treatment was given expeditiously. I can find no evidence that failure to apply any treatment might have changed the outcome."
Six years on, NHS Lothian maintains that the treatment Tilly received after she was born was reasonable.
Maria Wilson, chief midwife at NHS Lothian, said: "I would like to express our sincere condolences to Miss O'Donnell. It is always difficult to revisit a case six years on, especially when a formal complaint has never been received. We met with Miss O'Donnell and her family at the time to discuss the circumstances in greater detail, but if any issues remain unresolved or Miss O'Donnell has any unanswered questions, we would be happy to meet with her again."
When Viki's sister Kay-Leigh had her own child, a son called Tyler, a few months later, it was a bittersweet moment for Viki.
She says: "When she had her baby I was glad it was a boy, because a girl would have reminded me too much of Tilly. Even then I couldn't go near him without feeling a lot of pain, but I had to push through it because it was important for us to bond."
It was a bond that seemed to transcend death, for Tyler didn't only bond with Viki but also with the late cousin who could have been so close but who he never got to meet.
"Tyler used to ask for Tilly when he learned to speak. He would say, 'Where's Tilly? Why can't I see her?'.
"We saw him sitting on a step one day apparently talking to himself. We asked him who he was talking to and he said, 'I'm talking to Tilly'."
WHAT IS NECROTISING ENTEROCOLITIS?
NECROTISING enterocolitis, or NEC, happens when the tissues in the intestine become inflamed and start to die. This can lead to a hole in the gut developing, allowing the contents of the intestine to leak into the abdomen and cause a serious infection.
According to Great Ormond Street Chidlren's Hospital in London, NEC can be difficult to diagnose although the condition is becoming more common - most likely because more premature babies are surviving.
Just 10 per cent of cases of NEC are found in full-term babies. Symptoms include problems feeding and a swollen and sore abdomen. NEC is the reason for most surgical emergencies in newborn babies. Operations to close the hole and remove the dead tissue take between 30 minutes and four hours. The vast majority of NEC cases are treated successfully with children going on to lead normal lives.
There is no specific support group for parents of babies with NEC but Bliss, the charity for premature and sick babies, may be able to help. Contact the national family support hotline on 0500 618140 or Bliss Scotland, PO Box 29198, Dunfermline, KY12 2BB, 0845 157 0077 or scotland@ bliss.org.uk.
Edinburgh Evening News
30 April 2010
Viki O'Donnell says the warning signs were there before her daughter's tragic death two days after birth.
Despite being a rare condition which is deeply frightening for the parents of newborns, most babies make a full recovery from NEC. But not all.
MARK McLAUGHLIN speaks to one mum who is still coming to terms with the death of her daughter six years on and why she is still seeking answers
'I LOOK at photos of Tilly now but I couldn't at first," says Viki O'Donnell, reflecting on the child she held for just 48 precious hours.
The photographs are now all she has of her daughter, and while she cherishes the opportunity to see her face every day, the pain that once caused her to hide the photos away has never faded.
Although Viki carried her daughter to full term, Tilly was born underweight, underdeveloped and with a range of illnesses commonly associated with premature births.
Chief among these was necrotising enterocolitis (NEC), an inflammation of the bowel that can cause its contents to leak into the abdomen.
NEC is rare in full-term babies. As Andy Cole, chief executive of Bliss, the charity for premature and sick babies, explains: "NEC is a very serious condition which most commonly affects premature babies. However, ten per cent of NEC cases are found in full-term babies. These cases are often associated with an underlying health issue. It is often difficult to diagnose but can usually be successfully treated either medically or with surgery."
Usually, but not always.
It was a cruel turn of fate for Viki, who had already seen her fair share of heartache since she learned she was pregnant in December 2003.
Viki was only 20 when she met the father of her tragically short-lived daughter on an internet chatroom earlier that year.
"I wasn't looking for a relationship," says Viki, who is now 27 and lives in Penicuik. "We were just chatting but one day he asked to meet up. I wasn't too sure but we had been chatting for a good six or seven months, so I agreed and we met on 27 September, 2003. We really hit it off.
"On 17 December that year, I found out I was pregnant. I was absolutely shocked. It obviously wasn't planned. We weren't serious about each other, we were just having fun.
"I texted him - which probably isn't the best way to tell someone they're going to be a dad - but I didn't receive a reply."
Aside from a couple of apologetic texts and a few vague promises over the term of the pregnancy, Viki never heard from the boy again.
Despite the emotional trauma of facing life as a single mother, the pregnancy went off without a hitch until about three weeks before term when she noticed a watery green discharge.
In two separate tests over the next week, nurses dismissed the greeny liquid first as normal pregnancy discharge and then thrush, but after two weeks the discharge still hadn't stopped.
"I finally got to see a doctor on 16 August, 2004 and he told me that I was 3cm dilated and that I was about to go into labour. When the baby was born, there were no waters.
"The midwife was shocked that it was a dry birth, but Tilly was crying so I thought everything was all right."
Everything was far from all right. Despite her full term, Tilly was found to have a gestation age of just 31-34 weeks and an inflammation of the bowel that required an urgent operation.
Despite the doctors' initial hopes that the operation was a success, her condition soon deteriorated.
"A nurse and two doctors came into my room," Viki continues. "They sat me down and said that they had some bad news. One doctor told me that they didn't think Tilly was going to make it. I wasn't prepared for that.
"He asked if I was in contact with Tilly's dad. I still had his mobile number, but it just went through to answer phone.
"I left him a message saying that if he wanted to see his daughter he better hurry because she was dying, but I never received a reply and he didn't make any effort to be there.
"My own midwife came in to see me and I gave her a big cuddle. I wanted my family with me to come and see Tilly before she died, but my brother-in-law only had a two-seater car so the midwife went all the way from Edinburgh Royal Infirmary to the other side of Edinburgh to collect them.
"We took Tilly to be baptised and after that she passed away."
It was a devastating blow for Viki, who had to undergo counselling to come to terms with the loss and still feels aggrieved that the early warning signs she presented in the weeks before weren't picked up by the nurses.
She says: "The cause of death was put down to the hole in her bowel and necrotising enterocolitis. They did a full investigation and found that no-one was at fault, but I'm convinced that the discharge I had for weeks was my waters slowly leaking out.
"I think Tilly must have been inside me for about two weeks without any fluid, which is why she was so small when she was born because she hadn't developed properly.
"We would just like someone to turn around and say 'I'm sorry, we were wrong' but no-one admitted any fault even though I had been telling them something was wrong for weeks.
"The warning signs were there. I just want an apology."
An independent consultant was brought in to review the case and found no evidence of negligence.
The consultant stated: "Tilly had several risk factors associated with the development of NEC in a full-term baby.
"She was of low weight for her gestational age. She had polycythemia [a rare blood disorder], a recognised association of intrauterine growth restriction.
"There was also prolonged rupture of the membranes . . . I am unable to determine from the case notes whether the paediatricians who were at the delivery were aware that there was the possibility that the membranes had ruptured at 38 weeks or indeed that the obstetric and midwifery staff attending Tilly's delivery considered this likely.
"It is my opinion that Tilly's post-natal management was reasonable. The treatment was given expeditiously. I can find no evidence that failure to apply any treatment might have changed the outcome."
Six years on, NHS Lothian maintains that the treatment Tilly received after she was born was reasonable.
Maria Wilson, chief midwife at NHS Lothian, said: "I would like to express our sincere condolences to Miss O'Donnell. It is always difficult to revisit a case six years on, especially when a formal complaint has never been received. We met with Miss O'Donnell and her family at the time to discuss the circumstances in greater detail, but if any issues remain unresolved or Miss O'Donnell has any unanswered questions, we would be happy to meet with her again."
When Viki's sister Kay-Leigh had her own child, a son called Tyler, a few months later, it was a bittersweet moment for Viki.
She says: "When she had her baby I was glad it was a boy, because a girl would have reminded me too much of Tilly. Even then I couldn't go near him without feeling a lot of pain, but I had to push through it because it was important for us to bond."
It was a bond that seemed to transcend death, for Tyler didn't only bond with Viki but also with the late cousin who could have been so close but who he never got to meet.
"Tyler used to ask for Tilly when he learned to speak. He would say, 'Where's Tilly? Why can't I see her?'.
"We saw him sitting on a step one day apparently talking to himself. We asked him who he was talking to and he said, 'I'm talking to Tilly'."
WHAT IS NECROTISING ENTEROCOLITIS?
NECROTISING enterocolitis, or NEC, happens when the tissues in the intestine become inflamed and start to die. This can lead to a hole in the gut developing, allowing the contents of the intestine to leak into the abdomen and cause a serious infection.
According to Great Ormond Street Chidlren's Hospital in London, NEC can be difficult to diagnose although the condition is becoming more common - most likely because more premature babies are surviving.
Just 10 per cent of cases of NEC are found in full-term babies. Symptoms include problems feeding and a swollen and sore abdomen. NEC is the reason for most surgical emergencies in newborn babies. Operations to close the hole and remove the dead tissue take between 30 minutes and four hours. The vast majority of NEC cases are treated successfully with children going on to lead normal lives.
There is no specific support group for parents of babies with NEC but Bliss, the charity for premature and sick babies, may be able to help. Contact the national family support hotline on 0500 618140 or Bliss Scotland, PO Box 29198, Dunfermline, KY12 2BB, 0845 157 0077 or scotland@ bliss.org.uk.
NEWS: Molar Pregnancy
MARK McLAUGHLIN
Edinburgh Evening News
28 April 2010
Woman hit by rare condition sets fundraising target
LEARNING that you're going to be a mother for the first time is one of the happiest days of a woman's life, but for Helen Sherwood joy soon turned to tragedy.
The 32-year-old human resources officer, who lives in Leith, was over the moon when she discovered she was pregnant after three years of trying, but a scan revealed not only that her pregnancy was abnormal but was in fact a cancerous growth.
Doctors diagnosed a molar pregnancy, a rare condition where an inviable egg is fertilised and develops like a skin growth, and in extremely rare circumstances can become cancerous.
The recovery rate is 99 per cent and most women go on to have children after treatment, but for Helen it was a completely different story.
"After my 12-week scan I was taken straight into surgery to have the growth removed," said Helen.
"I then had to endure a nine-month course of chemotherapy, but all the way through the doctors were telling me how good my chances were.
"They told me that I would go on to have children, and even showed me a baby book featuring mothers who had recovered from a molar pregnancy with their children.
"The chemo was the hardest thing I had ever had to endure but one of things that got me through it was the thought that I would be able to have children at the end."
The chemotherapy ended in December 2006 and Helen was able to spend a happy Christmas with her husband Richard, 34, at their home in Ipswich. But the New Year brought a final devastating blow that ended her hopes for motherhood forever.
"I was told that the chemotherapy hadn't been successful and I was given a choice to either undergo more chemo or have a hysterectomy," added Helen.
"The first round of chemo was so horrific that I didn't think I could go through it all again, but I didn't even want to consider the other option.
"The doctors went away to give me time to decide what to do, but then they came back a few hours later and took the decision out of my hands.
"They told me that I had to have the hysterectomy."
After the operation Helen declined the offer of counselling and returned to work after a month, going against doctors' advice that she should take at least three months off and preferring to rely on her husband and family for solace.
However, she soon found the pressure too hard to bear and, after nine months travelling in Australia and New Zealand, she decided to start a new life with her husband in Edinburgh two years ago.
This weekend, she is set to run the Bupa Great Edinburgh Run for cancer research.
She said: "We're finally starting to feel optimistic about life again, which is why we've decided to start campaigning for cancer research.
"We're raising money for the Cancer Treatment & Research Trust (CTRT), which works closely with the UK specialist centre for molar pregnancies at Charing Cross Hospital in London where I received my treatment."
Helen and Richard are trying to raise GBP 100,000 for a new CTRT research student. To sponsor her visit www.just giving.com/Helen-Sherwood
Edinburgh Evening News
28 April 2010
Woman hit by rare condition sets fundraising target
LEARNING that you're going to be a mother for the first time is one of the happiest days of a woman's life, but for Helen Sherwood joy soon turned to tragedy.
The 32-year-old human resources officer, who lives in Leith, was over the moon when she discovered she was pregnant after three years of trying, but a scan revealed not only that her pregnancy was abnormal but was in fact a cancerous growth.
Doctors diagnosed a molar pregnancy, a rare condition where an inviable egg is fertilised and develops like a skin growth, and in extremely rare circumstances can become cancerous.
The recovery rate is 99 per cent and most women go on to have children after treatment, but for Helen it was a completely different story.
"After my 12-week scan I was taken straight into surgery to have the growth removed," said Helen.
"I then had to endure a nine-month course of chemotherapy, but all the way through the doctors were telling me how good my chances were.
"They told me that I would go on to have children, and even showed me a baby book featuring mothers who had recovered from a molar pregnancy with their children.
"The chemo was the hardest thing I had ever had to endure but one of things that got me through it was the thought that I would be able to have children at the end."
The chemotherapy ended in December 2006 and Helen was able to spend a happy Christmas with her husband Richard, 34, at their home in Ipswich. But the New Year brought a final devastating blow that ended her hopes for motherhood forever.
"I was told that the chemotherapy hadn't been successful and I was given a choice to either undergo more chemo or have a hysterectomy," added Helen.
"The first round of chemo was so horrific that I didn't think I could go through it all again, but I didn't even want to consider the other option.
"The doctors went away to give me time to decide what to do, but then they came back a few hours later and took the decision out of my hands.
"They told me that I had to have the hysterectomy."
After the operation Helen declined the offer of counselling and returned to work after a month, going against doctors' advice that she should take at least three months off and preferring to rely on her husband and family for solace.
However, she soon found the pressure too hard to bear and, after nine months travelling in Australia and New Zealand, she decided to start a new life with her husband in Edinburgh two years ago.
This weekend, she is set to run the Bupa Great Edinburgh Run for cancer research.
She said: "We're finally starting to feel optimistic about life again, which is why we've decided to start campaigning for cancer research.
"We're raising money for the Cancer Treatment & Research Trust (CTRT), which works closely with the UK specialist centre for molar pregnancies at Charing Cross Hospital in London where I received my treatment."
Helen and Richard are trying to raise GBP 100,000 for a new CTRT research student. To sponsor her visit www.just giving.com/Helen-Sherwood
Saturday, 13 March 2010
ANALYSIS: The benefits of coffee, take-aways, booze...and fags?
MARK McLAUGHLIN
Edinburgh Evening News
4 March 2010
IT OFTEN feels like doctors never tire of telling us what we shouldn't be doing. Cut out the booze, ditch the butter, junk the junk food - the list of instructions for healthy living seems endless.
If you feel like the killjoy medical profession is trying to end all your fun, then read on.
A new study has concluded that four cups of coffee a day may actually be good for you - or at least for your heart - after years of warnings about the unpleasant side-effects of all that caffeine.
That research is only the latest to suggest positive results of eating and drinking things often painted as forbidden fruit.
Scientists have recently claimed that everything from chocolate to Chinese takeaways, and from wine to the much-maligned fish supper can be good for you.
It is all, if nothing else, a recipe for confusion.
Nutritionist Sarah Stelling, of the Edinburgh Centre of Nutrition & Therapy in Tollcross, says there is no need to get too hung up about all the dos and don'ts, as long as you remember the rule your mother probably told you - "everything in moderation".
So, if you want any inspiration for a little indulgence, here are a few possibilities.
COFFEE
Cardiologist Dr Arthur Klatsky found those who drank four or more cups of coffee each day had an 18 per cent lower risk of heart rhythm disturbances.
Dr Klatsky told the American Heart Association's 50th annual conference in San Francisco this week: "Coffee drinking is related to lower risk of hospitalisation for rhythm problems, but the association does not prove cause and effect, or that coffee has a protective effect.
"However, these data might be reassuring to people who drink moderate amounts of coffee that their habit is not likely to cause a major rhythm disturbance."
A report from the Univer- sidad Autonoma de Madrid in Spain showed that drinking three cups of coffee a day could reduce the risk of women dying from heart disease by a quarter.
Another showed that men who drank five or more cups of coffee were 44 per cent less likely to die from the disease.
Drinking two to three cups of coffee a day was also shown to reduce the risk of a stroke by almost 20 per cent.
Experts at the Tohoku University School of Medicine in Japan concluded certain chemicals found in caffeine protect the body's DNA against damage that can lead to cancer.
CHOCOLATE
A new study has found that a bar of chocolate a week could reduce your chances of a stroke.
The study, conducted by the University of Toronto and set to go before The American Academy of Neurology's 62nd annual meeting next month, found that chocolate-eaters were 22 per cent less likely to suffer a stroke.
Author Sarah Sahib puts the results down to the anti-oxidant flavanoids. She said: "More research is needed to determine whether chocolate truly lowers stroke risk, or whether healthier people are simply more likely to eat chocolate than others."
RED WINE
Red wine holds an almost mythic reputation as an elixir of health and there is some scientific evidence to back up the myth.
A study by Barts, the London School of Medicine and the Queen Mary University in London highlighted a mechanism in red wine that appeared to interfere with a body chemical responsible for clogging up the arteries.
Research by the Institute of Preventive Medicine in Copenhagen showed that a daily glass of red wine increased good cholesterol by up to 16 per cent, and reduced the clotting compound fibrinogen by up to 15 per cent.
WHITE WINE
White wine has also been shown to have some beneficial effects, with a 2008 study by the University of Buffalo suggesting that while both red and white wine can bolster lung function, white wine seems to have a more positive effect.
CHINESE TAKEAWAYS
While a recent study by Edinburgh City Council found that 87 per cent of Chinese restaurant dishes, and 60 per cent of Indian restaurant dishes, served in the city contained over 3g of salt - half the recommended daily intake - its study did throw up some surprising results.
There were a few low-salt options including a lamb pasanda with 1.81g of salt, and a chicken korma with 1.91g.
Oriental food is also packed with health-promoting ingredients.
A 2006 study by the University of Michigan suggested that ginger could kill cancer cells, while a 2007 study by the University of Alabama found that allicin, found in garlic, relaxes the blood vessels and keeps blood flowing (as well as being chiefly responsible for garlic breath).
FISH & CHIPS
The Seafish Authority promotes the benefits of eating two portions of seafood a week and says there is no reason why a fish supper should not be one of them.
"The minerals and vitamins in seafood promote clearer skin, shinier hair, higher energy levels and can even boost your brain power," says a spokesman for the authority.
TOBACCO
OK, we're labouring the point now, but a book by controversial medic Dr William Campbell Douglass entitled The Health Benefits of Tobacco claims it "sharpens mental acuity and maintains optimal weight" while pointing out that "many of the countries that smoke the most, have the longest lifespan".
Dr Douglass also believes that HIV was created by the World Health Organisation to keep the population down, so you can make up your own mind on his theories.
Edinburgh Evening News
4 March 2010
IT OFTEN feels like doctors never tire of telling us what we shouldn't be doing. Cut out the booze, ditch the butter, junk the junk food - the list of instructions for healthy living seems endless.
If you feel like the killjoy medical profession is trying to end all your fun, then read on.
A new study has concluded that four cups of coffee a day may actually be good for you - or at least for your heart - after years of warnings about the unpleasant side-effects of all that caffeine.
That research is only the latest to suggest positive results of eating and drinking things often painted as forbidden fruit.
Scientists have recently claimed that everything from chocolate to Chinese takeaways, and from wine to the much-maligned fish supper can be good for you.
It is all, if nothing else, a recipe for confusion.
Nutritionist Sarah Stelling, of the Edinburgh Centre of Nutrition & Therapy in Tollcross, says there is no need to get too hung up about all the dos and don'ts, as long as you remember the rule your mother probably told you - "everything in moderation".
So, if you want any inspiration for a little indulgence, here are a few possibilities.
COFFEE
Cardiologist Dr Arthur Klatsky found those who drank four or more cups of coffee each day had an 18 per cent lower risk of heart rhythm disturbances.
Dr Klatsky told the American Heart Association's 50th annual conference in San Francisco this week: "Coffee drinking is related to lower risk of hospitalisation for rhythm problems, but the association does not prove cause and effect, or that coffee has a protective effect.
"However, these data might be reassuring to people who drink moderate amounts of coffee that their habit is not likely to cause a major rhythm disturbance."
A report from the Univer- sidad Autonoma de Madrid in Spain showed that drinking three cups of coffee a day could reduce the risk of women dying from heart disease by a quarter.
Another showed that men who drank five or more cups of coffee were 44 per cent less likely to die from the disease.
Drinking two to three cups of coffee a day was also shown to reduce the risk of a stroke by almost 20 per cent.
Experts at the Tohoku University School of Medicine in Japan concluded certain chemicals found in caffeine protect the body's DNA against damage that can lead to cancer.
CHOCOLATE
A new study has found that a bar of chocolate a week could reduce your chances of a stroke.
The study, conducted by the University of Toronto and set to go before The American Academy of Neurology's 62nd annual meeting next month, found that chocolate-eaters were 22 per cent less likely to suffer a stroke.
Author Sarah Sahib puts the results down to the anti-oxidant flavanoids. She said: "More research is needed to determine whether chocolate truly lowers stroke risk, or whether healthier people are simply more likely to eat chocolate than others."
RED WINE
Red wine holds an almost mythic reputation as an elixir of health and there is some scientific evidence to back up the myth.
A study by Barts, the London School of Medicine and the Queen Mary University in London highlighted a mechanism in red wine that appeared to interfere with a body chemical responsible for clogging up the arteries.
Research by the Institute of Preventive Medicine in Copenhagen showed that a daily glass of red wine increased good cholesterol by up to 16 per cent, and reduced the clotting compound fibrinogen by up to 15 per cent.
WHITE WINE
White wine has also been shown to have some beneficial effects, with a 2008 study by the University of Buffalo suggesting that while both red and white wine can bolster lung function, white wine seems to have a more positive effect.
CHINESE TAKEAWAYS
While a recent study by Edinburgh City Council found that 87 per cent of Chinese restaurant dishes, and 60 per cent of Indian restaurant dishes, served in the city contained over 3g of salt - half the recommended daily intake - its study did throw up some surprising results.
There were a few low-salt options including a lamb pasanda with 1.81g of salt, and a chicken korma with 1.91g.
Oriental food is also packed with health-promoting ingredients.
A 2006 study by the University of Michigan suggested that ginger could kill cancer cells, while a 2007 study by the University of Alabama found that allicin, found in garlic, relaxes the blood vessels and keeps blood flowing (as well as being chiefly responsible for garlic breath).
FISH & CHIPS
The Seafish Authority promotes the benefits of eating two portions of seafood a week and says there is no reason why a fish supper should not be one of them.
"The minerals and vitamins in seafood promote clearer skin, shinier hair, higher energy levels and can even boost your brain power," says a spokesman for the authority.
TOBACCO
OK, we're labouring the point now, but a book by controversial medic Dr William Campbell Douglass entitled The Health Benefits of Tobacco claims it "sharpens mental acuity and maintains optimal weight" while pointing out that "many of the countries that smoke the most, have the longest lifespan".
Dr Douglass also believes that HIV was created by the World Health Organisation to keep the population down, so you can make up your own mind on his theories.
Sunday, 14 February 2010
FEATURES: Hope for Life
By MARK McLAUGHLIN
Edinburgh Evening News
22 January 2010
IT WAS the day Anna Thomson and her fiance Garry feared they would never see.
As the childhood sweethearts walked down the aisle between seated rows of their family and friends at The George Hotel, it was hard to keep their emotions in check.
Then, Anna took Garry's hand and began the traditional vows that the couple had decided upon, only stopping after the words "in sickness and in health".
And there the vows ended. Somehow, the final words - "till death us do part" - didn't seem necessary.
Three months earlier, doctors had told Anna that she had at most two years to live, and that she may be lucky to survive more than a few months. What had begun as unexplained exhaustion in late 2007, eventually turned out to be Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
"It all started in my final year at Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen," recalls the friendly 23-year-old.
"I was just so tired all the time. By the time I'd finished the ten-minute walk to uni I was knackered. I had to have a nap at my desk.
"I went to the doctor and she said it was probably just stress. I was in my final year at uni, preparing a dissertation and working part-time as a home-help so I could see where she was coming from, but I've been stressed before so I knew that wasn't it.
"I kept going back to her saying something was seriously wrong, but she just prescribed me anxiety tablets."
But during a visit home in early 2008, she went to see her family doctor in Edinburgh, who suspected there may be more to her illness and recommended an X-ray.
"I went back to Aberdeen and asked my doctor to schedule an X-ray but she just laughed at me and gave me more tablets."
Anna's health though was going from bad to worse and soon she had no choice but to return once more to her GP.
"I was being sick every half an hour, and the only thing that stopped the vomiting was sleep. Then I developed a rash on my leg. There was a meningitis scare at uni at the time so I went to the doctor to check it out.
"It was a different doctor this time and he told me that I didn't have meningitis, but that there was something wrong with my chest.
"He couldn't locate my heartbeat."
On 7 April 2008 Anna finally got her X-ray - and it uncovered a tumour the size of a cigarette packet nestling between her ribcage and her lung. It was so large that it had pushed her heart out of position.
"When they first told me about it they didn't say I had cancer," she goes on. "They used the name Hodgkin's Lymphoma, which I actually thought was a bug.
"They said a really high percentage of people recover from it after treatment so I didn't think it was a big deal.
"Then they started talking about chemotherapy and radiotherapy and I asked, 'isn't that what they use to treat cancer?', and they were like, 'well...yeah!'. I felt numb."
Anna went on to endure three courses of therapy in the following year, each one more painful and sickening than the last.
But each time the tumour returned, and in February last year she was presented with an agonising ultimatum.
"They offered me another course of chemo and I asked them if it was going to work this time," she says, choking back the tears. "They said I was going to die either way.
"The doctors said there was a 20 per cent chance it would work, and even if it did, the longest I would be expected to survive is two years.
"If it didn't work I was told I may only have a couple of months."
Anna went home to talk it over with Garry, 23, a music engineer, who she started seeing when they were 15-year-olds at Trinity High.
Garry took her for a picnic in the Botanics and proposed.
"I felt happy," she says. "I knew he wasn't doing it because I was dying because we'd been going out since school. It was the right time.
"I had my reservations though as we both knew there was a big chance that he would soon become a widower."
With Garry's support Anna decided to go for the last ditch chemotherapy, in the knowledge that it may do little more than fill their last few months together with yet more misery and sickness.
But then something wonderful happened.
The treatment began to work, better than anyone could have hoped, offering a glimmer of hope.
On 3 May last year, thanks to Garry's organisational work and the patience and understanding of hotel staff, they got married.
"It must have been hard for them to plan a wedding around my treatment but they were fantastic," says Anna.
"We had the ceremony and did the wedding photos, and then they scheduled time for me to go for a nap before the reception.
"We said the traditional vows but we dropped the phrase 'till death do us part', because we didn't want death to be anywhere near us that day."
Today, the couple live in Inverleith, close to the spot where Garry professed his undying love. Anna sits watching their cats Charlie and Misty chase shadows on the floor, and fidgets, dissatisfied, with her pixie-cut hair. "It's not a style I would have chosen," she admits, despite its elegance.
"My hair is still growing back from the therapy. I just want to be able to tie it up again."
It is a sign of progress though that she can style her own hair after months wearing wigs. "I've got ten, including a pink one, a short red one, a bob, a straight wig, a wavy wig and a long curly wig that I wore to my wedding," she says. "I've got a wig for every occasion."
Anna is currently enjoying the longest spell of good health she's experienced since university.
"I've been doing so well recently that my consultant says that there's a chance I could make a full recovery," she beams, with a glint of hope in her eyes.
"I don't want to say that I feel totally fine now in case something bad happens, but I don't feel sick and tired any more. I haven't had a scan in a while but the doctors said as long as I continue to feel good it's probably best to avoid it in case it throws up some bad news.
"I just want to enjoy our life together for the time being without worrying about what the future may bring."
'I THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD CAUSE, SO I WENT FOR IT'
ANNA is currently in training for Edinburgh's Cancer Research UK Race for Life on Sunday 13 June.
Race for Life 2010 is the UK's largest women-only fundraising event series where all the money raised goes to fund Cancer Research UK's life-saving work.
Anna says: "I first did the Race For Life in 2007, not long before I started getting sick strangely enough.
"I wasn't really running it with anyone in particular in mind. A few friends were doing it and I thought it was a good cause, so I went for it.
"I wanted to do it again in 2008 but I was far too sick, but I managed to walk it last year. Garry and his family came along to cheer me on, and it was a great atmosphere.
"All of the money raised through the Race For Life helps to fund research into cures. It's hard to say how the Race For Life has impacted me directly but I suppose all of the treatment I received developed as the result of research funded through charities like this."
Women in Edinburgh can enter Cancer Research UK's Race for Life at www.raceforlife.org or by calling 0871-641 1111 0871-641 1111 .
Edinburgh Evening News
22 January 2010
IT WAS the day Anna Thomson and her fiance Garry feared they would never see.
As the childhood sweethearts walked down the aisle between seated rows of their family and friends at The George Hotel, it was hard to keep their emotions in check.
Then, Anna took Garry's hand and began the traditional vows that the couple had decided upon, only stopping after the words "in sickness and in health".
And there the vows ended. Somehow, the final words - "till death us do part" - didn't seem necessary.
Three months earlier, doctors had told Anna that she had at most two years to live, and that she may be lucky to survive more than a few months. What had begun as unexplained exhaustion in late 2007, eventually turned out to be Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
"It all started in my final year at Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen," recalls the friendly 23-year-old.
"I was just so tired all the time. By the time I'd finished the ten-minute walk to uni I was knackered. I had to have a nap at my desk.
"I went to the doctor and she said it was probably just stress. I was in my final year at uni, preparing a dissertation and working part-time as a home-help so I could see where she was coming from, but I've been stressed before so I knew that wasn't it.
"I kept going back to her saying something was seriously wrong, but she just prescribed me anxiety tablets."
But during a visit home in early 2008, she went to see her family doctor in Edinburgh, who suspected there may be more to her illness and recommended an X-ray.
"I went back to Aberdeen and asked my doctor to schedule an X-ray but she just laughed at me and gave me more tablets."
Anna's health though was going from bad to worse and soon she had no choice but to return once more to her GP.
"I was being sick every half an hour, and the only thing that stopped the vomiting was sleep. Then I developed a rash on my leg. There was a meningitis scare at uni at the time so I went to the doctor to check it out.
"It was a different doctor this time and he told me that I didn't have meningitis, but that there was something wrong with my chest.
"He couldn't locate my heartbeat."
On 7 April 2008 Anna finally got her X-ray - and it uncovered a tumour the size of a cigarette packet nestling between her ribcage and her lung. It was so large that it had pushed her heart out of position.
"When they first told me about it they didn't say I had cancer," she goes on. "They used the name Hodgkin's Lymphoma, which I actually thought was a bug.
"They said a really high percentage of people recover from it after treatment so I didn't think it was a big deal.
"Then they started talking about chemotherapy and radiotherapy and I asked, 'isn't that what they use to treat cancer?', and they were like, 'well...yeah!'. I felt numb."
Anna went on to endure three courses of therapy in the following year, each one more painful and sickening than the last.
But each time the tumour returned, and in February last year she was presented with an agonising ultimatum.
"They offered me another course of chemo and I asked them if it was going to work this time," she says, choking back the tears. "They said I was going to die either way.
"The doctors said there was a 20 per cent chance it would work, and even if it did, the longest I would be expected to survive is two years.
"If it didn't work I was told I may only have a couple of months."
Anna went home to talk it over with Garry, 23, a music engineer, who she started seeing when they were 15-year-olds at Trinity High.
Garry took her for a picnic in the Botanics and proposed.
"I felt happy," she says. "I knew he wasn't doing it because I was dying because we'd been going out since school. It was the right time.
"I had my reservations though as we both knew there was a big chance that he would soon become a widower."
With Garry's support Anna decided to go for the last ditch chemotherapy, in the knowledge that it may do little more than fill their last few months together with yet more misery and sickness.
But then something wonderful happened.
The treatment began to work, better than anyone could have hoped, offering a glimmer of hope.
On 3 May last year, thanks to Garry's organisational work and the patience and understanding of hotel staff, they got married.
"It must have been hard for them to plan a wedding around my treatment but they were fantastic," says Anna.
"We had the ceremony and did the wedding photos, and then they scheduled time for me to go for a nap before the reception.
"We said the traditional vows but we dropped the phrase 'till death do us part', because we didn't want death to be anywhere near us that day."
Today, the couple live in Inverleith, close to the spot where Garry professed his undying love. Anna sits watching their cats Charlie and Misty chase shadows on the floor, and fidgets, dissatisfied, with her pixie-cut hair. "It's not a style I would have chosen," she admits, despite its elegance.
"My hair is still growing back from the therapy. I just want to be able to tie it up again."
It is a sign of progress though that she can style her own hair after months wearing wigs. "I've got ten, including a pink one, a short red one, a bob, a straight wig, a wavy wig and a long curly wig that I wore to my wedding," she says. "I've got a wig for every occasion."
Anna is currently enjoying the longest spell of good health she's experienced since university.
"I've been doing so well recently that my consultant says that there's a chance I could make a full recovery," she beams, with a glint of hope in her eyes.
"I don't want to say that I feel totally fine now in case something bad happens, but I don't feel sick and tired any more. I haven't had a scan in a while but the doctors said as long as I continue to feel good it's probably best to avoid it in case it throws up some bad news.
"I just want to enjoy our life together for the time being without worrying about what the future may bring."
'I THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD CAUSE, SO I WENT FOR IT'
ANNA is currently in training for Edinburgh's Cancer Research UK Race for Life on Sunday 13 June.
Race for Life 2010 is the UK's largest women-only fundraising event series where all the money raised goes to fund Cancer Research UK's life-saving work.
Anna says: "I first did the Race For Life in 2007, not long before I started getting sick strangely enough.
"I wasn't really running it with anyone in particular in mind. A few friends were doing it and I thought it was a good cause, so I went for it.
"I wanted to do it again in 2008 but I was far too sick, but I managed to walk it last year. Garry and his family came along to cheer me on, and it was a great atmosphere.
"All of the money raised through the Race For Life helps to fund research into cures. It's hard to say how the Race For Life has impacted me directly but I suppose all of the treatment I received developed as the result of research funded through charities like this."
Women in Edinburgh can enter Cancer Research UK's Race for Life at www.raceforlife.org or by calling 0871-641 1111 0871-641 1111 .
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
FEATURE: From Cannabis to Chaos
Anyone who thinks cannabis use isn't harmful should read this and take note. Whether you believe it causes psychological damage or not, you're bound to run into some dodgy and often desperate people who are selling it at some point along the chain, just like Nicole.
By MARK McLAUGHLIN
Edinburgh Evening News
21 October 2009
A SUNNY day during the summer holidays and a group of giggly teenagers squash together on a park bench. As they chat – about boys, teachers, fashion – one produces a cannabis joint and lights it, before offering it around.
Laughing, they all take turns having a puff. Just another rebellious rite of passage, like that first sip of alcohol or drag on a cigarette, given a slightly more delicious edge because it is illegal.
But for Nicole Carter, then 14 in the summer of 1989 and one of the teenagers in that park in West Linton, that first smoke was the beginning of a 20-year mental health nightmare from which she is only just emerging. Later diagnosed with bipolar disorder, characterised by violent mood swings and deep depression, she is in no doubt that cannabis is to blame.
"I can't emphasise enough the damaging effect that cannabis had on my life," says the 34-year-old, originally from Penicuik. "It was just so easily available when I was growing up.
"That first time when I tried it made me feel quite sick at first, but I persevered because being bad was an extreme sport for me. My dad was a policeman and my mum never touched anything like that."
Up until then, she'd had a happy childhood. Her father Harry served in The Royal Scots Greys under soldier and adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, before becoming a policeman. Her mother Rosina was a playground assistant at Mauricewood Primary, her first school, and a community centre volunteer.
"She was always around in the playground playing games like dodgeball and hockey, and after school she'd take me and my younger brothers, twins Iain and David, to the community centre so we always had loads of friends," she says.
But relations with her family went rapidly downhill after that first puff of cannabis. Nicole, by then a pupil at Beeslack High School, began smoking the drug every weekend. "I started to become aggressive and paranoid. I remember one time in third year when I thought there were sharks in the school swimming pool. I eventually managed to rationalise but I'll never forget the feeling of imminent fear I had in the pool.
"I started losing interest in school and when my mum found out she wasn't pleased to say the least.
"Things weren't going well at home and then my dad left, which didn't help matters but it wasn't the source of my problems. By that time I just didn't care any more."
She began to enter a murky world. "The cannabis also brought me into contact with a drug dealer. He was about 21 and he had a bit of a reputation as the kind of guy you don't mess around with. I passed him in the street one day and he asked if he could walk me home.
"I should have wondered why a 21-year-old guy wanted to walk a 15-year-old home, but I was flattered that he noticed me. He knew exactly what he was doing – and we kissed on the way home.
"About a week later I was at a party and there was only me and another girl and whole group of guys. He took me up to the bedroom and I have to admit I was a bit curious about sex because of all the things we had been taught about.
"I was a virgin at the time and while I was curious I didn't want to have sex, but when he got his hands on me he started ordering me around. He was very dictatorial and I was scared of him so I just did everything he told me to do."
At the time she didn't tell anyone what had happened. "I had to go to rape counselling and get pregnancy and HIV tests by myself, which is a lot to handle when you're 15. I stopped smoking cannabis after that."
Within a couple of years her mother remarried and her new stepfather, Bill Cargill, began to reintroduce some stability in her life. She retook some of her highers at college and got a steady job at Standard Life. However, life soon began to unravel again.
"I had already started smoking cannabis again in an effort to get my life into some kind of perspective. I began to feel angry at all of the things that happened in my teens, almost like delayed post-traumatic stress, so I quit my job and ran away to Amsterdam.
"Ironically, I smoked less in Amsterdam than I did in Scotland because I was holding down two jobs as a kitchen porter in an Irish bar and a cleaner at a hostel.
"I came back in 1997 but rather than return home to my parents I decided to become homeless. I checked into the Cranston Street hostel, which was . . . interesting.
"Most of the women in there had drug and alcohol problems, and had been abused or raped.
"It sickened me how prevalent rape seemed to be and how many men seemed to get away with it, so I finally reported my own rape, but the police said too much time had passed. They questioned the dealer but he denied it, so that was that."
Nicole got a job as a silver service waitress and ended up working as a waitress at the Queen's garden party at Holyrood House.
"I still laugh at the irony of this homeless waif handing out hors d'oeuvre to the guests."
By now she was using cannabis again. "I've rarely ever paid for cannabis because it's always been so readily available. There were always guys offering me joints and most of the time it was their way of making girls easy.
"I started getting paranoid again and I used to think people were either angels or demons, and that I was able to see it in their eyes.
"I got a job at the Edinburgh Rock cafe around this time too and I had to be restrained from throwing myself off the roof. I was just standing on the edge and I decided I would just let myself fall, but someone pulled me back. It was a suicide attempt and I put the blame solely on cannabis.
"I wasn't eating and I became seriously malnourished, so on top of my bipolar disorder I was suffering from hallucinations and I was admitted to hospital.
"When I got out I started a university degree in applied bio-sciences and I starting seeing a guy called Steven. We weren't really right for each other and shortly after we split up he died of complications related to his diabetes. He was only 21.
"Even though I'd only been seeing him for a week I began to get terrible feelings of guilt.
"I dropped out of the course and . . . " She stops mid-sentence and her face suddenly drops. She puts her hand to her face. What she's trying to say is that at the age of 23 she was sexually assaulted again and spent the rest of her 20s going from hospital to hostel.
She adds: "One thing I've noticed about every psychiatric hospital I've ever been to is that they seem to put the predatory men in the same ward as the vulnerable women, and the horrible women in with the vulnerable men.
"I've raised it with the staff and they all give me the same excuse – there's not enough beds. I just want to break out of this vicious cycle."
Now, though, she's hoping she's done just that. She's staying at the city council's Colinton Mains House, supported temporary accommodation.
"Some of my worst periods in life were brought by my desire to have children. One of the side-effects of my medication is the risk that it will give my child spina-bifida if I was ever to become pregnant, so I kept taking myself off the medication and then end up at square one.
"The staff at Colinton Mains House have been amazing. They've helped me realise that my medication is necessary and helped me cope with the side effects."
She is also writing poetry, with the inspiration drawn from some of her most troubled times and has just had some work published.
"Now I'm looking forward to the future. But anyone that says cannabis doesn't cause mental illness doesn't have a clue what they're talking about."
Poems By Nicole Carter: Volume One is available from Colinton Mains House on 0131 441 2719.
BAD INFLUENCE
CANNABIS – also known as dope, grass, marijuana, hash or pot – is the most widely used illegal Class-B drug in Britain, either as parts of the herb, or as the resin, hashish. It is harvested from the plant cannabis sativa, and the main active compound is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
Researchers estimate there were about 321,352 recreational drug users smoking or ingesting cannabis in Scotland in 2006, and the number continues to rise. In recent years drugs hauls worth millions have been discovered in the Capital. About 100 cannabis farms have been closed across the country in the past 12 months.
Some of those who use the drug, which has a strong and distinctive smell, can become anxious, panicky, suspicious or paranoid.
It also affects coordination, which is one of the reasons why driving under its influence is just as illegal as drink driving.
As it is usually smoked, often mixed with unfiltered tobacco– and is frequently adulterated with other chemicals – it can cause lung disease, and cancer in the case of long-term or heavy use.
Cannabis itself affects many different systems in the body. It increases the heart rate and can affect blood pressure.
Those with a history of mental health problems are especially advised not to smoke cannabis. It can cause paranoia in the short term and spark a relapse for those with psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia.
It is also thought that frequent use of cannabis can cut a man's sperm count, reduce sperm motility, and can suppress ovulation in women.
By MARK McLAUGHLIN
Edinburgh Evening News
21 October 2009
A SUNNY day during the summer holidays and a group of giggly teenagers squash together on a park bench. As they chat – about boys, teachers, fashion – one produces a cannabis joint and lights it, before offering it around.
Laughing, they all take turns having a puff. Just another rebellious rite of passage, like that first sip of alcohol or drag on a cigarette, given a slightly more delicious edge because it is illegal.
But for Nicole Carter, then 14 in the summer of 1989 and one of the teenagers in that park in West Linton, that first smoke was the beginning of a 20-year mental health nightmare from which she is only just emerging. Later diagnosed with bipolar disorder, characterised by violent mood swings and deep depression, she is in no doubt that cannabis is to blame.
"I can't emphasise enough the damaging effect that cannabis had on my life," says the 34-year-old, originally from Penicuik. "It was just so easily available when I was growing up.
"That first time when I tried it made me feel quite sick at first, but I persevered because being bad was an extreme sport for me. My dad was a policeman and my mum never touched anything like that."
Up until then, she'd had a happy childhood. Her father Harry served in The Royal Scots Greys under soldier and adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, before becoming a policeman. Her mother Rosina was a playground assistant at Mauricewood Primary, her first school, and a community centre volunteer.
"She was always around in the playground playing games like dodgeball and hockey, and after school she'd take me and my younger brothers, twins Iain and David, to the community centre so we always had loads of friends," she says.
But relations with her family went rapidly downhill after that first puff of cannabis. Nicole, by then a pupil at Beeslack High School, began smoking the drug every weekend. "I started to become aggressive and paranoid. I remember one time in third year when I thought there were sharks in the school swimming pool. I eventually managed to rationalise but I'll never forget the feeling of imminent fear I had in the pool.
"I started losing interest in school and when my mum found out she wasn't pleased to say the least.
"Things weren't going well at home and then my dad left, which didn't help matters but it wasn't the source of my problems. By that time I just didn't care any more."
She began to enter a murky world. "The cannabis also brought me into contact with a drug dealer. He was about 21 and he had a bit of a reputation as the kind of guy you don't mess around with. I passed him in the street one day and he asked if he could walk me home.
"I should have wondered why a 21-year-old guy wanted to walk a 15-year-old home, but I was flattered that he noticed me. He knew exactly what he was doing – and we kissed on the way home.
"About a week later I was at a party and there was only me and another girl and whole group of guys. He took me up to the bedroom and I have to admit I was a bit curious about sex because of all the things we had been taught about.
"I was a virgin at the time and while I was curious I didn't want to have sex, but when he got his hands on me he started ordering me around. He was very dictatorial and I was scared of him so I just did everything he told me to do."
At the time she didn't tell anyone what had happened. "I had to go to rape counselling and get pregnancy and HIV tests by myself, which is a lot to handle when you're 15. I stopped smoking cannabis after that."
Within a couple of years her mother remarried and her new stepfather, Bill Cargill, began to reintroduce some stability in her life. She retook some of her highers at college and got a steady job at Standard Life. However, life soon began to unravel again.
"I had already started smoking cannabis again in an effort to get my life into some kind of perspective. I began to feel angry at all of the things that happened in my teens, almost like delayed post-traumatic stress, so I quit my job and ran away to Amsterdam.
"Ironically, I smoked less in Amsterdam than I did in Scotland because I was holding down two jobs as a kitchen porter in an Irish bar and a cleaner at a hostel.
"I came back in 1997 but rather than return home to my parents I decided to become homeless. I checked into the Cranston Street hostel, which was . . . interesting.
"Most of the women in there had drug and alcohol problems, and had been abused or raped.
"It sickened me how prevalent rape seemed to be and how many men seemed to get away with it, so I finally reported my own rape, but the police said too much time had passed. They questioned the dealer but he denied it, so that was that."
Nicole got a job as a silver service waitress and ended up working as a waitress at the Queen's garden party at Holyrood House.
"I still laugh at the irony of this homeless waif handing out hors d'oeuvre to the guests."
By now she was using cannabis again. "I've rarely ever paid for cannabis because it's always been so readily available. There were always guys offering me joints and most of the time it was their way of making girls easy.
"I started getting paranoid again and I used to think people were either angels or demons, and that I was able to see it in their eyes.
"I got a job at the Edinburgh Rock cafe around this time too and I had to be restrained from throwing myself off the roof. I was just standing on the edge and I decided I would just let myself fall, but someone pulled me back. It was a suicide attempt and I put the blame solely on cannabis.
"I wasn't eating and I became seriously malnourished, so on top of my bipolar disorder I was suffering from hallucinations and I was admitted to hospital.
"When I got out I started a university degree in applied bio-sciences and I starting seeing a guy called Steven. We weren't really right for each other and shortly after we split up he died of complications related to his diabetes. He was only 21.
"Even though I'd only been seeing him for a week I began to get terrible feelings of guilt.
"I dropped out of the course and . . . " She stops mid-sentence and her face suddenly drops. She puts her hand to her face. What she's trying to say is that at the age of 23 she was sexually assaulted again and spent the rest of her 20s going from hospital to hostel.
She adds: "One thing I've noticed about every psychiatric hospital I've ever been to is that they seem to put the predatory men in the same ward as the vulnerable women, and the horrible women in with the vulnerable men.
"I've raised it with the staff and they all give me the same excuse – there's not enough beds. I just want to break out of this vicious cycle."
Now, though, she's hoping she's done just that. She's staying at the city council's Colinton Mains House, supported temporary accommodation.
"Some of my worst periods in life were brought by my desire to have children. One of the side-effects of my medication is the risk that it will give my child spina-bifida if I was ever to become pregnant, so I kept taking myself off the medication and then end up at square one.
"The staff at Colinton Mains House have been amazing. They've helped me realise that my medication is necessary and helped me cope with the side effects."
She is also writing poetry, with the inspiration drawn from some of her most troubled times and has just had some work published.
"Now I'm looking forward to the future. But anyone that says cannabis doesn't cause mental illness doesn't have a clue what they're talking about."
Poems By Nicole Carter: Volume One is available from Colinton Mains House on 0131 441 2719.
BAD INFLUENCE
CANNABIS – also known as dope, grass, marijuana, hash or pot – is the most widely used illegal Class-B drug in Britain, either as parts of the herb, or as the resin, hashish. It is harvested from the plant cannabis sativa, and the main active compound is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
Researchers estimate there were about 321,352 recreational drug users smoking or ingesting cannabis in Scotland in 2006, and the number continues to rise. In recent years drugs hauls worth millions have been discovered in the Capital. About 100 cannabis farms have been closed across the country in the past 12 months.
Some of those who use the drug, which has a strong and distinctive smell, can become anxious, panicky, suspicious or paranoid.
It also affects coordination, which is one of the reasons why driving under its influence is just as illegal as drink driving.
As it is usually smoked, often mixed with unfiltered tobacco– and is frequently adulterated with other chemicals – it can cause lung disease, and cancer in the case of long-term or heavy use.
Cannabis itself affects many different systems in the body. It increases the heart rate and can affect blood pressure.
Those with a history of mental health problems are especially advised not to smoke cannabis. It can cause paranoia in the short term and spark a relapse for those with psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia.
It is also thought that frequent use of cannabis can cut a man's sperm count, reduce sperm motility, and can suppress ovulation in women.
Monday, 19 October 2009
FEATURE: Different Strokes
Mark McLaughlin
Edinburgh Evening News
September 23, 2009
IT seemed like any other Saturday morning to Angie MacLeod as she lived out her dream of working in Australia.
The 29-year-old PR executive was looking forward to meeting a friend for syrup and pancakes on Sydney's harbour front.
She was surprised to find she felt quite queasy. She had not drunk that much wine the night before as she watched football in a bar with friends. But that was not going to stop her getting up and launching herself into the day. Only no sooner had she stepped out of bed in her shared flat than she collapsed.
"I got out of bed and fell over, hitting my head on the table on the way down.
"I remember lying on the floor thinking how strange it was that I couldn't move my left side, so I managed to reach my phone with my good arm and phone my boyfriend for help," she recalls.
"He could barely understand me because I was slurring my speech so much, but he figured out what was going on and phoned my flatmate, who obviously hadn't heard me falling out of bed.
"I could hear my flatmate's phone ringing, and ringing away in the next room for what seemed like a very long time.
"Eventually my flatmate came running through and managed to get me back into bed, with a great deal of effort because it's not easy to lift an adult with half a dead weight down one side. I fell out of bed again and my flatmate called the ambulance."
The former Mary Erskine's pupil had recently moved out to Australia, having switched her London PR job for one in Sydney.
She was an active and sporty 29-year-old - who had just started learning to surf - and neither she nor her parents, Calum and Beth, back home in Edinburgh, had any worries about her health.
No-one - least of all Angie - thought for a second she might have suffered a stroke.
"I was only 29, the thought just didn't enter our heads," she says.
"When we found out what happened my flatmate felt really guilty for not phoning the ambulance sooner, because I now know that every second is vital in the diagnosis and treatment of stroke, but at the time we didn't know what was going on so she had no reason to feel guilty."
As she was being taken to hospital, Angie remembers asking for her contraceptive pill. "It's strange the things that go through your mind.
"Ironically, the pill may have had something to do with the stroke. Every woman knows that the pill has the potential to cause deep vein thrombosis, but the risk of stroke is so minute that they don't even put it on the side-effects. However, combined with my congenital condition that narrowed my arteries I ended up getting a thrombosis in my brain and that's what caused the stroke."
At hospital, Angie was surprised to be asked by the doctor whether she had seen her face that day - one side had drooped dramatically, a telltale sign of a stroke.
Even then, thinking strokes only happened to older people, she didn't guess she may have had one.
After being treated with morphine for the pain, doctors broke the news to her that not only had she suffered a stroke, but she might never walk again.
Angie, who is able to smile now as she looks back, adds: "The doctors also thought the stroke had affected my eyesight until they realised that I didn't have my glasses on, which I thought was quite funny at the time."
Her parents flew out to Sydney to be with her until she was transferred back to the Astley Ainslie hospital. The physios in Australia had started some work, but the real slog began when she returned home to Edinburgh.
She had to face it without her boyfriend, as the couple split shortly after her stroke, unable to cope with their changed circumstances.
"Despite being told I would never walk again I managed to get back on my feet.
"The trouble with strokes is you just never know how it will affect you, and being on my feet for the first time after a stroke was just a bizarre experience.
"Once I regained some of my mobility I was taken to the adapted ski slopes in Aviemore, which was tremendous, but also strange because of the complete contrast with the experience with the life I had before staring at the ceiling or sitting in a wheelchair.
"Standing at the top of a mountain after such a huge injury was so emotional."
Angie is now able to walk again, although with a pronounced limp, and without the use of her left arm she has difficulty with everyday tasks such as getting dressed.
It has not stopped her attacking life with the same relish she once did.
Confounding doctors' predictions, she has returned to her old work in communications, this time with the Stroke Association.
She has completed a one-mile swim, ploughing through the water with the use of her one good arm, raising GBP 1,100 for disability charity L'Arche, in the process.
"Cheers from onlookers helped to keep up my motivation.
"I felt a huge sense of achievement touching the finishing line especially as my money raised could go towards such a wonderful charity.
"The Tannoy made many special announcements for me and it was great to feel such tremendous support.
"I'm really glad now to have done it. It was a huge personal achievement and absolutely worthwhile."
To donate money to L'Arche through Angie's fundraising page visit http://www.justgiving. com/Angela-Macleod
STRUCK DOWN
AROUND 600 Scots suffer a stroke in the prime of their life every year.
This number includes former Aberdeen and Scotland midfielder Eoin Jess, who is currently recovering from a stroke he suffered in April aged just 38.
Oscar-nominated British actress Samantha Morton also suffered a stroke at the age of 29, and spent six months learning how to walk again in 2006. Hip-hop star Nate Dogg and The Long Blondes' guitarist Dorian Cox also suffered strokes in their 20s.
Around 6,000 Scots under the age of 44 have suffered strokes over the last decade, more than 800 of them in the Lothians. In around a fifth of these cases, the stroke has been fatal.
Strokes are "cerebrovascular accidents" that occur when a part of the brain is deprived of oxygen.
There are two kinds of stroke: an ischaemic stroke is caused by a blockage of the blood supply to the brain, usually by a clot, while a haemorrhagic stroke is caused by bleeding in or around the brain.
The length of time it takes to treat a stroke victim is vital - a few minutes can mean the difference between a full recovery and paralysis.
Edinburgh Evening News
September 23, 2009
IT seemed like any other Saturday morning to Angie MacLeod as she lived out her dream of working in Australia.
The 29-year-old PR executive was looking forward to meeting a friend for syrup and pancakes on Sydney's harbour front.
She was surprised to find she felt quite queasy. She had not drunk that much wine the night before as she watched football in a bar with friends. But that was not going to stop her getting up and launching herself into the day. Only no sooner had she stepped out of bed in her shared flat than she collapsed.
"I got out of bed and fell over, hitting my head on the table on the way down.
"I remember lying on the floor thinking how strange it was that I couldn't move my left side, so I managed to reach my phone with my good arm and phone my boyfriend for help," she recalls.
"He could barely understand me because I was slurring my speech so much, but he figured out what was going on and phoned my flatmate, who obviously hadn't heard me falling out of bed.
"I could hear my flatmate's phone ringing, and ringing away in the next room for what seemed like a very long time.
"Eventually my flatmate came running through and managed to get me back into bed, with a great deal of effort because it's not easy to lift an adult with half a dead weight down one side. I fell out of bed again and my flatmate called the ambulance."
The former Mary Erskine's pupil had recently moved out to Australia, having switched her London PR job for one in Sydney.
She was an active and sporty 29-year-old - who had just started learning to surf - and neither she nor her parents, Calum and Beth, back home in Edinburgh, had any worries about her health.
No-one - least of all Angie - thought for a second she might have suffered a stroke.
"I was only 29, the thought just didn't enter our heads," she says.
"When we found out what happened my flatmate felt really guilty for not phoning the ambulance sooner, because I now know that every second is vital in the diagnosis and treatment of stroke, but at the time we didn't know what was going on so she had no reason to feel guilty."
As she was being taken to hospital, Angie remembers asking for her contraceptive pill. "It's strange the things that go through your mind.
"Ironically, the pill may have had something to do with the stroke. Every woman knows that the pill has the potential to cause deep vein thrombosis, but the risk of stroke is so minute that they don't even put it on the side-effects. However, combined with my congenital condition that narrowed my arteries I ended up getting a thrombosis in my brain and that's what caused the stroke."
At hospital, Angie was surprised to be asked by the doctor whether she had seen her face that day - one side had drooped dramatically, a telltale sign of a stroke.
Even then, thinking strokes only happened to older people, she didn't guess she may have had one.
After being treated with morphine for the pain, doctors broke the news to her that not only had she suffered a stroke, but she might never walk again.
Angie, who is able to smile now as she looks back, adds: "The doctors also thought the stroke had affected my eyesight until they realised that I didn't have my glasses on, which I thought was quite funny at the time."
Her parents flew out to Sydney to be with her until she was transferred back to the Astley Ainslie hospital. The physios in Australia had started some work, but the real slog began when she returned home to Edinburgh.
She had to face it without her boyfriend, as the couple split shortly after her stroke, unable to cope with their changed circumstances.
"Despite being told I would never walk again I managed to get back on my feet.
"The trouble with strokes is you just never know how it will affect you, and being on my feet for the first time after a stroke was just a bizarre experience.
"Once I regained some of my mobility I was taken to the adapted ski slopes in Aviemore, which was tremendous, but also strange because of the complete contrast with the experience with the life I had before staring at the ceiling or sitting in a wheelchair.
"Standing at the top of a mountain after such a huge injury was so emotional."
Angie is now able to walk again, although with a pronounced limp, and without the use of her left arm she has difficulty with everyday tasks such as getting dressed.
It has not stopped her attacking life with the same relish she once did.
Confounding doctors' predictions, she has returned to her old work in communications, this time with the Stroke Association.
She has completed a one-mile swim, ploughing through the water with the use of her one good arm, raising GBP 1,100 for disability charity L'Arche, in the process.
"Cheers from onlookers helped to keep up my motivation.
"I felt a huge sense of achievement touching the finishing line especially as my money raised could go towards such a wonderful charity.
"The Tannoy made many special announcements for me and it was great to feel such tremendous support.
"I'm really glad now to have done it. It was a huge personal achievement and absolutely worthwhile."
To donate money to L'Arche through Angie's fundraising page visit http://www.justgiving. com/Angela-Macleod
STRUCK DOWN
AROUND 600 Scots suffer a stroke in the prime of their life every year.
This number includes former Aberdeen and Scotland midfielder Eoin Jess, who is currently recovering from a stroke he suffered in April aged just 38.
Oscar-nominated British actress Samantha Morton also suffered a stroke at the age of 29, and spent six months learning how to walk again in 2006. Hip-hop star Nate Dogg and The Long Blondes' guitarist Dorian Cox also suffered strokes in their 20s.
Around 6,000 Scots under the age of 44 have suffered strokes over the last decade, more than 800 of them in the Lothians. In around a fifth of these cases, the stroke has been fatal.
Strokes are "cerebrovascular accidents" that occur when a part of the brain is deprived of oxygen.
There are two kinds of stroke: an ischaemic stroke is caused by a blockage of the blood supply to the brain, usually by a clot, while a haemorrhagic stroke is caused by bleeding in or around the brain.
The length of time it takes to treat a stroke victim is vital - a few minutes can mean the difference between a full recovery and paralysis.
FEATURE: Life after death
Mark McLaughlin
Edinburgh Evening News
September 8, 2009
TODAY, Dionne McMillan looks healthy and happy as she wanders through the park in her bright purple dress and matching slip-ons, her hair in cascades of ringlets and a cautious but genuine smile on her face.
Back at home, close to the Royal Mile, her two-year-old son Callum plays merrily at her feet, as she fusses over him with pride. "It's just sad that his dad will never get to hold him," she says, stoically. "I'm determined to make his life as happy and as free of the problems that I've had to face as I can."
For, at 23, Dionne has lived through more misery than most experience in a lifetime.
Her partner took his own life while she was pregnant with their son and she herself has attempted suicide 11 times. She was sectioned in the Royal Edinburgh Hospital at the age of 20, following years in care and a history of self-harm.
Today, though, that is all behind her, and she is talking about International Suicide Prevention Awareness Week and its challenge to face the subject head-on.
"Nobody ever came out and asked me if I was feeling suicidal, and in some ways I was desperate to open up to someone," she recalls.
"If someone just came out and asked me how I was feeling, it may have made it easier to cope with these feelings."
Bullied at school, Dionne made her first attempt to take her life at ten years old. "I'd already been in and out of care before that.
"I just wasn't in a good place in my life, even at that age," she says.
"The more the bullying went on, the more depressed and desperate I became."
After surviving that first attempt, she continued to battle feelings of desperation throughout the rest of her childhood and teenage years.
She came close to death on a number of times, and was taken into care when she was 14.
Her life began to turn around after she was sectioned for her own protection in August 2006.
While a patient in the Royal Edinburgh, she met a kindred spirit, who was struggling with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and alcoholism. The pair hit it off straight away.
Three months later, both were discharged, and they began a whirlwind romance that resulted in Dionne quickly becoming pregnant - but within weeks her new partner would be dead, taking his own life at the age of 32.
"The last time I saw him we were talking about the future and how we were going to bring up the baby," says Dionne.
"That was the middle of December and then a few days later he broke off contact with everyone.
"He was prone to disappearing, but he would always turn up in the end.
"He was found on 1 January - but we don't how long he had been there before that.
"It's anyone's guess what caused him to do it, but we do know that he received a malicious text message from someone who claimed that our baby wasn't his, and that he would never get to see him after he was born.
"That person will never be forgiven. I just wish I'd had the chance to explain to him that it was all lies."
Losing the man she thought would be a life partner was inevitably a turning point in Dionne's life.
Thankfully, with her still-to-be-born child to think of, it spurred her to look forward and upwards.
She vowed never to return to the suicidal thoughts that had plagued half her life up to that point.
Dionne was brought up in south-east Edinburgh by her grandparents, who adopted her.
Her mother was struggling with depression, and her father had left at an early age.
As a youngster, Dionne struggled to make friends and spent a lot of time at home, helping care for her severely disabled cousin.
"By the time I left school, I was already in homeless accommodation, having been kicked out of a children's home, and I had by that point fallen out with my family," she says.
"There was no one around that I could trust and again I just didn't see much point in going on. In the back of my mind there was always something holding me back.
"Whenever I woke up and realised that I hadn't died, I felt a bit disappointed that my suicide attempts had been unsuccessful, but in another way it seemed like it was the right thing.
"It's hard to explain how you were feeling at times like that.
"Since I had my son, it's made life seem worthwhile. He makes life worth living.
"When I was alone in life, there were always support workers around, but their attitude was always 'gently, gently', like they didn't want to upset anyone.
"If they'd just come out and asked me if I was feeling suicidal, it might have helped me.
"If you ask the question outright, there are only two answers - either yes or no.
"Some people may deny it, but others may realise they have someone there to talk to that is there to help."
BEST TO BE BLUNT
THE best thing to do if you are worried that someone close to you is suicidal may be to tackle the issue head-on.
Sandra de Munoz, Choose Life co-ordinator for Edinburgh, says: "An average of two people die by suicide in Scotland every day.
"Approaching someone to ask if they are feeling suicidal is not easy, and sometimes people will be afraid that the question itself will put ideas the person's head.
"This is rarely the case and often the question itself can be a relief, and it will allow them to talk about their feelings before they have a chance to act on them.
"Most people who are suicidal don't want to end their life, they only want to end the pain and often talking about it can be the best way to do that."
CASE STUDY
'There's always someone you can turn to'
MUM-OF-TWO Emma* didn't realise anxiety could lead to suicide until her husband's first attempt in 1993.
"I thought it was only depressed people that attempted suicide," says the 47-year-old, who lives in south Edinburgh and whose husband succeeded in taking his own life in 2006.
She adds: "He was a complete perfectionist and he was always convinced that he was a failure, even though nothing could have been further from the truth.
"At the time of his death he was a manager in a software engineering firm, but no matter how much he achieved nothing was ever good enough.
"He used to worry about everything - his work, the house, me, our children - and I used to joke that if he didn't have anything to worry about, he'd worry about that. That used to make him laugh, and he usually agreed with me."
Emma met her husband when the two of them were students, and she recalls glancing over at the shy young man peering over a hand of cards at the poker table. She says the most difficult aspect of his problems was his unpredictability.
She adds: "After his first suicide attempt in 1993 he didn't want anyone to know about it. He said, 'It's my illness, and no-one else's business'.
"When he made his second attempt later that year I convinced him to tell his family and his employer, and to attend a course of cognitive behavioural therapy [CBT]."
CBT is a branch of psychotherapy that aims to get to the developmental causes of mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression, and change the way the person perceives these feelings.
Emma adds: "He was always resistant to CBT because he was convinced that no-one could change the way people thought, which I now know isn't true.
Your brain isn't hard-wired. It is possible to change the way that you see things, and all you need to do is get it out in the open and talk about it.
"No-one is ever alone - and there's always someone you can turn to for help."
*Not her real name
Edinburgh Evening News
September 8, 2009
TODAY, Dionne McMillan looks healthy and happy as she wanders through the park in her bright purple dress and matching slip-ons, her hair in cascades of ringlets and a cautious but genuine smile on her face.
Back at home, close to the Royal Mile, her two-year-old son Callum plays merrily at her feet, as she fusses over him with pride. "It's just sad that his dad will never get to hold him," she says, stoically. "I'm determined to make his life as happy and as free of the problems that I've had to face as I can."
For, at 23, Dionne has lived through more misery than most experience in a lifetime.
Her partner took his own life while she was pregnant with their son and she herself has attempted suicide 11 times. She was sectioned in the Royal Edinburgh Hospital at the age of 20, following years in care and a history of self-harm.
Today, though, that is all behind her, and she is talking about International Suicide Prevention Awareness Week and its challenge to face the subject head-on.
"Nobody ever came out and asked me if I was feeling suicidal, and in some ways I was desperate to open up to someone," she recalls.
"If someone just came out and asked me how I was feeling, it may have made it easier to cope with these feelings."
Bullied at school, Dionne made her first attempt to take her life at ten years old. "I'd already been in and out of care before that.
"I just wasn't in a good place in my life, even at that age," she says.
"The more the bullying went on, the more depressed and desperate I became."
After surviving that first attempt, she continued to battle feelings of desperation throughout the rest of her childhood and teenage years.
She came close to death on a number of times, and was taken into care when she was 14.
Her life began to turn around after she was sectioned for her own protection in August 2006.
While a patient in the Royal Edinburgh, she met a kindred spirit, who was struggling with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and alcoholism. The pair hit it off straight away.
Three months later, both were discharged, and they began a whirlwind romance that resulted in Dionne quickly becoming pregnant - but within weeks her new partner would be dead, taking his own life at the age of 32.
"The last time I saw him we were talking about the future and how we were going to bring up the baby," says Dionne.
"That was the middle of December and then a few days later he broke off contact with everyone.
"He was prone to disappearing, but he would always turn up in the end.
"He was found on 1 January - but we don't how long he had been there before that.
"It's anyone's guess what caused him to do it, but we do know that he received a malicious text message from someone who claimed that our baby wasn't his, and that he would never get to see him after he was born.
"That person will never be forgiven. I just wish I'd had the chance to explain to him that it was all lies."
Losing the man she thought would be a life partner was inevitably a turning point in Dionne's life.
Thankfully, with her still-to-be-born child to think of, it spurred her to look forward and upwards.
She vowed never to return to the suicidal thoughts that had plagued half her life up to that point.
Dionne was brought up in south-east Edinburgh by her grandparents, who adopted her.
Her mother was struggling with depression, and her father had left at an early age.
As a youngster, Dionne struggled to make friends and spent a lot of time at home, helping care for her severely disabled cousin.
"By the time I left school, I was already in homeless accommodation, having been kicked out of a children's home, and I had by that point fallen out with my family," she says.
"There was no one around that I could trust and again I just didn't see much point in going on. In the back of my mind there was always something holding me back.
"Whenever I woke up and realised that I hadn't died, I felt a bit disappointed that my suicide attempts had been unsuccessful, but in another way it seemed like it was the right thing.
"It's hard to explain how you were feeling at times like that.
"Since I had my son, it's made life seem worthwhile. He makes life worth living.
"When I was alone in life, there were always support workers around, but their attitude was always 'gently, gently', like they didn't want to upset anyone.
"If they'd just come out and asked me if I was feeling suicidal, it might have helped me.
"If you ask the question outright, there are only two answers - either yes or no.
"Some people may deny it, but others may realise they have someone there to talk to that is there to help."
BEST TO BE BLUNT
THE best thing to do if you are worried that someone close to you is suicidal may be to tackle the issue head-on.
Sandra de Munoz, Choose Life co-ordinator for Edinburgh, says: "An average of two people die by suicide in Scotland every day.
"Approaching someone to ask if they are feeling suicidal is not easy, and sometimes people will be afraid that the question itself will put ideas the person's head.
"This is rarely the case and often the question itself can be a relief, and it will allow them to talk about their feelings before they have a chance to act on them.
"Most people who are suicidal don't want to end their life, they only want to end the pain and often talking about it can be the best way to do that."
CASE STUDY
'There's always someone you can turn to'
MUM-OF-TWO Emma* didn't realise anxiety could lead to suicide until her husband's first attempt in 1993.
"I thought it was only depressed people that attempted suicide," says the 47-year-old, who lives in south Edinburgh and whose husband succeeded in taking his own life in 2006.
She adds: "He was a complete perfectionist and he was always convinced that he was a failure, even though nothing could have been further from the truth.
"At the time of his death he was a manager in a software engineering firm, but no matter how much he achieved nothing was ever good enough.
"He used to worry about everything - his work, the house, me, our children - and I used to joke that if he didn't have anything to worry about, he'd worry about that. That used to make him laugh, and he usually agreed with me."
Emma met her husband when the two of them were students, and she recalls glancing over at the shy young man peering over a hand of cards at the poker table. She says the most difficult aspect of his problems was his unpredictability.
She adds: "After his first suicide attempt in 1993 he didn't want anyone to know about it. He said, 'It's my illness, and no-one else's business'.
"When he made his second attempt later that year I convinced him to tell his family and his employer, and to attend a course of cognitive behavioural therapy [CBT]."
CBT is a branch of psychotherapy that aims to get to the developmental causes of mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression, and change the way the person perceives these feelings.
Emma adds: "He was always resistant to CBT because he was convinced that no-one could change the way people thought, which I now know isn't true.
Your brain isn't hard-wired. It is possible to change the way that you see things, and all you need to do is get it out in the open and talk about it.
"No-one is ever alone - and there's always someone you can turn to for help."
*Not her real name
FEATURE: Stitched up!
Mark McLaughlin
Edinburgh Evening News
August 24, 2009
DOZENS of surgery patients have been stitched up with medical objects still inside their bodies over the last five years in the Lothians.
Government figures show that at least 29 people were admitted to NHS Lothian hospitals with objects left inside them after surgery since 2004, the second highest number in Scotland.
Last year, a total of 59 Scottish patients were found to have medical objects still inside, with six objects left inside patients in the Lothians.
It has also been revealed that one patient sued NHS Lothian in 2006, pocketing GBP 2,000 in compensation after an object was found inside her body after surgery.
Dr Charles Swainson, medical director at NHS Lothian, today maintained that such incidents only occurred in a tiny minority of cases, and the number is dropping each year.
He said: "NHS Lothian is the second largest health board in Scotland and performed a total of around 191,000 operations last year. Of this total, there were six cases where an object was retained.
"Anything left behind in surgery is deeply regrettable, and while in the majority of cases this does not cause any complications, we are not complacent and are working with the Scottish Patient Safety Programme to make procedures even safer.
"For each incident, we carry out a full investigation to establish what happened and prevent a repeat. We also have strict policies in place which demand that every instrument and swab is counted by two people at the beginning of the procedure and again before each cavity is closed."
Although the exact nature of the objects left behind has not been divulged, studies have found that around two-thirds of objects recovered are swabs, with the rest being medical tools.
Objects are most regularly left behind during emergency procedures, when time is of the essence and surgical staff are under the most pressure.
Other risk factors included unexpected changes in procedure during a scheduled operation, and operating on larger patients where there is more tissue for objects to get lost.
However, despite the risk factors, patient groups insist that there is no excuse for losing objects if surgical staff follow tried-and-tested practices.
Jean Turner, director of Scotland Patients Associations and a former anaesthetist, said: "When I was in the operating theatre in the mid-1970s, every piece of medical equipment was accounted for, right down to counting the swabs when opening a pack of 12 to make sure an extra one hadn't dropped in there.
"What is most worrying about these figures over the last five years is that they've remained so consistent, there's no sign of them dropping off and it beggars belief these mistakes are still being made so consistently without some new procedures to bring the numbers down."
Edinburgh Evening News
August 24, 2009
DOZENS of surgery patients have been stitched up with medical objects still inside their bodies over the last five years in the Lothians.
Government figures show that at least 29 people were admitted to NHS Lothian hospitals with objects left inside them after surgery since 2004, the second highest number in Scotland.
Last year, a total of 59 Scottish patients were found to have medical objects still inside, with six objects left inside patients in the Lothians.
It has also been revealed that one patient sued NHS Lothian in 2006, pocketing GBP 2,000 in compensation after an object was found inside her body after surgery.
Dr Charles Swainson, medical director at NHS Lothian, today maintained that such incidents only occurred in a tiny minority of cases, and the number is dropping each year.
He said: "NHS Lothian is the second largest health board in Scotland and performed a total of around 191,000 operations last year. Of this total, there were six cases where an object was retained.
"Anything left behind in surgery is deeply regrettable, and while in the majority of cases this does not cause any complications, we are not complacent and are working with the Scottish Patient Safety Programme to make procedures even safer.
"For each incident, we carry out a full investigation to establish what happened and prevent a repeat. We also have strict policies in place which demand that every instrument and swab is counted by two people at the beginning of the procedure and again before each cavity is closed."
Although the exact nature of the objects left behind has not been divulged, studies have found that around two-thirds of objects recovered are swabs, with the rest being medical tools.
Objects are most regularly left behind during emergency procedures, when time is of the essence and surgical staff are under the most pressure.
Other risk factors included unexpected changes in procedure during a scheduled operation, and operating on larger patients where there is more tissue for objects to get lost.
However, despite the risk factors, patient groups insist that there is no excuse for losing objects if surgical staff follow tried-and-tested practices.
Jean Turner, director of Scotland Patients Associations and a former anaesthetist, said: "When I was in the operating theatre in the mid-1970s, every piece of medical equipment was accounted for, right down to counting the swabs when opening a pack of 12 to make sure an extra one hadn't dropped in there.
"What is most worrying about these figures over the last five years is that they've remained so consistent, there's no sign of them dropping off and it beggars belief these mistakes are still being made so consistently without some new procedures to bring the numbers down."
FEATURE: Love and death over two continents
Mark McLaughlin
Edinburgh Evening News
March 3, 2009
'I'VE seen death sitting in the bed next to me, and it's not something you'd want to watch on TV." Junaid Ahmad shakes his head sadly, as he lays out the latest glossy magazines and tabloid newspapers on the shelves of his Broughton Street newsagents. The striking image of a dying young mother, bald and increasingly frail, is splashed across the front of many of them.
Currently, Junaid spends much of his working day looking at pictures of Jade Goody, the reality TV star and mother-of-two who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
The 27-year-old now has perhaps just weeks to live after the disease, diagnosed as cervical cancer last August, spread to her liver and bowel.
She has pledged to make as much money as possible from her final days for her sons, Bobby, five, and Freddie, four - she reportedly made GBP 800,000 from selling photo and TV rights for her wedding to fiancé Jack Tweed alone, and she has also hinted she may allow the cameras to capture her last moments.
All of this has been almost too much to bear for 38-year-old Junaid who, just four months ago, watched as his own wife Shafquat died at the age of 42, another victim of cancer. "Jade recently said that she had lived her life in the public eye, and that she wants to die in the public eye, but to me life and death are two different things.
"She even said she may want her final hours to be filmed on television but to me this is unspeakable," he says sadly.
"It's relentless. Every single morning it's all about Jade Goody. She looks just like Shafquat did in her last few months, and it's too much for me and the children to bear."
It was October 17, 2007 - Junaid's 37th birthday - when the couple were given the devastating news that Shafquat was suffering from cancer in the glands in her armpit.
"I'll never forget that day," he says.
"My wife had a swelling under her arm and she had been to the doctor that morning for the results of some tests. The doctor told her it was cancer.
"We had the whole family coming round that day for a party. Shafquat was pale and upset and everyone kept asking what was wrong, but she was very brave and told them all she was just tired.
"After a couple of hours I took her out for a drive so we could talk it over."
Within a few weeks Shafquat was taken into hospital to have the tumour removed, and was put on an immediate round of chemo and radiotherapy.
The couple's children Hosam, 16, and Aaqib, nine, were not told of their mother's condition, and she hid her hair loss with the help of a wig.
Following her treatment, Shafquat was given the all-clear. The family moved into a new house in a quiet cul-de-sac in Drylaw and began to look forward to a fresh start, but in August last year, just as Goody was diagnosed, Shafquat began suffering from terrible headaches.
"We thought it was just the stress of the move and the result of everything that had happened over the previous year, but she went back to the hospital and she was told the cancer had returned and spread to her brain," recalls Junaid.
"It was too risky to operate, and her only hope was another round of radiotherapy.
"We were warned that the radiotherapy would either kill the cancer, or the radiation would act like a food and cause it to spread more rapidly.
"In the end the radiotherapy didn't work and Shafquat was told that she didn't have long to live.
"The headaches started getting much worse and she was given morphine for the pain. The doctor kept giving her stronger and stronger painkillers, and she became hazier by the day with all of the drugs and it felt like she was slipping away from us.
"Then, one day, she slipped into a coma and . . ." Junaid's voice breaks with emotion before he continues in a whisper. "She died."
Shafquat died at St Columba's Hospice on November 7, 2008. Her death has left not just her husband and children devastated but the whole close-knit family.
Junaid, who was born in the Pakistani district of Pir Mahal, around 70 miles south-east of Faisalabad, met his Dundee-born wife Shafquat at a family party in Pakistan.
The couple were first cousins, a common pairing in Pakistani marriages. The family was all the closer because Junaid's sister Nusrat, 45, is also married to Shafquat's elder brother Ashfaq, 49.
Shafquat set up the family's Broughton Street news and grocery business in 1988, and called it Shamoon's after her favourite nephew Mehboob Shamoon Ahmad, Nusrat's first son, who is now 23.
Four years later, in April 1992, Junaid and Shafquat were married in front of nearly 500 family and friends at Musselburgh's Brunton Hall and Shafquat soon gave birth to the couple's two boys. By 2000 their family was complete.
Nusrat struggles to hold back the tears as she lays out the latest morning papers featuring a bald and fragile Goody. "Every day it's the exact same story and it's making it hard for us to forget. Shafquat was 15 when I moved to Edinburgh and we were extremely close," she says.
The hardest part of Shafquat's death has been explaining to her children why their mummy is no longer around.
Junaid says: "When Shafquat had her first round of therapy we didn't want to upset the children, so we just told them that mummy was ill and very tired, and to try not to annoy her too much in the way that children do.
"The wig was very effective at hiding the hair loss, and the children just thought their mummy had got a new hairstyle.
"Since she died I've had to raise the children on my own. I get up in the morning to take them to school and then I have to be back in the shop, and then I pick them up again at three o'clock.
"I couldn't do it without Nusrat, who has been with me all the way, helping me out at the store.
"The children have been very upset. They regularly cry when their thinking about their mummy, and they keep asking questions that I don't have the answer for. The most common question is 'why my mummy?'. To that extent I am able to point to Jade Goody in the newspaper and demonstrate to them that it's not just their mummy, that it does happen to other people, even famous people, but there's only so often that you can see someone's face in the paper before it stops being about raising awareness, and starts to become upsetting."
Unlike Goody, any extra money Junaid manages to scrape together doesn't go on his own family.
"I visit my wife's grave every Sunday but I do not take her flowers. Every spare penny that I have I give to St Columba's Hospice.
"I understand Jade's trying to raise money for her family, but I think her fame would be better spent raising money for and the profile of the many cancer charities out there who are working to find better treatments.
"It's easy to look out for your own, but I think the mark of a real human being is being able to look out for others around you."
For more on St Columba's, go to www.stcolumbashospice.org.uk
Edinburgh Evening News
March 3, 2009
'I'VE seen death sitting in the bed next to me, and it's not something you'd want to watch on TV." Junaid Ahmad shakes his head sadly, as he lays out the latest glossy magazines and tabloid newspapers on the shelves of his Broughton Street newsagents. The striking image of a dying young mother, bald and increasingly frail, is splashed across the front of many of them.
Currently, Junaid spends much of his working day looking at pictures of Jade Goody, the reality TV star and mother-of-two who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
The 27-year-old now has perhaps just weeks to live after the disease, diagnosed as cervical cancer last August, spread to her liver and bowel.
She has pledged to make as much money as possible from her final days for her sons, Bobby, five, and Freddie, four - she reportedly made GBP 800,000 from selling photo and TV rights for her wedding to fiancé Jack Tweed alone, and she has also hinted she may allow the cameras to capture her last moments.
All of this has been almost too much to bear for 38-year-old Junaid who, just four months ago, watched as his own wife Shafquat died at the age of 42, another victim of cancer. "Jade recently said that she had lived her life in the public eye, and that she wants to die in the public eye, but to me life and death are two different things.
"She even said she may want her final hours to be filmed on television but to me this is unspeakable," he says sadly.
"It's relentless. Every single morning it's all about Jade Goody. She looks just like Shafquat did in her last few months, and it's too much for me and the children to bear."
It was October 17, 2007 - Junaid's 37th birthday - when the couple were given the devastating news that Shafquat was suffering from cancer in the glands in her armpit.
"I'll never forget that day," he says.
"My wife had a swelling under her arm and she had been to the doctor that morning for the results of some tests. The doctor told her it was cancer.
"We had the whole family coming round that day for a party. Shafquat was pale and upset and everyone kept asking what was wrong, but she was very brave and told them all she was just tired.
"After a couple of hours I took her out for a drive so we could talk it over."
Within a few weeks Shafquat was taken into hospital to have the tumour removed, and was put on an immediate round of chemo and radiotherapy.
The couple's children Hosam, 16, and Aaqib, nine, were not told of their mother's condition, and she hid her hair loss with the help of a wig.
Following her treatment, Shafquat was given the all-clear. The family moved into a new house in a quiet cul-de-sac in Drylaw and began to look forward to a fresh start, but in August last year, just as Goody was diagnosed, Shafquat began suffering from terrible headaches.
"We thought it was just the stress of the move and the result of everything that had happened over the previous year, but she went back to the hospital and she was told the cancer had returned and spread to her brain," recalls Junaid.
"It was too risky to operate, and her only hope was another round of radiotherapy.
"We were warned that the radiotherapy would either kill the cancer, or the radiation would act like a food and cause it to spread more rapidly.
"In the end the radiotherapy didn't work and Shafquat was told that she didn't have long to live.
"The headaches started getting much worse and she was given morphine for the pain. The doctor kept giving her stronger and stronger painkillers, and she became hazier by the day with all of the drugs and it felt like she was slipping away from us.
"Then, one day, she slipped into a coma and . . ." Junaid's voice breaks with emotion before he continues in a whisper. "She died."
Shafquat died at St Columba's Hospice on November 7, 2008. Her death has left not just her husband and children devastated but the whole close-knit family.
Junaid, who was born in the Pakistani district of Pir Mahal, around 70 miles south-east of Faisalabad, met his Dundee-born wife Shafquat at a family party in Pakistan.
The couple were first cousins, a common pairing in Pakistani marriages. The family was all the closer because Junaid's sister Nusrat, 45, is also married to Shafquat's elder brother Ashfaq, 49.
Shafquat set up the family's Broughton Street news and grocery business in 1988, and called it Shamoon's after her favourite nephew Mehboob Shamoon Ahmad, Nusrat's first son, who is now 23.
Four years later, in April 1992, Junaid and Shafquat were married in front of nearly 500 family and friends at Musselburgh's Brunton Hall and Shafquat soon gave birth to the couple's two boys. By 2000 their family was complete.
Nusrat struggles to hold back the tears as she lays out the latest morning papers featuring a bald and fragile Goody. "Every day it's the exact same story and it's making it hard for us to forget. Shafquat was 15 when I moved to Edinburgh and we were extremely close," she says.
The hardest part of Shafquat's death has been explaining to her children why their mummy is no longer around.
Junaid says: "When Shafquat had her first round of therapy we didn't want to upset the children, so we just told them that mummy was ill and very tired, and to try not to annoy her too much in the way that children do.
"The wig was very effective at hiding the hair loss, and the children just thought their mummy had got a new hairstyle.
"Since she died I've had to raise the children on my own. I get up in the morning to take them to school and then I have to be back in the shop, and then I pick them up again at three o'clock.
"I couldn't do it without Nusrat, who has been with me all the way, helping me out at the store.
"The children have been very upset. They regularly cry when their thinking about their mummy, and they keep asking questions that I don't have the answer for. The most common question is 'why my mummy?'. To that extent I am able to point to Jade Goody in the newspaper and demonstrate to them that it's not just their mummy, that it does happen to other people, even famous people, but there's only so often that you can see someone's face in the paper before it stops being about raising awareness, and starts to become upsetting."
Unlike Goody, any extra money Junaid manages to scrape together doesn't go on his own family.
"I visit my wife's grave every Sunday but I do not take her flowers. Every spare penny that I have I give to St Columba's Hospice.
"I understand Jade's trying to raise money for her family, but I think her fame would be better spent raising money for and the profile of the many cancer charities out there who are working to find better treatments.
"It's easy to look out for your own, but I think the mark of a real human being is being able to look out for others around you."
For more on St Columba's, go to www.stcolumbashospice.org.uk
SPORT: Crippled by rugby but smiling on
By Mark McLaughlin
Edinburgh Evening News
January 15, 2009
"THERE was never one particular point when the doctors said to me I would never walk again," says the softly spoken quadriplegic with the ready smile.
Dugald McArthur sits by the fire of his Marchmont home and recalls the terrible moment when a freak rugby tackle instantly turned his life upside down.
It was a fine October afternoon in 1996 when Dugald - then a software developer for insurance firm Scottish Provident and a rising star at Broughton Rugby Club - was chosen to lead his workmates out in an insurance industry tie against Standard Life.
"I wasn't a natural scrum half," says Dugald. "It's a position I'd always quite fancied but my delivery was never that strong.
"The game started getting quite competitive, and during one scrum their scrum half picked up the ball and I ran round the side to tackle him.
"The next thing I remember I was lying on the ground looking at the sky."
The next few days passed in a blur. Dugald was rushed to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary by ambulance, and then transferred with a police escort to the Western General where a spinal injury was diagnosed.
Soon he was on the move again to the spinal injuries unit at Glasgow's Southern General Hospital. It would become his home for the next 14 months.
"The doctors were always very cautious about making predictions," he recalls. "It was just a slow process of realisation, and adjusting of expectations, but I never had that terrible epiphany when it hit me that I would be confined to a wheelchair all my life.
"Perhaps having such a large family helped keep me distracted, and entertained, made me feel loved and helped me avoid that moment of realisation, because you're prevented from mulling over what the reality of the injury meant."
The support of Dugald's family was vital following the accident, but increasingly as time went on so too was the help of Edinburgh charity Hearts and Balls, which specialises in supporting seriously injured rugby players around the world.
"I have benefited a great deal from them," he says.
"It's good to know that there is a support network out there to help people who have suffered not just spinal injuries, but any injury associated with playing rugby."
Dugald is the middle child of a large family of five, originally from Edinburgh but raised in Orkney when their father Bill decided to give up his screen-printing business in the city and become a fisherman.
At the time of Dugald's injury his father, who by then had changed careers again to become a cartoonist with The Herald, and mother Sue rushed to his side. His elder sister Sam, then a freelance journalist working out of Lisbon, and brother Liam, formerly a Belgium-based lobbyist and now MSP for Orkney, also dropped everything and jumped on the next plane.
Along with his younger brothers Fionn and Matt, Dugald and his family worked to rebuild his life.
After 14 months in hospital Scottish Provident gave him his old job back, and with the aid of adaptive technology he was able to carry out most of the tasks he used to do with the use of his arms and legs. When he was made redundant in 2004, along with hundreds of his colleagues, following an Abbey National takeover, he decided to go back to university.
He is now on the cusp of graduating with a degree in social anthropology and development from Edinburgh University. He doesn't as yet have a job and, having split from the girlfriend he was seeing at the time of the accident, declines to discuss any current relationships.
Today, a month before his 40th birthday , Dugald's outlook is so sunny that he doesn't so much refuse to be drawn towards the negative as completely disregards it.
He sits in his homely ground floor flat in Spottiswoode Street - the modified property he was forced into over 12 years ago when his newly-purchased second floor Stockbridge flat became inaccessible to him - and muses on two recent rugby-related tragedies.
First, Nuneaton Rugby Club player Daniel James, 23, took his own life in a Swiss assisted suicide clinic rather than deal with his own paralysis caused by an almost identical rugby injury to Dugald's own life-shattering blow.
The following day - September 13 - a 17-year-old Merchiston Castle pupil suffered a devastating spinal injury during a rugby match with Stewart's Melville College.
As one young man's pain ended, another's was just beginning, a pain that Dugald understands all too well.
"However bad it got I never considered . . . that," says Dugald reflecting on the parallels between Daniel James and himself, biting back the word 'suicide' as though it were literally an unspeakable thing.
"It's sad that he felt that that is what he wanted. I don't know enough about his situation or specific injuries to pass any judgement beyond that.
"I understand that it does get frustrating sometimes and you wish that you were still running around the rugby park, but for me it never got to that stage."
Dugald's heart also goes out to the boy from Merchiston Castle, who, four months on from his injury, will still be in the early stages of realisation that his life has changed forever.
"I don't know the lad, but I'd like him to know that it's not the end. There's lots of opportunities out there - not as many as there were before, but you can still enjoy life to the full.
"During the early days it did get boring sometimes, especially when the physios went home for the weekend, but my family and friends were fantastic."
Dugald insists that most of the doors open to him before his spinal injury are still open now - "apart from upstairs pubs," he quips - but his life is not without its trials.
He has just recovered from an infected bed-sore that saw him confined to bed for ten weeks. Bed rest for a quadriplegic is very different from that of an able-bodied person.
While most people can sit up and watch television, read a book or get up to make a cup of tea, Dugald was forced to sit staring at the ceiling for over three months while his sore healed.
He says: "I kept up with all of my coursework from university.
The Scottish Rugby Union's Murrayfield Centenary Fund are also very supportive of players with spinal injuries and provide complimentary tickets to all of the home internationals, as well as putting you on a rolling rota for the hospitality dinner. I was their hospitality guest during both of Scotland's recent victories over England.
Reflecting on the game he was playing when he was injured, he says: "While I'd like to boast about a glittering career in international rugby tragically stolen away by spinal injury, the reality is I came to rugby quite late on and would probably never have made it to that level, so I'll just have to settle for being their lucky mascot."
For more information visit www.heartsandballs.org.uk
HOW A CHARITY'S WORK IS 'HELPING RUGBY TO HELP ITS OWN'
THE Hearts and Balls charity was founded in Edinburgh in the wake of a spinal injury to Lismore 2nds player Struan Kerr-Liddell in 1999 which confined him to a wheelchair.
Since then, Hearts and Balls - which delivers pastoral and financial support to rugby players and families who have been impacted by catastrophic injury, terminal illness and bereavement - has grown to help former players throughout the world, and has provided support to people in the UK, Romania and Australia - where a non-affiliated sister charity, Hearts and Union, has been formed.
Hearts and Balls chairman, Jim Littlefair, says the charity has "grown arms and legs" to help those who have lost the use of theirs due to rugby injury.
It also offers short-term help to families coping with less debilitating injuries, such as a breadwinner temporarily unable to work due to a rugby injury.
Mr Littlefair says: "In the last 12-18 months we have seen significant growth in our awareness, support base and financial position.
"We offer pastoral support to those who need it and request it at any time and in any place, offer advice, guidance and appropriate financial support in the early stages of a catastrophic injury and at any other time, and assist individuals and families at times of serious illness and bereavement.
"Over the next three to five years we will develop plans and actions to assist those impacted by catastrophic injury to pursue education and development and to achieve gainful and worthwhile employment in line with their own goals and ambitions. We believe it will build on our aim of 'helping rugby help its own'."
Edinburgh Evening News
January 15, 2009
"THERE was never one particular point when the doctors said to me I would never walk again," says the softly spoken quadriplegic with the ready smile.
Dugald McArthur sits by the fire of his Marchmont home and recalls the terrible moment when a freak rugby tackle instantly turned his life upside down.
It was a fine October afternoon in 1996 when Dugald - then a software developer for insurance firm Scottish Provident and a rising star at Broughton Rugby Club - was chosen to lead his workmates out in an insurance industry tie against Standard Life.
"I wasn't a natural scrum half," says Dugald. "It's a position I'd always quite fancied but my delivery was never that strong.
"The game started getting quite competitive, and during one scrum their scrum half picked up the ball and I ran round the side to tackle him.
"The next thing I remember I was lying on the ground looking at the sky."
The next few days passed in a blur. Dugald was rushed to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary by ambulance, and then transferred with a police escort to the Western General where a spinal injury was diagnosed.
Soon he was on the move again to the spinal injuries unit at Glasgow's Southern General Hospital. It would become his home for the next 14 months.
"The doctors were always very cautious about making predictions," he recalls. "It was just a slow process of realisation, and adjusting of expectations, but I never had that terrible epiphany when it hit me that I would be confined to a wheelchair all my life.
"Perhaps having such a large family helped keep me distracted, and entertained, made me feel loved and helped me avoid that moment of realisation, because you're prevented from mulling over what the reality of the injury meant."
The support of Dugald's family was vital following the accident, but increasingly as time went on so too was the help of Edinburgh charity Hearts and Balls, which specialises in supporting seriously injured rugby players around the world.
"I have benefited a great deal from them," he says.
"It's good to know that there is a support network out there to help people who have suffered not just spinal injuries, but any injury associated with playing rugby."
Dugald is the middle child of a large family of five, originally from Edinburgh but raised in Orkney when their father Bill decided to give up his screen-printing business in the city and become a fisherman.
At the time of Dugald's injury his father, who by then had changed careers again to become a cartoonist with The Herald, and mother Sue rushed to his side. His elder sister Sam, then a freelance journalist working out of Lisbon, and brother Liam, formerly a Belgium-based lobbyist and now MSP for Orkney, also dropped everything and jumped on the next plane.
Along with his younger brothers Fionn and Matt, Dugald and his family worked to rebuild his life.
After 14 months in hospital Scottish Provident gave him his old job back, and with the aid of adaptive technology he was able to carry out most of the tasks he used to do with the use of his arms and legs. When he was made redundant in 2004, along with hundreds of his colleagues, following an Abbey National takeover, he decided to go back to university.
He is now on the cusp of graduating with a degree in social anthropology and development from Edinburgh University. He doesn't as yet have a job and, having split from the girlfriend he was seeing at the time of the accident, declines to discuss any current relationships.
Today, a month before his 40th birthday , Dugald's outlook is so sunny that he doesn't so much refuse to be drawn towards the negative as completely disregards it.
He sits in his homely ground floor flat in Spottiswoode Street - the modified property he was forced into over 12 years ago when his newly-purchased second floor Stockbridge flat became inaccessible to him - and muses on two recent rugby-related tragedies.
First, Nuneaton Rugby Club player Daniel James, 23, took his own life in a Swiss assisted suicide clinic rather than deal with his own paralysis caused by an almost identical rugby injury to Dugald's own life-shattering blow.
The following day - September 13 - a 17-year-old Merchiston Castle pupil suffered a devastating spinal injury during a rugby match with Stewart's Melville College.
As one young man's pain ended, another's was just beginning, a pain that Dugald understands all too well.
"However bad it got I never considered . . . that," says Dugald reflecting on the parallels between Daniel James and himself, biting back the word 'suicide' as though it were literally an unspeakable thing.
"It's sad that he felt that that is what he wanted. I don't know enough about his situation or specific injuries to pass any judgement beyond that.
"I understand that it does get frustrating sometimes and you wish that you were still running around the rugby park, but for me it never got to that stage."
Dugald's heart also goes out to the boy from Merchiston Castle, who, four months on from his injury, will still be in the early stages of realisation that his life has changed forever.
"I don't know the lad, but I'd like him to know that it's not the end. There's lots of opportunities out there - not as many as there were before, but you can still enjoy life to the full.
"During the early days it did get boring sometimes, especially when the physios went home for the weekend, but my family and friends were fantastic."
Dugald insists that most of the doors open to him before his spinal injury are still open now - "apart from upstairs pubs," he quips - but his life is not without its trials.
He has just recovered from an infected bed-sore that saw him confined to bed for ten weeks. Bed rest for a quadriplegic is very different from that of an able-bodied person.
While most people can sit up and watch television, read a book or get up to make a cup of tea, Dugald was forced to sit staring at the ceiling for over three months while his sore healed.
He says: "I kept up with all of my coursework from university.
The Scottish Rugby Union's Murrayfield Centenary Fund are also very supportive of players with spinal injuries and provide complimentary tickets to all of the home internationals, as well as putting you on a rolling rota for the hospitality dinner. I was their hospitality guest during both of Scotland's recent victories over England.
Reflecting on the game he was playing when he was injured, he says: "While I'd like to boast about a glittering career in international rugby tragically stolen away by spinal injury, the reality is I came to rugby quite late on and would probably never have made it to that level, so I'll just have to settle for being their lucky mascot."
For more information visit www.heartsandballs.org.uk
HOW A CHARITY'S WORK IS 'HELPING RUGBY TO HELP ITS OWN'
THE Hearts and Balls charity was founded in Edinburgh in the wake of a spinal injury to Lismore 2nds player Struan Kerr-Liddell in 1999 which confined him to a wheelchair.
Since then, Hearts and Balls - which delivers pastoral and financial support to rugby players and families who have been impacted by catastrophic injury, terminal illness and bereavement - has grown to help former players throughout the world, and has provided support to people in the UK, Romania and Australia - where a non-affiliated sister charity, Hearts and Union, has been formed.
Hearts and Balls chairman, Jim Littlefair, says the charity has "grown arms and legs" to help those who have lost the use of theirs due to rugby injury.
It also offers short-term help to families coping with less debilitating injuries, such as a breadwinner temporarily unable to work due to a rugby injury.
Mr Littlefair says: "In the last 12-18 months we have seen significant growth in our awareness, support base and financial position.
"We offer pastoral support to those who need it and request it at any time and in any place, offer advice, guidance and appropriate financial support in the early stages of a catastrophic injury and at any other time, and assist individuals and families at times of serious illness and bereavement.
"Over the next three to five years we will develop plans and actions to assist those impacted by catastrophic injury to pursue education and development and to achieve gainful and worthwhile employment in line with their own goals and ambitions. We believe it will build on our aim of 'helping rugby help its own'."
ANALYSIS: Asbestos
By Mark McLaughin
Edinburgh Evening News
November 17, 2008
As the Health and Safety Executive launches an asbestos awareness safety campaign, Mark McLaughlin examines the grim toll exposure to the deadly dust has inflicted on generations
IT hides under our floorboards, in our walls, in our pipes and, if disturbed, it prowls the air we breath. It is currently hiding in over half a million properties, and in the lungs of countless people, nationwide.
Now the hidden killer has been exposed. A high-profile training scheme by the Health and Safety Executive took place in Edinburgh last week to educate the next generation of construction workers on the dangers of exposure to asbestos.
Its message was buoyed by a major award handed to Clydeside Action on Asbestos, a group that grew from a small movement to help asbestos-stricken Clyde shipworkers into a national campaign, at the Scottish Politician of the Year Awards on Thursday.
And yet the killer continues to try to slink back into the shadows - avoiding both detection and retribution - through a combination of legislation, misdirection, negligence and continuing ignorance amongst trade professionals.
Its most effective hiding place for many years was contained in the Damages (Scotland) Act 1979.
This left individuals suffering from cancerous mesothelioma, or other fatal asbestos related illnesses, with the grim choice of claiming a lower rate of compensation to help them through their final years, or waiting until after death so their family could claim a higher amount.
Phyllis Craig, senior project worker with Clydeside Action on Asbestos, named Public Campaign of the Year at Thursday's ceremony in the Prestonfield House Hotel, called this legislation "cruel and unfair".
This iniquity was overturned by the Rights of Relatives to Damages (Mesothelioma) (Scotland) Act, which set into law the principle that a family's right to damages is not extinguished by a person with mesothelioma settling their own claim while still alive.
However, the hidden killer soon found another hiding place under the cloak of the Lords where, with its power to damage the lives of sufferers and their families diminished, it was ruled that those with apparently non-fatal asbestos scarring were no longer eligible for compensation.
This scarring, known as 'pleural plaques', is a clear indicator of asbestos exposure but, some experts argue, does not necessarily indicate an increased risk of developing a more serious asbestos related disease. For this reason, the right to compensation was removed.
However, the Scottish Government has again stepped up to the plate with a second Bill, the Damages Bill, which threatens to overturn the Lords ruling in Scotland.
The hidden killer had already threatened to tear apart the Westminster Government by taking the life of Glenrothes MP John MacDougall, a former Rosyth dockworker who died from asbestos-related cancer in August, forcing a by-election.
Tory MSP Bill Aitken, chair of the Holyrood justice committee, has warned that the Damages Bill could land Scotland with a GBP 6.5 million compensation claim under a Treasury mechanism which allows Westminster to wash its hands of the financial implications of devolved legislation.
However, Clydeside Action on Asbestos said this misdirection only serves to take the focus off the diseases.
Phyllis Craig added: "Asbestos-related illnesses are generally caused by ignorance or negligence on behalf of employers."
This theory has driven Armadale-based campaigner Alex Horne to fight for over 20 years to keep the plight in the public eye.
Mr Horne, who was exposed to asbestos while working as a boilermaker at the Golden Wonder crisp factory in the 1980s, said: "I'm still surprised by the number of people who seek to cover up their liability for asbestos exposure, and the number of people who don't know how dangerous this stuff is."
For this reason, the Health and Safety Executive has launched a campaign entitled Asbestos: The Hidden Killer, and has been taking its message to educational institutions throughout the country.
Mark Lawton, of the HSE asbestos policy group, was at Telford College on Friday speaking to construction apprentices, many of whom had never even heard of asbestos.
He said: "Most of the apprentices I spoke to at Telford told me that they'd probably already been exposed to asbestos and didn't have the necessary protection. It's a shocking state of ignorance when you consider that 25 per cent of people with asbestos related illnesses come from the construction industry.
"Somewhere in the region of 5000 people are killed by asbestos-related illnesses every year. That's more people than are killed in car accidents. However, we hope to confine these kinds of illnesses to a previous generation. Because these illnesses don't develop for many years after exposure, it's often difficult to pin down when and where the exposure occurred.
"But with an increased level of awareness, we hope to arm the next generation with the information they need."
Deaths from asbestos-related mesothelioma 1981-2007
Scotland 2995
City of Edinburgh 220
East Lothian 41
West Lothian 54
Edinburgh Evening News
November 17, 2008
As the Health and Safety Executive launches an asbestos awareness safety campaign, Mark McLaughlin examines the grim toll exposure to the deadly dust has inflicted on generations
IT hides under our floorboards, in our walls, in our pipes and, if disturbed, it prowls the air we breath. It is currently hiding in over half a million properties, and in the lungs of countless people, nationwide.
Now the hidden killer has been exposed. A high-profile training scheme by the Health and Safety Executive took place in Edinburgh last week to educate the next generation of construction workers on the dangers of exposure to asbestos.
Its message was buoyed by a major award handed to Clydeside Action on Asbestos, a group that grew from a small movement to help asbestos-stricken Clyde shipworkers into a national campaign, at the Scottish Politician of the Year Awards on Thursday.
And yet the killer continues to try to slink back into the shadows - avoiding both detection and retribution - through a combination of legislation, misdirection, negligence and continuing ignorance amongst trade professionals.
Its most effective hiding place for many years was contained in the Damages (Scotland) Act 1979.
This left individuals suffering from cancerous mesothelioma, or other fatal asbestos related illnesses, with the grim choice of claiming a lower rate of compensation to help them through their final years, or waiting until after death so their family could claim a higher amount.
Phyllis Craig, senior project worker with Clydeside Action on Asbestos, named Public Campaign of the Year at Thursday's ceremony in the Prestonfield House Hotel, called this legislation "cruel and unfair".
This iniquity was overturned by the Rights of Relatives to Damages (Mesothelioma) (Scotland) Act, which set into law the principle that a family's right to damages is not extinguished by a person with mesothelioma settling their own claim while still alive.
However, the hidden killer soon found another hiding place under the cloak of the Lords where, with its power to damage the lives of sufferers and their families diminished, it was ruled that those with apparently non-fatal asbestos scarring were no longer eligible for compensation.
This scarring, known as 'pleural plaques', is a clear indicator of asbestos exposure but, some experts argue, does not necessarily indicate an increased risk of developing a more serious asbestos related disease. For this reason, the right to compensation was removed.
However, the Scottish Government has again stepped up to the plate with a second Bill, the Damages Bill, which threatens to overturn the Lords ruling in Scotland.
The hidden killer had already threatened to tear apart the Westminster Government by taking the life of Glenrothes MP John MacDougall, a former Rosyth dockworker who died from asbestos-related cancer in August, forcing a by-election.
Tory MSP Bill Aitken, chair of the Holyrood justice committee, has warned that the Damages Bill could land Scotland with a GBP 6.5 million compensation claim under a Treasury mechanism which allows Westminster to wash its hands of the financial implications of devolved legislation.
However, Clydeside Action on Asbestos said this misdirection only serves to take the focus off the diseases.
Phyllis Craig added: "Asbestos-related illnesses are generally caused by ignorance or negligence on behalf of employers."
This theory has driven Armadale-based campaigner Alex Horne to fight for over 20 years to keep the plight in the public eye.
Mr Horne, who was exposed to asbestos while working as a boilermaker at the Golden Wonder crisp factory in the 1980s, said: "I'm still surprised by the number of people who seek to cover up their liability for asbestos exposure, and the number of people who don't know how dangerous this stuff is."
For this reason, the Health and Safety Executive has launched a campaign entitled Asbestos: The Hidden Killer, and has been taking its message to educational institutions throughout the country.
Mark Lawton, of the HSE asbestos policy group, was at Telford College on Friday speaking to construction apprentices, many of whom had never even heard of asbestos.
He said: "Most of the apprentices I spoke to at Telford told me that they'd probably already been exposed to asbestos and didn't have the necessary protection. It's a shocking state of ignorance when you consider that 25 per cent of people with asbestos related illnesses come from the construction industry.
"Somewhere in the region of 5000 people are killed by asbestos-related illnesses every year. That's more people than are killed in car accidents. However, we hope to confine these kinds of illnesses to a previous generation. Because these illnesses don't develop for many years after exposure, it's often difficult to pin down when and where the exposure occurred.
"But with an increased level of awareness, we hope to arm the next generation with the information they need."
Deaths from asbestos-related mesothelioma 1981-2007
Scotland 2995
City of Edinburgh 220
East Lothian 41
West Lothian 54
Sunday, 18 October 2009
NEWS: That's one bad hangover
By Mark McLaughlin
Edinburgh Evening News
July 17, 2008
AN 18-year-old who mistook a serious head trauma for a hangover could have died from injuries sustained during a weekend assault in Loanhead.
The man was attacked in Clerk Street at around 2.30am on Sunday morning, when he was punched by a male assailant while apparently trying to split up a fight between two brothers.
Believing his injuries were not serious, he returned home for the night but unbeknownst to him his skull was slowly filling with blood as a result of a skull fracture.
As the fluid in his brain began to take effect the unnamed victim began vomiting.
Having consumed a quantity of alcohol the previous night, he dismissed his sickness as the after-effects of a heavy night and did not seek medical assistance.
However, when the vomiting didn't stop the man went to the Western General Hospital for a check-up, where doctors diagnosed a serious head trauma and he was rushed into emergency surgery. Police were not informed of the incident until Tuesday when the victim's mum contacted them out of concern for her son.
Police confirmed if the doctors hadn't acted fast, the man could have died from his injuries and they could have had a more serious enquiry on their hands.
The man is now recovering in the Western General Hospital where his condition is not life threatening.
Police are appealing for witnesses.
Officers are particularly keen to talk to two women and a man who were seen outside the Masonic Lodge at the time of the attack.
A police spokeswoman said: "Had this man not received treatment when he did, the outcome could have been much more serious. You could say that he had a lucky escape.
"This assault has been committed on a young man who we believe was trying to break up a fight between two brothers and as a result has been punched, causing an injury which resulted in him having emergency surgery.
"We are appealing for two women and a young man who were seen on Clerk Street, near the Masonic Lodge, at the time of the assault to get in touch as a matter of urgency. We believe they may be able to provide some vital information in terms of the enquiry."
The lodge was empty at the time and local members said they were unaware of the attack prior to police enquiries.
James Hamilton, secretary of the 580 St Leonard's Lodge on Clerk Street, said: "I've spoken with our local caretaker and the barman and they have confirmed that there were no events at the lodge on Saturday night. As a result, no one from the lodge saw the attack take place."
The victim is presently recuperating in hospital and was unavailable for comment.
Edinburgh Evening News
July 17, 2008
AN 18-year-old who mistook a serious head trauma for a hangover could have died from injuries sustained during a weekend assault in Loanhead.
The man was attacked in Clerk Street at around 2.30am on Sunday morning, when he was punched by a male assailant while apparently trying to split up a fight between two brothers.
Believing his injuries were not serious, he returned home for the night but unbeknownst to him his skull was slowly filling with blood as a result of a skull fracture.
As the fluid in his brain began to take effect the unnamed victim began vomiting.
Having consumed a quantity of alcohol the previous night, he dismissed his sickness as the after-effects of a heavy night and did not seek medical assistance.
However, when the vomiting didn't stop the man went to the Western General Hospital for a check-up, where doctors diagnosed a serious head trauma and he was rushed into emergency surgery. Police were not informed of the incident until Tuesday when the victim's mum contacted them out of concern for her son.
Police confirmed if the doctors hadn't acted fast, the man could have died from his injuries and they could have had a more serious enquiry on their hands.
The man is now recovering in the Western General Hospital where his condition is not life threatening.
Police are appealing for witnesses.
Officers are particularly keen to talk to two women and a man who were seen outside the Masonic Lodge at the time of the attack.
A police spokeswoman said: "Had this man not received treatment when he did, the outcome could have been much more serious. You could say that he had a lucky escape.
"This assault has been committed on a young man who we believe was trying to break up a fight between two brothers and as a result has been punched, causing an injury which resulted in him having emergency surgery.
"We are appealing for two women and a young man who were seen on Clerk Street, near the Masonic Lodge, at the time of the assault to get in touch as a matter of urgency. We believe they may be able to provide some vital information in terms of the enquiry."
The lodge was empty at the time and local members said they were unaware of the attack prior to police enquiries.
James Hamilton, secretary of the 580 St Leonard's Lodge on Clerk Street, said: "I've spoken with our local caretaker and the barman and they have confirmed that there were no events at the lodge on Saturday night. As a result, no one from the lodge saw the attack take place."
The victim is presently recuperating in hospital and was unavailable for comment.
ANALYSIS: Bourgeois Buckfast
By Mark McLaughlin
Edinburgh Evening News
May 21, 2008
If you believe your favourite wine isn't as potent as the likes of Buckfast, think again. Many of us are unaware of the true strength of the alcohol we consume and the dangers it brings, as Mark McLaughlin reveals
IT is an image which strikes horror into the hearts of most parents - teenagers in the street knocking back bottles of Buckfast. But how many parents realise the wine they drink at home may be every bit as powerful as the drink of choice of young yobs?
While Buckfast contains 15 per cent alcohol, many of the nation's favourite wines are now every bit as strong.
Take Papavero Primitivo 2006 - the best-selling red for one leading internet wine seller, Direct Wines Ltd.
Enhanced Coverage LinkingDirect Wines Ltd. -Search using:
News, Most Recent 60 Days
It contains 14 per cent alcohol. Some popular wines, such as Australian Zinfandel, a particularly robust red at 16 per cent, contain more alcohol than Buckfast.
It highlights a problem which is causing growing concern among health professionals - widespread ignorance about the amount of alcohol we actually drink.
A YouGov poll released this week has found that many who consider themselves moderate drinkers are unaware of the high levels of alcohol in their drinks, because measures are getting larger while beers and wines are getting stronger.
The poll comes after the Scottish Government warned alcohol misuse is costing Scotland GBP 2.25 billion a year - more than double previous estimates - and is hitting business, the NHS, social services, police and courts.
While Zinfandel is at the higher end of the scale most bottles available in any supermarket or wine merchant are around 13 per cent.
David Henderson, a wine merchant of 25 years' experience and owner of Henderson's Wines in Morningside, is finding it increasingly difficult to find bottles of a more moderate strength.
He said: "I regularly get comments from discerning, educated wine drinkers who feel that they can't handle a bottle of 14 per cent.
"Yet I've been on wine-tasting trips to meet growers who say most people are only interested in wine that packs as much alcohol in the bottle as possible.
"In my experience people just have no idea how much alcohol they are drinking, and there are quite a few misconceptions out there. Some people believe white isn't as strong as red, or that a bottle of rosé is less potent than a full-bodied wine."
The confusion is heightened for some shoppers as many of the most popular websites selling wine don't provide information about the alcoholic strength.
Jack Law, chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland, said growing numbers of middle-aged drinkers risk damaging their health by drinking too much at home.
He added: "Older drinkers may drink at home rather than in pubs or clubs, and it's easy to get into the habit of having a few glasses of wine each night to 'relax'. Home measures tend to be far bigger than pub measures so a vodka, whisky or gin at home could be the equivalent of a double or treble in a bar. It's worth remembering that it's adults who are more likely to be hospitalised or attend a counselling service because of their drinking."
Tom Wood, chairman of Action on Alcohol and Drugs in Edinburgh, says many people believe there's only one unit of alcohol in a glass of wine, a pint of beer or a measure of spirits. He says: "There is indeed only one unit of alcohol in a glass of wine - provided it's a 125ml glass of wine with eight per cent alcohol.
"However, glasses of wine are now usually served in 250ml measures of between 12 and 14 per cent, so a glass of wine is now around three units of alcohol.
"It's important to educate people on these points. Some people may be under the impression that it is not that bad to have two or three glasses of wine regularly.
"The health service has now picked up on the fact that a lot of people are sleepwalking into serious health problems.
"These people may not be falling down in the gutter in a pool of vomit, but their health is being eroded in a very quiet and insidious way. They are risking long-term damage to their vital organs - including the liver, heart and cardiovascular system - and may pay the price through premature ageing and failing liver function."
Dalkeith GP Dr Dean Marshall, chairman of the BMA's Scottish General Practitioners Committee, said the problem is made worse by patients who misrepresent their alcohol intake in the patient surveys they take when registering with GPs.
He said: "According to these surveys I've never met anyone who smokes more than 20 a day, but this is quite clearly not the case and these surveys also reveal a similar ignorance about alcohol.
"What some people regard as one unit of alcohol is in fact two or three, so people may not necessarily be lying about their intake but may be unaware of how much they are consuming.
"For this reason the Department of Health in England is going to start paying GPs to carry out in-depth alcohol surveys, and is giving them the resources to compile the information more effectively.
"In Scotland a lot of money is poured into alcohol programmes but because there are so many groups focusing on alcohol, and receiving funds, the Scottish Government believes the message is getting through, whereas I think the money may be better spent by empowering GPs to carry out these kinds of studies."
Costs to the Scottish Economy of Alcohol Misuse
NHS GBP 405 million
Social Services GBP 170 million
Police/Fire GBP 385 million
Wider Economy GBP 820 million
Human/Social Costs GBP 470 million
Edinburgh Evening News
May 21, 2008
If you believe your favourite wine isn't as potent as the likes of Buckfast, think again. Many of us are unaware of the true strength of the alcohol we consume and the dangers it brings, as Mark McLaughlin reveals
IT is an image which strikes horror into the hearts of most parents - teenagers in the street knocking back bottles of Buckfast. But how many parents realise the wine they drink at home may be every bit as powerful as the drink of choice of young yobs?
While Buckfast contains 15 per cent alcohol, many of the nation's favourite wines are now every bit as strong.
Take Papavero Primitivo 2006 - the best-selling red for one leading internet wine seller, Direct Wines Ltd.
Enhanced Coverage LinkingDirect Wines Ltd. -Search using:
News, Most Recent 60 Days
It contains 14 per cent alcohol. Some popular wines, such as Australian Zinfandel, a particularly robust red at 16 per cent, contain more alcohol than Buckfast.
It highlights a problem which is causing growing concern among health professionals - widespread ignorance about the amount of alcohol we actually drink.
A YouGov poll released this week has found that many who consider themselves moderate drinkers are unaware of the high levels of alcohol in their drinks, because measures are getting larger while beers and wines are getting stronger.
The poll comes after the Scottish Government warned alcohol misuse is costing Scotland GBP 2.25 billion a year - more than double previous estimates - and is hitting business, the NHS, social services, police and courts.
While Zinfandel is at the higher end of the scale most bottles available in any supermarket or wine merchant are around 13 per cent.
David Henderson, a wine merchant of 25 years' experience and owner of Henderson's Wines in Morningside, is finding it increasingly difficult to find bottles of a more moderate strength.
He said: "I regularly get comments from discerning, educated wine drinkers who feel that they can't handle a bottle of 14 per cent.
"Yet I've been on wine-tasting trips to meet growers who say most people are only interested in wine that packs as much alcohol in the bottle as possible.
"In my experience people just have no idea how much alcohol they are drinking, and there are quite a few misconceptions out there. Some people believe white isn't as strong as red, or that a bottle of rosé is less potent than a full-bodied wine."
The confusion is heightened for some shoppers as many of the most popular websites selling wine don't provide information about the alcoholic strength.
Jack Law, chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland, said growing numbers of middle-aged drinkers risk damaging their health by drinking too much at home.
He added: "Older drinkers may drink at home rather than in pubs or clubs, and it's easy to get into the habit of having a few glasses of wine each night to 'relax'. Home measures tend to be far bigger than pub measures so a vodka, whisky or gin at home could be the equivalent of a double or treble in a bar. It's worth remembering that it's adults who are more likely to be hospitalised or attend a counselling service because of their drinking."
Tom Wood, chairman of Action on Alcohol and Drugs in Edinburgh, says many people believe there's only one unit of alcohol in a glass of wine, a pint of beer or a measure of spirits. He says: "There is indeed only one unit of alcohol in a glass of wine - provided it's a 125ml glass of wine with eight per cent alcohol.
"However, glasses of wine are now usually served in 250ml measures of between 12 and 14 per cent, so a glass of wine is now around three units of alcohol.
"It's important to educate people on these points. Some people may be under the impression that it is not that bad to have two or three glasses of wine regularly.
"The health service has now picked up on the fact that a lot of people are sleepwalking into serious health problems.
"These people may not be falling down in the gutter in a pool of vomit, but their health is being eroded in a very quiet and insidious way. They are risking long-term damage to their vital organs - including the liver, heart and cardiovascular system - and may pay the price through premature ageing and failing liver function."
Dalkeith GP Dr Dean Marshall, chairman of the BMA's Scottish General Practitioners Committee, said the problem is made worse by patients who misrepresent their alcohol intake in the patient surveys they take when registering with GPs.
He said: "According to these surveys I've never met anyone who smokes more than 20 a day, but this is quite clearly not the case and these surveys also reveal a similar ignorance about alcohol.
"What some people regard as one unit of alcohol is in fact two or three, so people may not necessarily be lying about their intake but may be unaware of how much they are consuming.
"For this reason the Department of Health in England is going to start paying GPs to carry out in-depth alcohol surveys, and is giving them the resources to compile the information more effectively.
"In Scotland a lot of money is poured into alcohol programmes but because there are so many groups focusing on alcohol, and receiving funds, the Scottish Government believes the message is getting through, whereas I think the money may be better spent by empowering GPs to carry out these kinds of studies."
Costs to the Scottish Economy of Alcohol Misuse
NHS GBP 405 million
Social Services GBP 170 million
Police/Fire GBP 385 million
Wider Economy GBP 820 million
Human/Social Costs GBP 470 million
NEWS: The pain of losing your hands
Mark McLaughlin
Edinburgh Evening News
April 23, 2008
A FORMER music teacher today described how he has pieced his life back together following a bicycle crash which left him in a wheelchair and unable to use his hands.
Mike Harrison, 69, of Ravenscroft Drive in Gilmerton, was an accomplished pianist as well as a keen cyclist and yachtsman, before the freak accident robbed him of nearly all his passions.
Two years ago, Mr Harrison took his bike to the Cyclist Touring Club's annual conference in Cardiff, but the last thing he remembers of that day is arriving at the conference dinner.
The next thing he can recall is waking up three days later strapped to a hospital bed with his head in a brace to stop it moving and the doctors telling him his neck was broken.
He said: "There's not an awful lot goes through your mind at a moment like that. It's all too much to take in.
"After the operation it was discovered that I was tetraplegic, which means I can lift my arms but I have very little use of my fingers, and my legs are now totally paralysed so I have to use a wheelchair.
"The doctors said there was a chance I would have some very small recoveries as the years go on, but that I would have to live with the disabilities.
"You just have to get on with it from there and learn to live your life in a completely different way.
"It was hard not being able to play the piano any more, but the thing I miss the most is not being able to get out and about.
"I used to travel everywhere on my bike. I kept a mileage chart of all of my travels and I did 7000 miles on the bike in the last year, compared to around 4000 in the car."
On April 22, 2006, Mr Harrison is thought to have left the conference dinner at around midnight before trying to make his way back to his hotel by bike. Witnesses said they heard a crash and ran to find Mr Harrison, then a music teacher at Whitburn Academy, lying by the side of the road.
He thinks the most likely explanation for his accident was a pothole, and added: "There is a system of bollards and raised pavements in place on the way up to the road where it happened, so the likelihood of another vehicle being involved was slim."
Despite being unable to cycle, Mr Harrison has retained his position as the Scottish secretary of the CTC, and still attends events.
He is also a keen advocate of public transport, and campaigns for better services as Scottish branch secretary of train lobby Rail Future.
Last week, the News revealed that 168 cyclists had been hospitalised after cycle accidents in the Lothians last year - 77 of those with head injuries. Despite the growing calls to make helmets compulsory, Mr Harrison is cautious about the move.
He said: "Helmets are very good for protecting your head but they don't do much for the rest of the body.
"The only thing that would have prevented my accident would have been a more conscientious approach to road maintenance by Cardiff council."
Edinburgh Evening News
April 23, 2008
A FORMER music teacher today described how he has pieced his life back together following a bicycle crash which left him in a wheelchair and unable to use his hands.
Mike Harrison, 69, of Ravenscroft Drive in Gilmerton, was an accomplished pianist as well as a keen cyclist and yachtsman, before the freak accident robbed him of nearly all his passions.
Two years ago, Mr Harrison took his bike to the Cyclist Touring Club's annual conference in Cardiff, but the last thing he remembers of that day is arriving at the conference dinner.
The next thing he can recall is waking up three days later strapped to a hospital bed with his head in a brace to stop it moving and the doctors telling him his neck was broken.
He said: "There's not an awful lot goes through your mind at a moment like that. It's all too much to take in.
"After the operation it was discovered that I was tetraplegic, which means I can lift my arms but I have very little use of my fingers, and my legs are now totally paralysed so I have to use a wheelchair.
"The doctors said there was a chance I would have some very small recoveries as the years go on, but that I would have to live with the disabilities.
"You just have to get on with it from there and learn to live your life in a completely different way.
"It was hard not being able to play the piano any more, but the thing I miss the most is not being able to get out and about.
"I used to travel everywhere on my bike. I kept a mileage chart of all of my travels and I did 7000 miles on the bike in the last year, compared to around 4000 in the car."
On April 22, 2006, Mr Harrison is thought to have left the conference dinner at around midnight before trying to make his way back to his hotel by bike. Witnesses said they heard a crash and ran to find Mr Harrison, then a music teacher at Whitburn Academy, lying by the side of the road.
He thinks the most likely explanation for his accident was a pothole, and added: "There is a system of bollards and raised pavements in place on the way up to the road where it happened, so the likelihood of another vehicle being involved was slim."
Despite being unable to cycle, Mr Harrison has retained his position as the Scottish secretary of the CTC, and still attends events.
He is also a keen advocate of public transport, and campaigns for better services as Scottish branch secretary of train lobby Rail Future.
Last week, the News revealed that 168 cyclists had been hospitalised after cycle accidents in the Lothians last year - 77 of those with head injuries. Despite the growing calls to make helmets compulsory, Mr Harrison is cautious about the move.
He said: "Helmets are very good for protecting your head but they don't do much for the rest of the body.
"The only thing that would have prevented my accident would have been a more conscientious approach to road maintenance by Cardiff council."
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