Search for Lost Sock Monkey continues

On the 12th July 2012 we lost my wonderful mother to Ataxia. Before we lost her we lost her brilliant sock monkey simply named "Sock Monkey"!.

It was lost in or around ward 35 at Kings Mill Hospital (Sutton-in-Ashfield), en-route (via patient transport ambulance) to Rose Lodge Care Home, or possibly in Rose Lodge (although the brilliant staff did carry out a "monkey hunt" for us!).

I cannot begin to explain what the return of the Sock Monkey would mean to us...it was mums favourite cuddly toy during her last few months of life, and we where extremely saddened when we lost it...more so when we lost her :-(.

If you do happen to see this strange yet lovely little chap/chapesse, could you please let me know? I would be more than happy to pay a reward for it :-)

Many thanks in advance. Andy

Discovery Of Key Function Of Protein For Obtaining Blood Stem Cells As Source For Transplants

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Researchers from IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute) have deciphered the function executed by a protein called β-catenin in generating blood tissue stem cells. These cells, also called haematopoietic, are used as a source for transplants that form part of the therapies to fight different types of leukaemia. The results obtained will open the doors to produce these stem cells in the laboratory and, thus, improve the quality and quantity of these surgical procedures. This will let patients with no compatible donors be able to benefit from this discovery in the future.
The study, executed jointly with the Erasmus Medical Center Stem Cell of Rotterdam and published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, analysed a chain of molecular reactions that are produced inside some embryonic cells and that play a role in the creation of a haematopoietic stem cells. 'Our study contributes to deciphering the code that makes a precursor cell that is only found in the embryo become a haematopoietic stem cell. In order for that to happen, the β-catenin protein must be activated for a while and with a specific dosage' explains Dr Anna Bigas, head of the IMIM Stem Cells & Cancer Group and lead researcher.

This protein also plays a fundamental role in the cells that originate and maintain some types of leukaemia. 'The parallelisms between normal and leukaemia stem cells prove to us that the molecular pathways that regulate both populations are the same. For this reason, our work will help us understand the origin of these diseases', argues Dr Bigas.

In addition to embryonic stem cells, each of our body's organs has another type of stem cell that has the capacity to regenerate all the cells for the tissue in question. However, they are only formed in the embryonic stage and are maintained for the rest of our lives. Haematopoietic stem cells are part of the blood and, when they are transplanted, they are the inception for all of this tissue's cells.

At present, transplanting these cells is dependent on the availability of compatible donors. Nonetheless, there is still a high percentage of patients with no donors and that, therefore, cannot be submitted to this procedure. The results of this article lay the foundations so that, in the future, these patients can benefit from a source of laboratory-generated haematopoietic stem cells created from compatible embryonic cells or other types of expressly transformed cells.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/248293.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/248293.php

Actor Simon Ward has died

The Tudors actor Simon Ward dies

Jill Elaine Ward (Nee Nash), Mansfield Woodhouse,Notts

If you have found this page then it could be that you have googled my mothers name.

Sadly I lost my wonderful mum just over a week ago after she lost her valiant fight with the Ataxia which eroded her life away little by little over the last 7 years of her life.

I intend to write something here as a fitting tribute to the most amazing,caring and genuine person I have ever (and may ever!) have the privilage of meeting. Until then I have simply posted a few pictures and this poem that i wrote which tries (but entirely fails) to sum her up :-)

The mum I still knew

It was sometimes hard to see you mum, the mum I used to know

You’d lie there quietly on your bed did you notice as I’d come and go?

I often feared it was not you, that all you were had gone

But when I thought a little more I knew that I was wrong

Those eyes that gazed into my own the day my life began

That loving gaze was always there from little child to man

Those arms I see once carried me and tucked me in at night

Those lips once kissed me as I slept and made my pain alright

Those hands once held mine o’ so tight and kept me safe and sound

Those legs that worked so very hard when you carried me around

Those ears that heard my very first word and listened to my fears

The heart that kept me locked within in our passing years

And oh that smile that lovely smile you always loved to share

and being such a giving soul you always had one free to spare.

And so I see it is you mum and you’d not gone away

And even now as we have to part you’ll still be with me every day

Rest in peace mum, your memory will live on eternally in our hearts.

Jill Ward (nee Nash). 14th March 1944 - 12th July 2012

G4S Nick Buckles under pressure of Olympic Cockup

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You have to laugh don"t you. A company that in previous years was known as Group 4 Securicor, but changed it's name in an effort to hide a large amount of bad publicity due to it's amusing habit of " loosing" prisoners it was transporting, has now managed the ultimate in cockups.....screwing up the security arrangements for the 2012 Olympic Games!
Still, Mr Buckles will be able to smile no doubt as it appears his £830'000 salary is still safe!
I wonder if they will change their name again after this world class balls up?...but what on earth can you shorten G4S to? How about COAPIAB!...."Cant organize a pissup in a brewery" services?
Wonder what all the squaddies think of Mr Buckles efforts......being as many of them will be working as underpaid security guards for him when they loose their jobs soon in the next round of defense cuts!

PRIVATE SECTOR 0.PUBLIC SERVICE 1

Go figure!
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Today i lost my wonderful mother.......:-(

I have had the privilage of knowing an amzing,kind, gentle and warm lady for thr last 46 years of my life.....my mum :-)

As I type this I know now that she passed away in a care home in Mansfield. We all watched helplessly as she slowly slipped away from us over the last few days...and now her battle is over it hurts a lot as only the loss of a parent can

Mum (Jill) was diagnosed with Dementia about 7 years ago at the relatively young age of 61. The last 7 years we have had to watch her disappear right in front of our eyes.

Sometimes the symptoms remained relatively unchanged for a long period of time.....other times it seemed that a new "challenge" would present itself almost on a weekly basis....but always, always.....my father was there to love,care and support her...even though it was sometimes a very hard and upsetting labour of pure unconditional love.....I cannot put into words how proud i am of the way my dad took care of mum....it has been a very humbling and insiring thing to witness for my sister and I......we have been so blessed to have had such amazing parents who both,in their own way showed such courage..but also showed us the true meaning of that word "love".