Chris Todd,Torquay United and Newport County footballer.......and Leukaemia Survivor.

Standard practice for a pre-match interview is to pick a subject who is sure to play. The best-case scenario for Chris Todd is that he will be among the substitutes when Torquay United face Coventry City in the FA Cup fourth round tomorrow — but that is exactly the point. Todd might be on the bench, ten weeks after having cancer diagnosed.


"A groin operation in Leicester last October had gone well and Todd’s injury was repaired. Just one small thing — a nurse noticed that he bled heavily when a needle was removed from his arm. Probably worth having a blood test to check everything was as it should be.

Oh, come on. A tough lower-league centre half such as Todd? Readiness to shed blood is part of the job description. “I’m OK, feeling fine, why should I?” he reasoned. But the nurse’s comment nagged away. A few days later, not quite sure why he was bothering, he went along to have that blood test. That was a Monday morning in mid-November. He got the results that evening. Swift service.

They told him he had chronic myeloid leukaemia. Bang: Chris Todd, 27, your life has changed for ever. And so began the quest to return to a healthy existence that he did not realise he had lost, so secretly was his body conspiring against him."

(Source:The Times Online)

This is a great story with a happy ending. Chris Todd was a young guy with a promising football career ahead of him, then in November 2008 he was diagnosed with Leukaemia. In this video Chris explains what happened next.......

http://video.aol.co.uk/video-detail/todds-leukaemia-battle/20555757


For a lot of people who are diagnosed with this illness the thought of what will happen to them is a worrying thought, but for Chris,who's career relies upon his physical fitness, the issues about his health could mean much more than to many.....

To read more about Chris's story,click HERE to go to the Times Online Website.

Rare car for sale on Ebay.Proceeds of sale going to Leukaemia Research (LLR)

Just a quick heads up folks that there is currently a car for sale on Ebay which may interest you.It was a project car for The Mechanics Magazine for several years, and has rather a few "extra's" that you would not get on the standard model.

The car is a 1992 Ford Granada Scorpio 2.0Ltr.

If you fancy a flutter on the auction you will need to be quick as it ends in 2 days or so.Currently the price is sitting just above £500, so still a bargain to be had, and one with some interesting history :-)

Click HERE to see the Ebay listing.

.

Alex Reid.If you get to read this...dump the frump and get your own life mate !

Of course the chances that Alex will ever get to read this blog are slim, but I feel it is my duty to give him the heads up on how things are:

A) You have just won Celebrity Big Brother,congratulations mate.
B) You have managed to convince the public that you a nice guy
C) When JORDAN/Katie Price was beaten into submission in the jungle not so long ago by virtue of being nominated for several "Bush tucker trials", she,if I remember correctly,told the audience that you and her had seperated and that she didn't want you.......such a loyal partner !.
D) You DO NOT NEED the grumpy frump now mate, you have proved that you are your own man, and being away from GF you have had a chance to let people see the REAL YOU.Do not go back to her or she will overshadow your carrer and belittle everything you dream of.......she is BAD NEWS.


Katie Price...KP...she is sooooooo NUTS !

P.S Give up the fighting,it is not something you will ever need to do again.....although the fight with the snowman was a classic :-)

As I say,Alex will never read this, but I just wanted to put over my take on the way things are.....hopefully i will not get the chance to say "I told you so"!......:-)
.

.

Wickes hits £1m milestone for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research

DIY chain raises £110,000 with charity dinner, reaching its fundraising target for first ever charity partnership.

A charity dinner held by Wickes in London raised £110,000, helping the DIY retailer hit its £1m milestone for Leukaemia Research.


The charity dinner - the third of its kind organised by Wickes - was held at the Science Museum on November 18 and was attended by 400 of the company's suppliers and top fundraisers. Tickets, a raffle and an appeal on the night raised £70,000, while an auction of top prizes, including a holiday to South Africa and the chance to play golf with Sir Ian Botham, raised an incredible £40,000.

Wickes managing director Jeremy Bird said: "It's been a momentous year of achievements, with colleagues taking on marathons, organising fun days and even climbing Kilimanjaro to raise money for Leukaemia Research. To get to the £1m mark is fantastic, especially as it's our first ever charity partnership - it's a real testament to the generosity of our colleagues, customers and suppliers."

The partnership between Wickes and Leukaemia Research was first announced in October 2006. Since then, Wickes colleagues across the country have organised events and taken part in fundraising initiatives. Fundraising merchandise, such as joke books, torch keyrings, chocolates and wristbands has also been sold in Wickes stores.

Leukaemia Research director of fundraising Kate White said: "Wickes has shown an incredible commitment and dedication to fundraising for Leukaemia Research since the partnership began. To reach £1m is amazing and it will make a real difference to the lives of people touched by leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma."

Well done Wickes, excellent effort !

Got a Scirocco? Then make sure you make a date for the UK National Meet in July 2010!

Yes folks, this year the Scirocco Register meet will be held in the (hopefully!) warmer month of July and the venue will once again be the air museum at RAF Cosford.

Anyone is welcome and the normal arrangements are that camping/hotels (for the softies!) will be available on the Friday and Saturday nights for those who fancy the chance to relax and unwind with others who will probably chew your ear off with constant banter about a certain type of car!. Seriously though, the last 2 events have been great, and if,like me,you have a family, then they to are more than welcome to attend.

It's not all about cars though, and once you have paid your £3.00 for parking you can go around the museum and have a good look at their amazing collection of exhibits for free !.

If you are a James May (Top Gear) fan you will probably already know that the life size plasic model Spitfire he made on on of his shows also lives at RAF Cosford....got to be worth a look at that !

There is also food available on site and a gift shop should you fancy splashing a few quid out on some gift.

The date has been set as the 24th July 2010 and you can see more details by clicking on this link HERE.
.

Sleaford has some more long term roadworks...shall we rename it "Gridlock" ?

I am of course refering to those annoying one way (into, but not out of Sleaford) ones on Grantham Road.
Now me being an inquisitive sort of bloke i have made a few enquiries and have discovered the following facts about these...erm.....pains in the posterior.

1) They are known as "Phase one"...because after they are completed,phase 2 will start!.....then (strangely enough) phase 3 apparently.
2) Phase one is the first part of 3 phases of work that are being carried out by LCC to link the new Hamlett of Greylees with the Market(!) town of Sleaford.
3) The work currently being undertaken is to install street lighting,pavements a cycle lane and drainage.
4)The work is scheduled to run for another 4-5 weeks........all good news then!....GROAN!

If you had asked me a few weeks ago when I was sat in yet another traffic jam somewhere in this gridlocked town I would have said that the best thing in Sleaford was the road leading out of it!.

Sadly, this is no loner the case.Why? Well, because now,the powers that be have made it a lot harder to leave the town by closing off the Grantham road exit !.Now, in order to leave Sleaford along the A153, you need to take a "slight detour" along to and then through Silk Willoughby...an extra 3 miles on my 42 mile trip to Mansfield in a morning...oh bliss!.
Of course I could decide to go through the town centre, but then you hit a large line of traffic waiting to get onto the Holdingham roundabout, but that can be complicated even more if you happen to get your times wrong and end up stuck at the level crossing waiting for a train loaded with...oooh...at least 4 people.

I had a questionaire sent to me the other day asking what I like about Sleaford...i am going to have to think about my answer very carefully now!.

P.S Don't get me wrong, if you like charity shops,pubs,restaurants,cafes or hairdressers then this is the town for you......just not much else going down, and the "Market" in the accolade of "Market town" is sadly almost non existent now days due to the powers that be making it so bloody hard to get A) Into Sleaford and parked, and B)...Erm..out of Sleaford.Bless em!.

P.P.S Last week the local paper reported that the council is planning to pay a bunch of consultants £200,000 to tell them what Sleaford should aim to be in the next 20-25 years. The answer is of course.....rebuilt from scratch! :-)

Anyway,If you would like to keep up to date with all f the planned and current roadworks in the Lincolnshire area,click HERE to get the lowdown from the LCC Website....nice :-)

New Department for MEMD (Medical Equipment Management Dept) Hooraahh ! :-)

After almost 4 years of waiting for our turn to move into a brand new department at the hospital, this week (and most of last week) we finally managed to do it at last!.

The old department had been the home of MEMD for approx the last 30 years, and to be honest it was in worse structural condition than my garden shed (and that is bad!). Every time it rained we had to get out the buckets to catch the water that would inevitibly flow through the seive like flat roof, and the paintwork within the building was in a terrible state due to the damp conditions.
Thank goodness then that this week we are now completing our move from the 1970's into the 21st centuary, and I can tell you that the new building,aside from a few minor quirks, is turning out to be a much more fitting location for a medical equipment department tasked with maintaining and repairing several million pounds worth of medical devices...and we don't feel like we are working in a shed at the bottom of someones garden anymore :-)....hooorraahhh !.

Random Leukaemia information.

Leukaemia in Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Survivors from 1945 through 1959 -

R J Mitchell.What if he had died before he designed the Spitfire ?

This is a question that has crossed my mind on numerous occasions over the years. What if he had never lived long enough to design the most famous fighter aeroplane of the centuary ?

Reginald Joseph Mitchell died in June 1937 of Rectal Cancer aged 42 (he was first diagnosed in 1933), and was thus not around at the outbreak of the 2nd World War to witness the impact that his iconic aeroplane had to the people of the UK and more importantly to the course of the war effort in the air. The Spitfire was not simply a weapon of war, it was a symbol of hope and inpiration for millions of people...and still is to this day.

Reginald probably knew that his chances of surviving cancer in the 1930's were very slim, but he still dedicated himself to his work and in doing so he gave the RAF an unimaginably potent weapon in their fight against the might of the Luftwaffe.

I just wanted to share this thought with you really,simply to point out that a diagnosis of cancer does not mean that we have to throw in the towel and wait to die.Maybe we can all still do something amazing with whatever time we have.Maybe we won't make such an important a contribution such as that of Reginald Mitchell, but maybe we can do something equally amazing all the same.

To read about the life of R J Mitchell, click HERE to view the Wiki Website.

RIP Reginald Joseph Mitchell,designer of the Spitfire.20th May 1895-11th June 1937.

Signed Royal Navy Sharks Picture (PAF 1993) for Sale

If you (or anyone you may know!) would be interested in buying this 27" by 22" professionally framed limited edition  picture (in caricature) of the final lne up of the Royal Navy's Sharks Aerobatic Team (Circa 1993) to help support my 2010 project, please do get in touch for details and if required more pictures.

This is a rare oppertunity to own a very nice peice of military aviation history...and would help me to transform the Scirocco for her Leukaemia Research (LLR) mission in 2010.Thanks :-) .Andy

Leukaemia Research has changed it's name...and logo :-)

As of this week it was confirmaed that the LRF has now changed its name to " Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research" and has decided to have a new logo also.

To see more info about the details of the name change,click HERE to go to the LLR site.

I for one like the new emblem :-)

Little stars are so brave - Twins, 4 both fighting Acute Leukaemia.

Brave identical twins Megan and Gracie Garwood are preparing for intensive chemotherapy after both being diagnosed with cancer – less than a fortnight apart.


The four-year-olds, who have just started at Rougham Primary School, used to love swimming but that is no longer possible because of the plastic tubes feeding drugs and, sometimes even food, through their noses into their bodies.

For the complete story click HERE to navigate to the Bury Free Press Website.

Leukaemia cell 'breakthrough' offers treatment hope

Scientists believe they have made an important breakthrough in attempts to treat a form of childhood leukaemia.


In mice tests, Australian researchers found that a cell, which plays a key role in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, survives radiotherapy.
The Melbourne University team believes targeting this cell may help to stop this disease returning, but they warned much more research was needed. UK experts said the findings may eventually lead to better care. T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is a rare form of leukaemia which is most common in older children and adolescents, although adults can also be affected.

To read the full story click HERE to navigate to the BBC Health website.

Help for heroes Microlight pilot Martin Bromage killed on charity flight.

A microlight pilot aiming to fly to Australia to raise money for Britain’s injured soldiers ditched into the sea and died before he reached France.

Martin Bromage was less than three hours into his 11,000-mile (18,000 km) odyssey when thick fog forced him to make a series of distress calls and abandon attempts to land at his intended destination of Le Touquet, near Calais. Coastguards said that he was heading back to England when he lost contact with air traffic control.

What a tragic end to such an ambitious and worthwhile project. Martin was trying to help others when he died, and the saddest thing I think is that the SUN newspaper (who founded help for hero's!) considered it such a worthwhile story that they published it on the front page...NOT!. Actually they deemed it such an important story that they gave Martin a whole half a page on page 19....even Pete Daugherty and Amy Winehouse get futher up the table of "Important news" just by getting legless,swearing and being sick!.

I feel so angry that this fine gent made the ultimate sacrifice to try and help his fellow human beings, and in this world of celebrity, his death was reported with less interest than the fact that Cadbury have been bought out by KRAFT foods...what a bloody disgrace.

Our thoughts of course are with Martin's family at this difficult time, and I will state here on this blog that Martin himself was a hero, and his family should be proud of that fact even though some sections of the media don't seem to be giving him the respect he deserves for his efforts.

To read the full story click HERE to go to the websit of a proper newspaper !

R.I.P Martin.
.

"I wanted to save my baby's cord blood,but the hospital don't offer the service"

When Natalie Salama-Levy gives birth to her second child at the end of next month she wanted to be able to donate its cord blood.

Sadly,even now there is still a great shortage of hospitals offering new mums the chance to save the cord blood held within their new childs umbilical cord. Many women such as Natalie are being told that the service is not available at the hospitals that they have their children delivered at even though the possible uses for this amazing substance are being realised more and more as scientists discover the secrets of stem cell material.

So, Unfortunately despite the fact that she is prepared to donate to help others she can not due to a nationwide lack o hospitals offering a cord blodd harvesting service."I am having the baby at the Royal Free, London, which is a very large hospital. My consultant there was very supportive, but unfortunately they are not one of the hospitals that donate cord blood which is a real shame," said 37-year-old Natalie.

\to read more of this story please click HERE to visit the BBC Health News Website.

.

Cord blood stem cell transplant hopes boosted.

A technique which may eventually remove the need for matched bone marrow transplants has been used in humans for the first time.

It is hoped that "master cells" taken from umbilical cords could be used on any patient without rejection. The latest advance, published in the journal Nature Medicine, greatly multiplies the tiny number of cells from the cord ready for a transplant. UK charity Leukaemia Research said this could be the "holy grail" for doctors.

To read the complete story click HERE to visit the BBC Health Webpages.
.

Ok.Watch out for my sales on Ebay to raise money for the 2010 project....bargains to be had :-)

After considering the problems that i am having in recruiting sponsors to help with the transformation of the Scirocco to her new "Leukaemia Research big five-o" scheme, i have decided to try and fund some of the costs (mainly the need to purchase 8 alloy wheels!) by selling some of my stuff on Ebay.

I have got quite a lot of things that I could sell, but finding them is going to be fun as I am not what you would call an "organised person"!.

What sort of items will be on offer ? Well small cheap  items such as stickers right through to my limited edition picture of the Sharks Aerobatic team (I was told that only 7 ever got issued!).This picture was one of a small number commisioned to mark the disbanding of the Team in 1992 after defence cuts were announced.To read more about the Royal Navy Sharks Display team history,click HERE to see the Wikipedia entry on the net.

I will be listing items soon,hopefully over this weekend, and I will then post up a link to Ebay for anyone who may fancy purchasing something and as a result, help me to get the 2010 project to the next base.

Update: The picture has now been listed on Ebay.

To see the listing please click HERE to go to the Ebay Site.Thanks :-)

1 year old Austin Clover needs a bone marrow transplant.Can YOU help him ?

The parents of a toddler whose only chance of surviving a rare genetic condition is a bone-marrow transplant are searching for a special person to save their sons life.

Austin Clover has a rare bone marrow disease called Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome.

To go to their website and see if YOU can help please click HERE.

If you remember from my previous posts, this is the same illness that young Anthony Nolan suffered with in the 1970,s,and it was his battle with this disease that eventually lead to his mother Shirley Nolan setting up the Anthony Nolan Trust.

This is a cruel and aggressive disease and Austin's only hope of a cure is by having a bone marrow transplant. Ask yourself.Can you help Austin ? Could you be his "Special Person"?.

Please,please try to help this child, you may just be the one who could save his life.

2010 PROJECT...Not going to well so far !, but still early days.

Well, after contacting 3 companies so far i have had ...erm.....zero replies to date :-(. This is the part of this charity work that I really hate, especially when your enthusiasm is apparently not matched by those who you cantact for support. Don't get me wrong, i appreciate that some of the companies that I approach for sponsorship or support may not be able or willing to offer help, but what really gets my goat is that after spending sometimes hours in preparing emails/letters and waiting weeks for replies, i don't even get "I regret to inform you that..." reply,not even a one liner...nothing...zilch!.
This years project is already 2 weeks into 2010 and so far i have managed to secure no further sponsorship from any other parties other than the West Notts College (graphic design) and the Leukaemia Research Foundation, Oh, and Biff, my mate who is going to do the graphics for the car for free (bless you mate!).

I have now decided to document on this blog, the companies that i have contacted, and the outcome of my requests. This is not a witch hunt and in no way is meant to ridicule any companies who decline my request,but it is to outline the amount of work that is being put into this project, and will serve to illustrate the net return of my efforts.

So, (in no real order) the companies and organisations contacted so far:

Newbolds Volkswagen (Mansfield).Spoke to Service manager at some lengths,still awaiting reply.

Volkswage Racing Cup Organisers. Emailed 2 weeks ago, no reply so far.

GSF (German,Swedish and French) Car Spares.No reply still after 2 weeks.

Can I just ask that if anyone reading this blog knows someone,or a company,that may be interested in helping me out with this project,could they PLEASE get in touch and let me know. I need support with this 2010 project this year and would be more than happy to shoiw recognition of any support by way of mentions in radio/TV appearences and also by applying company logo's to the car.

What do I need help with ?

I need 8 new (or good) alloy wheels for the car and trailer (4+2+2 spares) These must be 15" 4 stud and 100 (Volkswagen or Vauxhall fit)
Can anyone fit new suspension ? I need to sort this out as the car is rolling quite a lot and would benefit greatly from new shockers and springs.
Window tinting.For the rear of the car and the trailer windows....can someone do this?

Audio.I have a 600w inverter which i can use to power a large screen, but could do with someone with in car ICE experience to help me sort out the sound issues.

If anyone can help with any other aspects of the cars prep for the 2010 project, please,please step forward and make yourselves known :-)

I really want to be able to do a good job in spreading the word about the work that Leukaemia Research do, and have been doing since 1960, so the better the car looks and sounds, the more attention it gets, the better.

Thanks.
Andy

An Alternative to chemotherapy for some Leukaemia patients

A new treatment could help leukaemia patients who are too weak for chemotherapy, according to a new study.

Scientists at the University of Birmingham said using a combination of the contraceptive pill and a cholesterol-lowering drug could be a safer and more effective option for patients.Some 20 acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) patients treated with Bezafibrate and the female contraceptive drug Medroxyprogesterone Acetate suffered none of the side effects linked with chemotherapy, the scientists said.

For the full story visit the Nursing Times Webpage by clicking HERE.

Always good to hear about new less aggresssive treatments being developed.This research, i am lead to believe,was funded by Leukaemia Research.

.

Genetic Factors Can Increase Leukaemia Risk Seven-Fold

Scientists have found four new regions of the genome that increase the risk of a common blood cancer, according to results published today in the journal Nature Genetics.

Professor Houlston’s team last year proved that people’s genes could make them more susceptible to CLL, identifying six regions of the genome more common among sufferers. In the latest paper, also funded by the charity Leukaemia Research, his team have identified another four regions that influence an individual’s risk of CLL.

For  more about this story click HERE to go to the Health Canal website.

.

Suspended for caring for her father fighting Leukaemia...has the world gone mad!

Fifteen year-old Brisbane school girl Emily whose father is dying of leukaemia, has been sent home from school, suspended, for breaching the school uniform policy after shaving her head in support of cancer.

Emily Pridham was sent home from Mount Alvernia College yesterday and will not be allowed back until her hair regrows after she shaved it off as part of a cancer research fundraiser on Saturday.The Catholic girls' school has cited its dress code policy for the temporary ban.

Emily's mother Barbara Pridham said she was "gobsmacked" at the school's punishment and said the family had been given no warning about the possible consequences.

To read the full story click HERE.
 
.
.

Adverts on the TV...what exactly are they trying to tell us ?

It's strange, but after spending a lot more time than usual in front of the my television during the Christmas break, I have found myself becoming more and more confused about several commercials that have appeared recently.For instance..........

Calgon water softner. The lady tells the other woman (who is buying a "cheap" brand at the counter!) that the "inferior" brand will cost her hundreds because after paying for "A new washer,the cost of water damage and the repair bill"....hang on....a new washer and a repair bill ?.How many people pay to get a washer fixed and then buy a new one? And apart from that, don't most folk have insurance to cover the cost of the damage repairs?   Funny how they don't mention the accumulated costs involved in buying their product over several years isn't it? Myself, i have never used a "special" water addative, and my washers last on average 10 years......and i have possibly saved hundreds in not buying additives....nice  :-)

Evian Water. What exactly are we being told by the term "Live Young"? Surely you can only live at the age you are at, and you certainly don't have to shell out a quid a bottle for water in order to do it !
The thought that so many people will also be driven to buy this over prices liquid by the clever use of a few CGI babies astounds me, so please, before you do rush out and pay approx 1000 times the price for a litre of bottled H2o as apposed to tap water, consider this satement from the Blog named "Spouting off".
"For those that are moved to purchase Evian at the exorbitant economic and environmental cost, just remember what Evian spells in reverse." ......NAIVE!

Ford Kinetic Design. Asked to define Ford kinetic Design, Martin Smith is unequivocal in his reply, “the form language is communicated through bold, dynamic lines and full surfaces. When you look at kinetic Design, you can see that it visualises energy in motion.” It’s this ‘energy in motion’ that expresses the design language. That’s why with just a glimpse, the cars look like they’re moving even when they’re standing still.
...............................What? Come on, just admit that it's yet another "jelly mould" mass produced car that looks like any other modern car on the road......but hey,why don't ford attatch some of those lines to the back of their motors, you know, the ones that cartoonists draw in to suggest speed :-) Whooooshhh......:-)

Rare and fatal complications of an indolent disease – chronic lymphocytic leukaemia

Anyone who (like me!) has been diagnosed with CLL should read this article. I am not posting this to be a scaremonger, but I feel that if you are a patient with Chronic Leukaemia, it is always good to Know your Enemy !.

To read this article, click HERE to go to the Searchmedica website.

.

Bone Marrow Extraction and an Explanation of the proceedure (Medical images)

Just trawled this up on one of my recent YouTube checks. The video was produced to explain the proceedure used to extract bone marrow and contains scenes of a medical nature.

Millionaire picks up record £182,000 fine for racing Ferrari....What a Prat !

Maybe we should introduce this sort of fines system to the UK.You are ordered to pay a fine which is based upon your income/wealth.It would slow down a few footballers in sportscars thats for sure...well maybe!

Here is the story as reported in the Daily Mirror.....

"A millionaire motorist clocked up a record fine of £182,000 after Swiss police caught him racing through a village at 60mph in his red Ferrari Testarossa. Prior to breaking the 30mph limit he had been caught speeding at 85mph on country roads, where the limit is 50."

Read more by clicking HERE.

Just shows you that brain capacity and intelligence are not guaged by a persons bank balance :-)

Nexus or iPhone ? Why bother with either of these white elephants is my answer !

Flicking through the pages of the daily newspaper the other day I came across an article which compared the new Google Nexus mobile with the current "King of the hill", the iPhone.
After reading the comparison I came to this conclusion.Neither are worth the £300+ price tag, and if you buy one of them it is purely for showing off to your mates and proves that you are indeed an individual that has "More money than sense" as my gran used to say!.
I have a cheap and cheerful Sony W395 slide phone,it has a camera,MP3,video player etc...but only cost me £49.I have dropped it more times than i can remember,sat on it,dropped it in the sink and even one time put it in the oven by mistake (don't ask...it's a long story!).The point is, it still works fine, and when it eventually does give up the ghost I can replace it for under £50 quid.
If I had an iPhone I would not honestly feel confident that it would have survived all of the mishaps i just mentioned, and if it did, i would not feel at all safe walking around with it stuck to my ear in public in case some guttersnipe decided to have it from me.
As an engineer by trade i have witnessed many failures of technology within the aviation and medical industries, and have come to the conclusion that the more of our lives we give over and trust into technology, the greater the chaos when our gadgets fail.We are fitting more and more of our daily lives into smaller and more advanced personal devices, but ask yourself these questions "If my Iphone/Nexus fails/breaks/gets lost...how much will it impact upon my life? How much do I rely on this device, and can I live without it?"

I will stick to my humble Sony for now, and try not to put to much of me into a gadget and try to not put the gadget in the oven...again !

PCSO lied about daughter having Leukaemia and conned money from colleagues

I read a story in a paper today about a PCSO (Police Community Support Officer) somewhere in the UK (Can't rememebr the exact details) who conned colleagues out of a substantial amount of money by claiming that her daughter had Leukaemia. She later told people that her daughter had died of the disease, but was caught out when someone spotted the "desceased" child very much alive.

What can you say about these sort of individuals ? No......don't tempt me.

Of course there is a twist at the end of this tale, and that is the fact that she will not be presecuted because they cannot ascertain the exact amount of money that this woman conned out of the kind hearted mates at her Police station and her neighbours. If only she knew what suffering and pain the parents of kids who really do have this disease are going through on a daily basis, perhaps then she might grasp the feeling of outrage that people feel at her sick con.

Lets just hope that she is no longer a PCSO, and if by any mad chance she still is, lets hope that they have sent her to Coventry (It's an English term for not speaking to a disgraced individual!)

Leukaemia vaccine to be tested on patients for the first time.

.
A vaccine treatment for people with leukaemia is to be tested on human patients for the first time soon.


Scientists have developed a drug which is designed to prevent the cancer reoccurring following chemotherapy or a bone marrow transplant.The treatment, which works by boosting the patient's own immune system, will be trialled in the next few months at King's College London.Researchers hope it could eventually be used to treat other types of cancer.
The first tests will be carried out on patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), the most common form of leukaemia in adults.
The vaccine is designed to identify and then attack any cancer cells which remain in the body once a patient has been treated, preventing a potential relapse.

Professor Farzin Farzaneh, professor of molecular medicine at King's College London, said: "This vaccine activates the body's own immune system against leukaemia to prevent it from reoccurring."The treatment effectively tricks the immune system into thinking the leukaemia cells are foreign cells even though they are the patient's own. The patient's immune system then destroys these cells."

It has taken 20 years to develop the treatment, funded by the Department of Health, the Leukaemia Research Fund (LRF) and the Elimination of Leukaemia Fund (ELF).

The vaccine is created by taking cells from the patient and genetically modifying them in a laboratory so they can track down and act on leukaemia cells. They are then reinserted in the patient.

(Copyright,the press association 2010)

New year,now it's time to find some sponsors for THE 2010 project !

.

Ok, it's a few days into 2010, the booze is almost gone and "Normal" life is starting to kick in again. Now it is time for me to start the familiar task of seeking out potential sponsors for the project for this year, the transformation (again!) of Scarlett into a mobile PR platform for the Leukaemia Research Foundation when it celerates it's half century annivesary this year.

The gang at the West Nottinghamshire College (which has over 25,000 students!) are currently  working away at several designs for the car/trailer combo, and in a few weeks (Feb/March) we will be having a look to see what they have come up with and picking a winning design which will then be produced in vinyl and applied to the car and trailer hopefully by the end of March.

Of course this will be the third set of "clothes" that Scarlett has worn, the first was for the "Roc Around the Clock" challenge in 2007 and the second was for the "Scirocco 2 Morocco" adventure in 2008.In 2009 she kept her S2M livery whilst I concenrated on my project for 2009 which was to establish 2 Anthony Nolan Recruitment clinics in Nottinghamshire.2010 then is going to be the year that Scarlett gets to wear a new set of clobber !.

I am now beggining the process of contacting various companies who I feel may be able to assist in Scalett's transformation,although I know from previous experience that this is a job that can cause a lot of stress,dissapointment and frustration, although on the other hand it can be a most fulfilling experience when you manage to get good positive feedback from companies and the occasional offer of help.....this is the part that makes it all worthwhile !.

So....If you are a company who gets an email or letter from me over the next few weeks/months, and you have taken the time to have a look at this blog page,may i just say thanks for taking the time to have a look, and please,please consider giving us a hand for 2010 and being involved in this project, a project to celerate the work of the LRF over the last 50 years, but also to celebrate the vision of the Eastwood family who, in 1960a fter suffering the loss of their daughter Susan, decided to establish this charity in her honour,and provide others who suffer from blood cancer a beacon of hope and support in times of fear and uncertainty.

Give a little help to us here with this project and believe me, you will get an awful lot of satisfaction out of it :-)

Happy new year!......and a Happy New baby for our family !

Yes folks it is now officially a new decade, and 2009's new years eve was a little special this year for the Ward family as my cousin and his partner had a new little baby boy!.How about that for a new years eve surprise.

                                                                                              Jack Henry Ward born 31st December 2009.

Congratulations to Darren and Debbie, and a very Happy and wonderful new year to them as they leave 2009 as a couple, and begin 2010 as a family.....just don't expect to get much sleep fom now on ! :-).