What can I say??

                                                                      
I had planned to do a blog today on something completely different to this, but decided that not always does this blog have to be about me, but sometimes it can be about those close to me….for that reason I dedicate this item to one of my dear friends and all who have a ‘battle’ they are fighting in their lives.

Late last night I heard heart-breaking news concerning someone very close to our family who has been fighting cancer for the last 2 years.  After so much treatment that has made her change her lifestyle completely from all that she is used to, she was recently told that the cancer has spread.  She is not a likely candidate for cancer at all having always eaten the correct foods, to the point of denying herself sweets and anything richly delicious, consuming 2 litres of water daily, and kept herself fit with squash and walking.

I have known her for most of my life and she has played a huge role in my spiritual development as well as those of many other youngsters for whom she has been a wonderful role model.  She is one of those ‘fun’ adults….a parent that kids don’t mind hanging out with.  She has a huge smile that is always quick and ready to give to anyone she meets and a laugh that is infectious.  Her eyes tell a million stories and she is so accepting of everyone.  She doesn’t gossip and is truly interested in the person she is talking to…before you realize it, you have spent an hour talking about you and not asked a single question about her and how life is treating her.  She knows just how to interact with the younger generation but at the same time shows what is acceptable behaviour and when not to overstep the boundaries.  She is an organiser of note and unselfishly has the needs of others at heart.  For many years she ‘rallied up the troops’ in making Christmas boxes for orphaned and abandoned children, making sure that all were catered for….and she has a generous heart too, often giving on more than one occasion to people she really felt has a need.  She is in my opinion an unsung hero…a child of God…a friend…a wife…a mother…a sister…a daughter…important to so many but humbled in her demeanour.

Now she needs us…all her friends and family and even you who is reading this blog.  She needs your prayers…prayers for comfort, prayers for peace, prayers for understanding, prayers for healing.  Please, wherever you are…whoever you may be, will you send up a prayer for her and her family.

I open my heart to you all with tears in my eyes, sending this request.  Please just say a prayer and send your love…I know she will feel it.

STATISTICS AND CAUSES

In the week I read a post on facebook that mentioned a couple from Texas, USA, who celebrated the arrival of 4 new babies born simultaneously to them… naturally…ie. without any IVF treatment.  They were not quadruplets, they were 2 sets of identical twins…a phenomenon that happens once in 70 million births.  Isn’t that incredible…I mean really that is amazing.  Just imagine being a part of a statistic like that.

That started my peanut size brain thinking about statistics…and in South Africa we are always being bombarded with the like aren’t we, but if we take a look at just a few medical statistics it can get a person wondering how awesome is our God to create us just the way we are.

My cousin has a son who was born with ASAL – Arginiosuccinate acid lyase deficiency and statistically this occurs in 1 in 70 000 births.  I’m sure you won’t know what it is and seriously I still don’t understand it, but if you want to know more you can always Google it…hehe.

As you know I was born with Cystic Fibrosis…YAH, I’m so special and not boring like the rest of you – lol, but anyway Cystic Fibrosis is one of the most common recessive gene diseases, occurring in one in 3000 births.  I always thought that I was quite rare, haha, until I realized that there are some diseases out there that are way more unknown.

I also heard the other day that one in 600 people are diagnosed with cancer sometime in their lifetime. Bearing in mind that cancer is diagnosed more often than cystic fibrosis is, would explain, well in my mind anyone, why so many are supportive of cancer.  The chances that they have met or known someone with cancer is far more likely than meeting or knowing someone with CF….yet CF remains one of the worst known diseases to suffer from and is not at all curable.

Obviously whatever lies close to your heart will be what you decide to support and canvas for, even if it’s to ‘Save the Whales’….you may never have seen a whale, let alone touched a whale, but if you are interested enough in their well-being, think of them as beautiful and majestic, it might just be enough for you to fight against injustices against them.

I myself am a huge animal lover, whether domestic or wild, I am fascinated by all creatures both great and small….so I am always willing to offer my support to those that can’t speak or protect themselves. 

Naturally the biggest cause closest to my heart is Cystic Fibrosis.  I have a vision that cystic fibrosis will one day be on the lips of people like cancer is today.  If I can help create awareness in even the slightest of ways, then I will have achieved something worthwhile with my life…..so keep on loving, keep on supporting, keep on helping where you can.

This is me Fabulous and Fighting till next time.

* Self Diagnosis ^

                                                      SELF DIAGNOSIS

Recently my pony August, who is really getting on in age has been hobbling around.  His back right leg is swollen between the hoof and his fetlock and it has been somewhat worrisome for me.  Yesterday on the way in to town, my mum and I stopped at our vet to speak to him about it.  I explained what the problem was and then asked him if it could be as a result of a couple of things I had ‘Googled’.  He doubted very much it was any of those things and rather that he had probably twisted his leg as a result of stepping into a hole or something….that was what my mum had thought all along, but hey you never know do you.  After buying some medication to help with the swelling and pain and being given some handy advise to place his leg in warm saline water for 15 minutes a day, we made our way into town.  Along the way, my mum said to me that our vet is probably smiling to himself about my self diagnosis, but this is what we do…right?

 

 

 

Since Google came along, that is what we do…don’t we!!!!!  At the slightest symptom we show these days we reach first for ‘Google’ and then when we have realized the worst case scenario, we drag ourselves off to the doctor to have our suspicions confirmed.  Gone are the days of going to the doctor and he/she giving us a diagnosis…no we have be smarter and cleverer than the doctors.  It doesn’t end there though with some people.  Have you ever noticed that once the doctor has diagnosed the problem and prescribed medication to help ease the symptoms and/or cure the ailment, that the medications are ‘Googled’ to find all the side effects…lol

When I was in Grade 7 – before we had ‘Google’, I developed chicken pox in the third term of the year.  I remember it was a Sunday morning and I woke to find these weird and itchy spots on my tummy.  There were only a couple and my mum and dad weren’t sure, but thought it might be chicken pox.  Matthew had chicken pox when he was in pre-primary school and apparently had it so mildly that you could hardly tell – were it not for the diagnosis of our GP.  Mark, never had chicken pox…in fact he didn’t have any of the childhood diseases…lucky fish.  Anyway, we duly went to church that morning and my mum showed a friend of hers my spots, who agreed with her that it did in fact look like chicken pox.  The next day I had plenty more and was really itchy, so my mum made an appointment for me to go to our GP.  YES, DEFINITELY, NO DOUBT ABOUT IT, it was as everyone thought, so I was packed off home to wait out the time until all the scabs had fallen off before returning to school.  This was one time that I R-E-A-L-L-Y didn’t want to stay at home as it was athletics season and I was pretty darn good at athletics…not the long distances, but the sprints…then there was high Jump and with my long gangly legs I was able to jump over that beam with ease compared to some of my peers.  Then what about the hurdles too – yes I loved athletics and all the practising that went along with, sometimes even during the school day we went outside to practise and that was the best. Hehe.  Well it was just my luck that I was so very ill, with high temperatures and spots on my entire body…I was literally covered from top to toe and even had them inside my mouth and down my throat, that I ended up being at home for more than 3 weeks!!!!  I missed athletics day and that was the worst for me.

 

 

So will I continue to self-diagnose my horses’ ailments? Probably,…but I will leave it up to our vet to let me know and hey one day I may even get it right.

 

So for tonight,I am fabulous and fighting….   J <3 <3