Andy Smith
Andy's Challenge
Fundraising for SarcoidosisUK
Story
Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.
In the summer of 2016, after several months of being unwell, I was diagnosed with a rare condition called Sarcoidosis. (In brief, sarcoidosis causes granulomas to develop in the organs of the body. It usually affects the lungs and skin, currently there is no cure.) At the time I had not heard about the illness and knew nothing about it. I was very fortunate to have a very good team of doctors and specialists around me to get the right diagnosis. I had different scans and biopsy's without having to wait too long as it was a very worrying time. Before I had been admitted to hospital for my first scan it was very difficult for the doctors to know what I was dealing with as the symptoms had no resemblance to each other. I had swelling on my ankles, tiny blisters on my hands and feet, chest pains, pains in all of my joints, a high fever and breathing difficulties along with a few others, however all these could come and go, so it was very hard to assess.
Once I was diagnosed I was given a high dosage of prednisolone steroids to help suppress the symptoms of the disease, and now 6 months later I am slowly coming off these tablets. Sadly, the lower the dosage becomes the more symptoms start reappearing. I now have to see what the specialists will suggest as my next step to try and beat the illness and keep the symptoms at bay.
The reason I am trying to do my bit and raise some money towards the research of Sarcoidosis is purely due to the lack of information and knowledge available, and also to try and help towards providing information to people in the future. I found very little information about Sarcoidosis and what I did find really wasn't clear and didn't really answer many of the questions I had.
I have changed my way of life over the last few months to try and help myself beat the illness and as a result I have decided to set myself several challenges throughout 2017 to try and push myself beyond my boundaries. If you can help me at all with any donations it would be much appreciated.
Many Thanks
Andy
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
In the summer of 2016, after several months of being unwell, I was diagnosed with a rare condition called Sarcoidosis. (In brief, sarcoidosis causes granulomas to develop in the organs of the body. It usually affects the lungs and skin, currently there is no cure.) At the time I had not heard about the illness and knew nothing about it. I was very fortunate to have a very good team of doctors and specialists around me to get the right diagnosis. I had different scans and biopsy's without having to wait too long as it was a very worrying time. Before I had been admitted to hospital for my first scan it was very difficult for the doctors to know what I was dealing with as the symptoms had no resemblance to each other. I had swelling on my ankles, tiny blisters on my hands and feet, chest pains, pains in all of my joints, a high fever and breathing difficulties along with a few others, however all these could come and go, so it was very hard to assess.
Once I was diagnosed I was given a high dosage of prednisolone steroids to help suppress the symptoms of the disease, and now 6 months later I am slowly coming off these tablets. Sadly, the lower the dosage becomes the more symptoms start reappearing. I now have to see what the specialists will suggest as my next step to try and beat the illness and keep the symptoms at bay.
The reason I am trying to do my bit and raise some money towards the research of Sarcoidosis is purely due to the lack of information and knowledge available, and also to try and help towards providing information to people in the future. I found very little information about Sarcoidosis and what I did find really wasn't clear and didn't really answer many of the questions I had.
I have changed my way of life over the last few months to try and help myself beat the illness and as a result I have decided to set myself several challenges throughout 2017 to try and push myself beyond my boundaries. If you can help me at all with any donations it would be much appreciated.
Many Thanks
Andy
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.