Judy Lewis
Judy's page
Fundraising for Royal Free Charity
Story
I'm running in the Virgin London Marathon 2017!
And what makes this even more special is that I'm running to raise funds for the Charles Wolfson Centre for Reconstructive Surgery at the Royal Free Hospital. The Centre was founded by my very brilliant plastic surgeon, Professor Peter Butler, with the support of the Royal Free Charity.
I deeply care for the Centre. Over the last four years, Professor Butler has been giving me stem cell treatments to improve the scarring left after I was successfully treated seven years ago for a rare cancer, Spindle Cell Sarcoma, in my lower jaw (the removal and reconstruction of my lower jaw resulted in major scaring to my head and neck). Also, my fibula (lower leg bones) were removed to be grafted to a 3D printed titanium plate to reconstruct my lower jaw.
After the initial surgery, there followed months of patience (not my strongest attribute), painful physiotherapy, and yet more procedures. Recovery was hard work. I had already gone through 4-5 months of aggressive chemo, then had two major surgical procedures which meant I had to learn to walk, talk and eat again, twice. The hardest part was that my appearance changed drastically overnight. The scarring on my body can be measured in feet. It took a long time to get used to and accept my changed appearance. Vanity doesn't come into it, it's far greater than that. Imagine looking at yourself in a mirror and then not recognising the person that you see before you. For a while, I felt like I'd lost my identity. The swelling and the healing eventually settled, but it took time and a lot of support to accept my new face and overcome these powerful emotions. I'm lucky, because I did get there. More importantly I've grown to love and am incredibly proud of my scars.
This leads me on very nicely as to why I care so much about the charity, and the projects that Professor Butler and his team have planned. The procedure I receive at the Charles Wolfson Centre for Reconstructive Surgery is called a Stem Cell Enriched Lipotransfer.
In a nutshell, this stem cell treatment works like this: fat is taken from around my stomach, purified and then the fat stem cells are grafted to my neck and jaw line. These procedures are helping to recreate the profile of my neck and jaw, and more crucially, it softens and improves the look and feel of the scar tissue. Professor Butler first started using this treatment ten years ago. He noticed that apart from getting great results from restoring scarred faces, the treatment also resulted in softening due to the elimination of scarring. He found that this was due to the stem cells. This finding is very exciting as it has the potential to be a new treatment for both internal and external scarring. Professor Butler has now successfully treated many patients, adults and children, with this treatment that is quite simply life changing.
Funding will help Professor Butler and his team, along with my head & neck consultant, Mr Nicholas Kalavrezos, to expand their research into stem cells to make the treatment better. Future research will look into how to purify the stem cells further to make the treatment stronger. I understand that eventually it might be even possible to develop a new drug for the treatment of scarring. The results of this work will be extremely beneficial to so many people.
Where does the running fit into all this? Long distance running is my saviour, my great leveller. About 3 years ago, a couple of my friends planted the idea, and I thought I'd give it a go. It was time to get fit. 'Use it or lose it', I remember saying to myself. So one thing led to another, and then before I knew it I was hooked. I'm so excited about taking part in the Virgin London Marathon 2017. Quite often it's the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about at night.
Thank you so much for reading my story, and do please keep an eye on my JustGiving page because I will be updating it regularly in the lead-up to the 23rd April.
If you can help me to help Professor Butler and his team to further their research, I would be extremely grateful. I'd love to see as many people as possible benefit from stem cell research as I have.
Jude x
And what makes this even more special is that I'm running to raise funds for the Charles Wolfson Centre for Reconstructive Surgery at the Royal Free Hospital. The Centre was founded by my very brilliant plastic surgeon, Professor Peter Butler, with the support of the Royal Free Charity.
I deeply care for the Centre. Over the last four years, Professor Butler has been giving me stem cell treatments to improve the scarring left after I was successfully treated seven years ago for a rare cancer, Spindle Cell Sarcoma, in my lower jaw (the removal and reconstruction of my lower jaw resulted in major scaring to my head and neck). Also, my fibula (lower leg bones) were removed to be grafted to a 3D printed titanium plate to reconstruct my lower jaw.
After the initial surgery, there followed months of patience (not my strongest attribute), painful physiotherapy, and yet more procedures. Recovery was hard work. I had already gone through 4-5 months of aggressive chemo, then had two major surgical procedures which meant I had to learn to walk, talk and eat again, twice. The hardest part was that my appearance changed drastically overnight. The scarring on my body can be measured in feet. It took a long time to get used to and accept my changed appearance. Vanity doesn't come into it, it's far greater than that. Imagine looking at yourself in a mirror and then not recognising the person that you see before you. For a while, I felt like I'd lost my identity. The swelling and the healing eventually settled, but it took time and a lot of support to accept my new face and overcome these powerful emotions. I'm lucky, because I did get there. More importantly I've grown to love and am incredibly proud of my scars.
This leads me on very nicely as to why I care so much about the charity, and the projects that Professor Butler and his team have planned. The procedure I receive at the Charles Wolfson Centre for Reconstructive Surgery is called a Stem Cell Enriched Lipotransfer.
In a nutshell, this stem cell treatment works like this: fat is taken from around my stomach, purified and then the fat stem cells are grafted to my neck and jaw line. These procedures are helping to recreate the profile of my neck and jaw, and more crucially, it softens and improves the look and feel of the scar tissue. Professor Butler first started using this treatment ten years ago. He noticed that apart from getting great results from restoring scarred faces, the treatment also resulted in softening due to the elimination of scarring. He found that this was due to the stem cells. This finding is very exciting as it has the potential to be a new treatment for both internal and external scarring. Professor Butler has now successfully treated many patients, adults and children, with this treatment that is quite simply life changing.
Funding will help Professor Butler and his team, along with my head & neck consultant, Mr Nicholas Kalavrezos, to expand their research into stem cells to make the treatment better. Future research will look into how to purify the stem cells further to make the treatment stronger. I understand that eventually it might be even possible to develop a new drug for the treatment of scarring. The results of this work will be extremely beneficial to so many people.
Where does the running fit into all this? Long distance running is my saviour, my great leveller. About 3 years ago, a couple of my friends planted the idea, and I thought I'd give it a go. It was time to get fit. 'Use it or lose it', I remember saying to myself. So one thing led to another, and then before I knew it I was hooked. I'm so excited about taking part in the Virgin London Marathon 2017. Quite often it's the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about at night.
Thank you so much for reading my story, and do please keep an eye on my JustGiving page because I will be updating it regularly in the lead-up to the 23rd April.
If you can help me to help Professor Butler and his team to further their research, I would be extremely grateful. I'd love to see as many people as possible benefit from stem cell research as I have.
Jude x