Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page in memory of those we have lost.
I wanted to see if we can raise funds for The Pernicious Anaemia Society (PAS) (specifically for research purposes )– Most people will not be familiar with P.A.. I certainly wasn't until I was diagnosed in my late 20's and so here is a little more detail.
The PAS are doing a fantastic job supporting people with this deadly illness which causes an inability to absorb vitamin B12 through your diet, left untreated PA slowly makes everything stop functioning as it should. (no one dies directly from PA they die from the problems it causes which are far ranging).
One major and disconcerting link that is becoming evident from patient experience and family history is that relating to the onset and recovery of cancers.
The PAS is a very small charity, that are having to deal with over 8k members and tirelessly working and building relationships with professionals to improve detection and treatment of this potentially deadly illness.
In this instance we would really like to see more clinical research ploughed in to these areas to help with prevention and cure of cancer and many other linked illnesses. (MS, ME, Fibromyalgia, Thyroid, Dementia, Depression, Metal Health, Alzheimer's, Heart Disease, Stroke, Crohn's......the list goes on and on).
The problem we face however is because the solution may well lie with the deficiency of an everyday vitamin there is little incentive for the pharmaceutical giants to invest heavily as there would be no profitable gain to be made from it.. The challenge therefore is to produce empirical evidence that the onset of many of the associated diseases can indeed be prevented with better management of one's ability to absorb B12 . So this is where your donations are so much needed to truly give a chance to improve healthcare for us all, in the future.
On a personal note, as I said, I have Pernicious Anaemia, which means life long injections of B12 for me but I consider myself to be one of the lucky ones as they is still huge confusion amongst the medical profession with methods of detection and diagnosis and even once diagnosed how best to treat. There is also suggestion I developed type 1 diabetes late on in life because of the lack of vit b12 and the damage it caused?
PA tends to run really strongly in families, My Mum has PA too only diagnosed when I was fully informed after my trials and tribulations of diagnosis and treatment. My Mum also has been diagnosed with Chronic Lymphatic Leukemia (so a type of Cancer)??!
Sadly my Dad recently passed from Pancreatic Cancer, he had vitiligo (another common symptom of B12 def.) A few years before he became ill, on the strength of my Mum nagging he got his B12 levels checked. The receptionist told my Mum his levels were fine at 251!!!
When my Dad passed my Mum requested a copy of his notes and realised that the receptionist had mis-informed her previously and his levels were 151!!!!! Unfortunately nobody knows could it have been the lack of vitamin B12 that caused the cancer, or would the B12 have helped at that stage?? Although the research outcomes will be a long way off wouldn't it be nice to know. There has been some patient evidence of tumours shrinking when high doses of B12 are given, but is this just a coincidence??? We won't know until we have more research projects going on.
A sibling of mine also has a Gastric Cancer and low B12, "what came first" question appears again, 'Chicken and Egg scenario'
My other sibling has low B12. So do both my children discovered at age 13 and 14.
We need answers ….. Thank you for your help in Advance. <3
Vitamin B12 is a water soluble Vitamin so you just pass in your urine what your body does not need. So you cannot overdose on it.
If you wanted to find out more about the PAS please go to their website.
