I'm boxing at the UWCB evening in Leeds on November 16th, 2024 in support for the Vascular surgeons at St Mary's.

Despite being a lost cause for other vascular centres, these guys picked me up, cut me in half, sorted my plumbing out and put me back together then sent me back to my kids & work. 5 years added to my life so far. Can't think of a better bunch to support!

Already had one health related setback - emergency surgery in June - so couldn't fight in the July event I originally signed up for, but i'm ready again to try for November.

To be fair, as soon as I finished setting this whole thing up (yeah, i did write a longer story - you can read it below if you wish) I instantly regretted it as, well, it's quite terrifying - putting this pretty (?) face out there for a knock-out.

But then I remembered this face wouldn't be here in the first place without my surgeons - not much to lose then really, right? - so now I'm 100% committed to this.

These guys work really hard to be the best at what they do. With the current public services funding cuts, there is little to support their endeavours other than bare minimum, and you can't thrive on bare minimum. Anything will be more than that and I'm gonna be out there fighting - literally - to get it! Even if I do get knocked out (but let's hope not, shall we?)

Anything at all is sincerely appreciated.

Long story

What happened?

I had a devastating, life-threatening illness called mesenteric angina - a lack of blood supply to the gut that means when the gut is required to work and digest food, blood supply is not enough. This means digesting becomes unbearably painful in the same way that patients with lack of blood supply to the heart have such angina pain when they work their heart harder with exercise. Patients with mesenteric angina develop a "fear of food", become desperately malnourished and eventually waste away - this was going to be my fate at a time when my children - 4 months and 2 years old - needed me the most.

How do you fix that?

The operation is actually heroic as well as life-saving. The vascular surgeons spend hours exceeding their normal working day doing it. They set up a bypass graft from the aorta, the main blood vessel in the abdomen supplying the guts, kidneys and legs, to the gut arteries, bypassing the blockage. It comes with huge risks, especially if the patient is malnourished but is successful if done well and it means the patient can eat again.

How are things now?

At the time of diagnosis I was a thriving mother, wife, doctor on the brink of achieving my dream of becoming an emergency medicine consultant. The journey since then has been tough, testing me both physically and otherwise. But thanks to the remarkable team I'm now fundraising for, today I continue to be a strong mum and wife - i do have my challenges but i face them one by one when they arise, continuing to practice medicine and also imparting knowledge to the next generation. I also push my limits through martial arts.

The team

The team is exceptionally dedicated to excellence. They're passionate surgeons dedicating working hours and a big chunk of their own time working selflessly towards medical advancements and conquering new frontiers of knowledge and application. This operation is pretty exceptional hence why I've had it at St Mary's - but this team works tirelessly to make sure they provide best care to every single one of their patients.

Please join me in supporting them to help more people return to good, productive lives in the future!