Epilepsy awareness - please support Serene's fantastic blog!

One of the key aims of this blog is to highlight the brilliant work being done by others in the blogging community to support the causes that mean the most to them.

Today I want to bring your attention to the fantastic work being done by Serene Low over in Malaysia, who has worked tirelessly for nearly a decade to promote the awareness of epilepsy around the world.

http://www.epilepsylegacy.blogspot.com/


In her words:


"I have been an epilepsy activist for 9 years. It is extremely difficult and challenging for an individual to promote epilepsy awareness single handedly but it is not totally impossible. Through epilepsy awareness work I had come to know of some wonderful and inspiring people whom I look up to and who had opened doors for me to reach out to the public.

Roughly 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy. Epilepsy is 3 times more common than multiple sclerosis and more than 3 times as common as Parkinson's disease and cerebral palsy. One person in 50 will develop epilepsy at some time in their life. One in 20 will have a single epileptic seizure."

Making a difference - my first donations!

Once again a warm welcome to all my new and existing followers!.

Since joining up with Blog catalog a week or two back I've been lucky enough to make some fantastic contacts within the online blogging community, spread wide across the world.

So I think it's high time that I provided a recap on what I'm trying to achieve here, as well as an update on how things are going so far

What's it all about?

For the benefit of those newcomers, here's a quick bit of background on this blog. Like most of us out there, I lead a very busy life, juggling precious family time with demanding work commitments. I've always had a major passion for writing, and over the last two years in particular through online review sites and the like, I've dedicated a lot of my spare time to dipping my toes in the murky freelance earning waters.

After coming through a serious health scare in the last few months, I've been able to make a lot of positive changes to my work / family life balance, have changed long standing poor dietary habits and rediscovered a balanced exercise routine, which has made a huge difference to me in so many ways.

In simple statistical terms to date I've lost just over 30 pounds since December but the real impact in terms of rediscovering my energy and passion for life is immeasurable.

As for my writing, I had always had this dream of just packing in the IT day job, and throwing all my efforts into a rewarding freelance career. As soon as I'd made it big, then I could really give something back, support all those charities and causes that have meant so much to me over the years.

Guess what? 

In a sudden wave of inspiration it hit me.

 Right now I get to write about whatever means something to me.

If I go down the all freelance route, being realistic the chances are very high that I would have to prioritise finding ways to scrap and scrape a living , writing about things that really don't interest me, just to get by.
What do I love best about writing online - the feedback, the sense of community, the freedom to write what and when I like  - it's certainly not the financial reward!

So I dusted down my original entirely purposeless blog, and came up with a theme that I could really believe in.

In March 2010 , Make a difference was born. Sharing positive, inspiring stories, highlighting amazing charities and fundraising initiatives.

And my own personal commitment.

Every single penny that I earn online, whether that be from existing review sites, spare time surveys, adsense revenues, cash back shopping etc. - I will give directly to charities.

Donations update

So I've gone through a number of my existing online earnings sources which had reached payout threshold levels and as a result these are the donations I've been able to give so far.

The grand total so far is (drumroll......) £81.40!

Do something amazing today!

Here in the UK, there's a regular TV campaign running to encourage more people to sign up to Give Blood.

Image via Wikipedia

It features well known celebrities who have needed emergency blood transfusions either for themselves or for  those closest to them - the tag line - "Do something amazing" has a real resonance.

Before I start putting the case forward, I think it's only fair that I share my own limited experience with you. I've only actually given blood myself on one occasion to date, so I'm certainly not coming at this from the "I'm doing this - why don't you" point of view.

Quite honestly, I've always been extremely squeamish when it comes to medical matters, and particularly the sight of blood , so as you can imagine it took a great deal of self-coaxing to get me to the place where I was ready to go through with it.

In reality, once I'd got over my own anxieties it really was very straight forward. At the time I was living in Britain's second city, and I saw posters advertising a drop in centre not far from where I'd been at University.

They were really fantastic at settling the nerves - first a little pin prick test to confirm everything was ok and to get the blood type. Then just a case of sitting back on a bed, left arm strapped up and connected, two or three minutes as the blood was pumped through (during which I can honestly say I didn't feel a thing - even though I made a point of not looking at what was happening) and then it was all done and dusted.

Obviously as you are typically up to a pint of blood lighter, it's best to take it easy over the next 24 hours, especially in warm weather, and to stay off the alcohol during that time. There's plenty of tea and biscuits to get that extra bit of sugar in after the event.

As I've written here before, I was recently diagnosed with high blood pressure, so clearly that puts me in one of the risk groups that aren't suitable for donation. Heavy drinkers, pregnant women , underweight and elderly are also precluded from giving blood.

Most people can give blood. If you are generally in good heath, age 17 to 65 (if it's your first time) and weigh at least 7st 12Ib you can donate. You can give blood every 16 weeks, that's approximately every four months.


 I'm really hoping that once I've got through my latest check up ok, and the home BP monitor is certainly indicating that, I'll be able to sign up to give blood on a regular basis. Would certainly be nice to post an update to this blog on that front

When you think about it , this really is such a simple yet amazing thing to be able to give another human being the chance of life. So if you are thinking about it, and like me are based in the UK ,please take a look at the website.


http://www.blood.co.uk/

Becoming masters of our own destiny

I have to confess that I am a huge fan of sports in general. I just love the rush of excitement, the waves of emotion, sharing those experiences with hundreds, thousands maybe even millions of other people out there, who just like me are caught in the moment.

Last night I watched the final few hours of the US masters, one of the four major tournaments of the world golf calendar. Now I realise an awful lot of folk out there don't share my passion for the sport of golf or any kind for that matter, but before you reach for the proverbial remote control of blogs and click elsewhere - please stay with me on this.

Especially with the very public downfall of a certain Mr Woods in recent times, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the beautifully controlled and ordered bubble that is the immaculately presented Augusta National golf course is the very last place in which you'd find inspirational TV viewing on a Sunday night. The return of "grouchy Tiger hidden passions" was very much a circus side show compared with the real story out there.

Phil Mickelson, a genuine fans favourite, who plays with a true spirit of adventure and personality, emerged triumphant in the last few holes, recording his 3rd victory in this most prestigious of tournaments.

But beneath these bare record book facts lies a very human and deeply moving personal story.

His wife Amy was diagnosed with Breast Cancer aged just 37. In a further cruel twist of fate, only a short while later Phil's mother Mary was also diagnosed with Breast Cancer.

After a short time away from the game, Phil resumed playing on the demanding world golf tour. For the last 11 months, his wife and three children have been unable to follow him. Even this week, though they had travelled to Augusta, she had been too weak to make it on to the course to watch as she continues her battle against an agressive form of the disease.

As he walked up to the 18th green, unbeknown to him, Amy was there waiting with the children. Watching the two of them embrace, as she clutched her hands in front of her face shaking with emotion, seeing Phil wrap his arms round her and hold her so tightly as a little tear rolled down his face, no one watching could fail to be anything other than deeply moved.