Stop Sam Falling Over
Donation protected
Hi, I'm Sam. I've set up this campaign because I need some help. But I'm skipping ahead, let me explain why.
I grew up in South Wales, in a happy family and with a group of very silly friends. My childhood was both wonderful and normal.
I left school at 18 to follow my passion; I wanted to work in radio. I started out at the bottom, but was enthusiastic, motivated and pretty good. Within a couple of years I became a producer.
When I was 21 I met the love of my life, and certified knock out, Zowie. We moved back to her home town and shacked up together. We've since married, had two beautiful daughters Ella, 7 and Erin, 4, and are still very much in love.
Unfortunately, when I was 21, I was diagnosed with Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy Type 2A, a progressive genetic muscle wasting condition that affects the muscles of the limbs and body. There is no cure.
To begin with it was the small things that started to cause me trouble. Walking upstairs, putting on my shoes and doing up my buttons. I could still manage my day to day routine so I just kept calm, and carried on.
Over time, my muscles have wasted away and have left me in a position where I find it difficult if not impossible to carry out even the simplest of tasks. It's a struggle to drink from a glass, a monumental challenge to get out of a chair, and an impossibility to walk up a curb. If I fall over, I can't get up on my own; if it didn't happen quite so frequently, I'd find it funny. As frustrating as these daily challenges are, the thing that upsets me most, is that I can't pick up my girls to give them a cuddle.
As you might imagine, since my diagnosis, my family and I have been searching incessantly for any sign of treatment or clinical trials. For 11 years...#fail.
Drum roll...
Earlier this year we discovered a clinic in Beijing who have been treating people with this condition for a few years and with enourmous success. At first I didn't want to get my hopes up, but having reviewed the clinic's credentials and results with my consultant in the UK, it seems there's a real possibility the treatment has the potential not only to stop the progression of the disease, but to reverse some of the damage it's already caused.
I had resigned myself to a life in a wheelchair and in need of constant care. This treatment gives me some hope I might be able to reclaim my independence and lead an entirely different life to the one I'd imagined. I might not complete Netflix after all.
The cost of two weeks intensive stem cell treatment, travel to China and accommodation is £15,000. I'm no longer able to work and as a consequence this amount of money is well outside our reach as a family. I've set up this campaign in the hope I'll be able to raise the money needed to make the trip.
So, if your reading this, and you've got this far, I'd be very grateful if you'd be willing to make a donation. If the treatment works, the first thing I intend to do is pick up my girls and give them a squeeze. If you make a donation, I'll do the same for you.
Much love,
Sam
Ps, over the coming months my friends and I are going to be carrying out a bunch of fundraising activity - some sensible, some silly. We'll post our progress here, so stay tuned.
I grew up in South Wales, in a happy family and with a group of very silly friends. My childhood was both wonderful and normal.
I left school at 18 to follow my passion; I wanted to work in radio. I started out at the bottom, but was enthusiastic, motivated and pretty good. Within a couple of years I became a producer.
When I was 21 I met the love of my life, and certified knock out, Zowie. We moved back to her home town and shacked up together. We've since married, had two beautiful daughters Ella, 7 and Erin, 4, and are still very much in love.
Unfortunately, when I was 21, I was diagnosed with Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy Type 2A, a progressive genetic muscle wasting condition that affects the muscles of the limbs and body. There is no cure.
To begin with it was the small things that started to cause me trouble. Walking upstairs, putting on my shoes and doing up my buttons. I could still manage my day to day routine so I just kept calm, and carried on.
Over time, my muscles have wasted away and have left me in a position where I find it difficult if not impossible to carry out even the simplest of tasks. It's a struggle to drink from a glass, a monumental challenge to get out of a chair, and an impossibility to walk up a curb. If I fall over, I can't get up on my own; if it didn't happen quite so frequently, I'd find it funny. As frustrating as these daily challenges are, the thing that upsets me most, is that I can't pick up my girls to give them a cuddle.
As you might imagine, since my diagnosis, my family and I have been searching incessantly for any sign of treatment or clinical trials. For 11 years...#fail.
Drum roll...
Earlier this year we discovered a clinic in Beijing who have been treating people with this condition for a few years and with enourmous success. At first I didn't want to get my hopes up, but having reviewed the clinic's credentials and results with my consultant in the UK, it seems there's a real possibility the treatment has the potential not only to stop the progression of the disease, but to reverse some of the damage it's already caused.
I had resigned myself to a life in a wheelchair and in need of constant care. This treatment gives me some hope I might be able to reclaim my independence and lead an entirely different life to the one I'd imagined. I might not complete Netflix after all.
The cost of two weeks intensive stem cell treatment, travel to China and accommodation is £15,000. I'm no longer able to work and as a consequence this amount of money is well outside our reach as a family. I've set up this campaign in the hope I'll be able to raise the money needed to make the trip.
So, if your reading this, and you've got this far, I'd be very grateful if you'd be willing to make a donation. If the treatment works, the first thing I intend to do is pick up my girls and give them a squeeze. If you make a donation, I'll do the same for you.
Much love,
Sam
Ps, over the coming months my friends and I are going to be carrying out a bunch of fundraising activity - some sensible, some silly. We'll post our progress here, so stay tuned.
Organizer
Zowie Hawyes
Organizer
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