Thursday 4 November 2010

The 10km Jiggy

Welcome.

This blog will hereby offer for public consideration an ongoing exhibition of reasons to support my quest to run around London in small shorts. Should this arouse interest, I will inform you all now that a degree of voyeuristic impulse will indeed be indulged, but it will be via the inclusion of photographs of, for example, the contents of my skull, or the staples that later held my scalp together. Okay, and maybe the small shorts too. 

The purpose is, of course, to remind us of the reasons for which I am undertaking the small shorts in the first place. My tumour is not aggressive and hopefully will not progress to that stage, but it is nevertheless devastating and demoralizing for myself and those close to me. So now I invite everyone to get closer and consider throwing a few quid to Brain Tumour UK in my name when I run the British 10k with them on 10 July, 2011 (see the links on the left). They are an organization that exists to spread awareness of brain tumours and the rate at which diagnoses are increasing, as well as to support people who have them, and - most importantly - to continue research into the causes, treatments, and possible preventative measures to take against the disease.


Now and then I'll post something of interest here. Neurological news, articles, dubious home videos and progress reports, &c. This will be an adjunct to my official donation page - there's more flexibility with blogs, and I can be a little bit more like myself. That is, grumpy, crude, and mean. There is no other way to address the thing in my brain: it is my greatest enemy. Fund raising will not affect it directly, for the tumour has its own honour and stubborn pride, and therefore will not accept bribes to vacate the cushy premises it has occupied. However, this growth can be mocked and viciously fought against: increased efficacy of (new?) treatments, increased chances of a cure, increased support and communication networks. Bits of money are useful for this. And the prospect of running as fast as I can to prove it (the tumour) hasn't got the better of me is also quite appealing.


The first link on the left of this page is to my donation site. Please add something to it, even if it's just a few pounds/dollars. You can do this now, you can do it later, you can do it several times! I've set myself an ambitious goal and I wish to surpass it. You've got until July 2011, but why not bet early?


The first educative link is to the Canadarm of the neurology world. Surgeons can now play videogames inside patients' heads. In the images section of the website you can see a photo of a medical professional diligently studying a magnetic resonance image while picking his nose in an equally diligent fashion.

That is all at present. Please check in now and then.