Good Causes

Kingsdon residents have an impressive record of supporting good causes.  Not just those that immediately effect the local community but many others often in far off countries.

If you are Kingsdon resident have a good cause that you support and you’d like to highlight let us know.

A Message from Kate Leahy

I’d like to say a HUGE thank you to the villagers of Kingsdon for sponsoring me so generously in my quest to run the London Marathon and raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. All donations and messages have been so appreciated and really spurred me to keep going through some very cold and dreary training months. And they helped me reach my fundraising target which is phenomenal.

My marathon day didn’t quite go to plan and I finished an hour later than I’d trained for in 6.06. The unrelenting heat and a sleepless night before meant I was just totally fatigued from the start and I lost my pace from mile six. My lowest point was that period early on when I realised I was going to struggle the whole way round. But, I persevered and out of the extreme disappointment (and heat!) I ran, walked and grimaced the rest of the route with some amazing strangers and a very strong support team by my side.

My high came at the end when, in the last 800m with nothing left in the tank I decided to and save my energy for the final stretch down the Mall. I looked up and saw a girl called Elley who’d I’d tapped on the shoulder at Canary Wharf because she was running for her dad too. We teamed up and carried each other across the finish line. It was such a special moment. Someone said to me ‘It’s not how you run the race but why you start it’ and that really is what got me through.

There’s still time to donate to Macmillan Cancer Support via my Just Giving page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ kateleahyrunningfortherealchampions

Thanks Kate

Vision Aid Overseas – Nina Carlisle

Our recent Nepal programme was a great success thanks to the preparations made by our Nepalese Ophthalmologist colleague’s many relatives in Kathmandu and Dang. We were made very welcome by Bahrat’s 5 brothers and 2 sisters who included us in their annual family ceremonies to celebrate Diwali before getting down to work.

Our team of 2 Ophthalmologists, 4 Optometrists and 2 local nurses (plus family members as helpers) was able to screen a total of 975 people and fully examine 610. As well as the usual eye exams, all attendees over 40 had their blood pressure measured and those over 50 also had their blood sugar level taken. Treatment was arranged when needed.

We dispensed a total of 378 pairs of specs including a pair of –24 DS specs to a gentleman who had not owned a pair of specs before. We could have done more had we not run out of the more common powers but were able to issue prescriptions so that specs could be obtained when they next made the 12 hour journey to Kathmandu.

Photographs by kind permission of Graham Coates.

Our time at CHEERS (Children’s Hospital for Eye, Ear and Rehabilitation Services) was extremely rewarding. It was heart warming to witness the care and compassion with which these children with multiple disabilities were being encouraged to learn and fully utilise new skills. We learned more from the CHEERS staff than they learned from us but I hope we were able to contribute in a small way.

The last part of our assignment was to trial a new screening tool for early detection of retinal disease among rural populations and present our findings to the eye care professionals hoping to use it on outreach programmes. It proved to be a useful tool and so it was donated to the hospital staff.

We are so fortunate to have access to all these services within a short distance of our homes and at little or no cost. Many people in less affluent part of the world are not as fortunate.

Thank you for your support of our efforts again – I’ll keep you posted about the next assignment!

Nina Carlisle

Thanks also to VAO for the loan of all the eye testing equipment. The programme was supported by VAO but run by Plymouth Eye Hospital.

www.visionaidoverseas.org

OSILIGI MAASAI WARRIORS