This week we received an excellent talk from fellow Rotarian Phil Godfrey which was as fascinating as it was moving.
Phil has become a champion for APS Support UK, an organisation that supports suffers, raises awareness and funds research into an autoimmune disease called Antiphospholipid Syndrome. APS causes the blood to clog too quickly within the veins and arteries. The failure to diagnose it leads to a significant number of avoidable heart attacks, strokes and miscarriages.
Awareness of AWS is very low among both the general public and the medical professional yet it’s potentially fatal consequences can be avoided with simple medication to thin the blood. A blood test is available but only given if a GP suspects the disease so raising awareness is key. APS was added to the NHS website last year and money raised by APS Support UK has created an e-learning module which GP’s are now beginning to take.
Phils fund raising efforts began as a walk across the country but after 400 miles his knee gave up necessitating a change of plan. He is now touring the coast via train – some 31,500 mile currently covered! We were the 105th Rotary Club Phil has addressed, and he has another 40 booked for the remainder of 2019. As you can imagine, the adventures have created no shortage of anecdotes, bringing humour to a serious topic.
Tragically, Phil has taken on this mission after his wife was miss-diagnosed with MS, only being correctly diagnosed with APS some ten years later, by which time, it was too late. It was humbling and inspiring to learn that Phil now devotes so much of his life to raising awareness for APS so that others needn’t face such unnecessary suffering.
To learn more about APS, please visit aps-support.org.uk.