This Is Me

13/02/2024

Northern Ireland behind the times as per usual!

To watch the video here’s the link:

https://twitter.com/orlaithif_mla/status/1757422672525275350?s=21&t=N4euUP3PSWNGYo14unbmQQ

18/09/2022

Normal service (of sorts) has resumed!
2 game weekend (hockey) and a stroll (slow and steady) after a Sunday roast with all the trimmings!

7 weeks ago I was lying in B*H in the knowledge that the MESH had finally been removed but what I didn’t know was how my life would be.

It’s changed, and mostly for the better, but some of the damage caused is irreversible and I will always have aches and pains and the change in the weather including damper conditions have confirmed this.

Thanks to MESH I will be disabled for the rest of my life and I’ve accepted that but the pain now is different, still constant, but no longer will I let my disabilities dictate what I can and can’t do.

Life is for living - what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger 💪

02/09/2022

I can relate with this story on so many levels!

"It's not just like it's removed and you're ok, I have still got a surgical journey to go on and you never recover."

Lisa Megginson had her transvaginal mesh tape surgically removed after years of health problems.

21/08/2022

For the last 2 weeks I have tried writing these but tears, both sad and happy, delayed things!

Finally written and from the heart. A simple thank you goes a long way in my book.

20/08/2022

This woman continues to fight on our behalf - forever grateful to this woman who has also become a friend.

Baroness Cumberledge says she "will take the suffering" she witnessed throughout the infected blood scandal to her "grave".

20/08/2022

The dream team who changed my life!

17/08/2022

Shared from Sling The Mesh

So grateful to Baroness Julia Cumberlege for continuing to fight for us for financial redress. This is her response to today's announcement over compensation for those affected by the contaminated blood scandal.

06/08/2022

So this time last week I was under the knife surrounded by a room full of near on strangers - some I had only ever meet via online meetings - no one had any idea what the outcome would be and we, as a family, where prepared for the worst case scenario.

The last 10 years had been like one long wake so I had expressed I didn’t want a funeral I wanted one hell of a party.

I even broke the rules 4 weeks ago when I went to see Westlife live at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. The day before I won 4 tickets and in my head it was a sign that I HAD TO GO no matter what the doctors had said - I might never be at a live music event again.

We had even talked about how we might need to move to a more disabled friendly house something I was totally against. The wheelchair and mobility scooter where sitting ready.

It all may seem dramatic now but our lives for the past 10 years where dictated and controlled by MESH! We weren’t In control.

So today one week on I’m up - showered and dressed myself - hair done unaided - shoes put on and tied myself the first time in 6 years! It’s all about the small things.

I still have a long way to go and hurdles to overcome. And my health will never be what it was before MESH and some of its impacts are irreversible but I’ve won round one and I’m going to continue winning!

05/08/2022

So this time last week I had just received an unexpected call from Belfast City Hospital to ask if I could be at the hospital within the hour!!!!!
Panic and adrenaline set in and a few speed limits broken but we made it.

Within minutes of arriving I was sent for tests and scans - cannula’s fitted - fasting started and I was due in theatre at 7am.

Surgeons I had never meet in person had flown over from various locations with their theatre nurses and specialised equipment and yet still I couldn’t take it in that finally this was really happening.

05/08/2022

SOURCE: Sling the Mesh - Kath Samson

👇FINANCIAL REDRESS👇Today I am meeting with Health Secretary MP Steve Barclay where I shall be putting pressure on for financial redress.

We deserve to be compensated based on the fact we are suffering lifelong damage from a health treatment that caused avoidable harm. It is not our fault this happened to us and the State should take responsibility. The State has apologised for the suffering of the mesh community, which is an acknowledgement of responsibility.

Steve Barclay's Conservative allies Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Jeremy Hunt and Matt Hancock (the latter made the mesh apology in 2020) have all agreed with the recent decision to pay compensation to patients harmed by the infected blood scandal of the 1970s and 1980s - and on this principle we too should be offered compensation.

It is the same story - we were innocently harmed, had to fight to be heard, then fight for financial compensation.

👇Read about the infected blood scandal stories here:

👉MSN: https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/victims-of-infected-blood-scandal-should-get-payments-now-say-former-health-secretaries/ar-AA10iFRG

👉GUARDIAN: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jul/30/infected-blood-uk-government-urged-to-compensate-victims-immediately?amp;amp