Ragley Hall - The Walk for Skin

The build up to The Walk for Skin did not start well. I’d had my Contact Sensitisation Treatment on Friday and had a nasty reaction to the treatment, this resulted with my spending most of Saturday in bed and not being able to keep any food down.

The walk began by passing the boating lake and new born lambs into the woodlands and a delightful display of bluebells. Thankfully this provided a little coolness from the exceedingly hot sun. A short walk up a track led us into an open field with no shelter from the sun, this took us past many poly tunnels which were not in use, but appeared to have potatoes growing there.

We went from here through more woodland and many fields until we came full circle to the end of the walk. People in the houses neighbouring the fields came out to encourage us on. Even the resident woodland deer put in an appearance.

On completion of the walk we returned to the check in point and an clown clad entertainer made us a giraffe from a blue balloon, who was duly christened Jeffery.

Whilst at Ragley we visited the hall which is the family home of the Marquess and Marchioness of Hertford and has been the seat of the Conway Seymour family since 1680. The house was not completed until the middle of the 18th century, when it was finally decorated and fully furnished. How the other half live.

Training for The Walk for Skin in Perranporth

Training has begun, if you can call it that, for the Walk for Skin. It started a couple of weeks ago whilst holidaying at Perranporth, in Cornwall. The climb to and from the caravan site on the cliff which we were staying together with the walking to and around the local places was exercise enough.

There was hill climbing involved in our visit to the Chapel of St Nicholas overlooking the sea at St Ives and when visiting St Agnes we walked part of the South West Coastal Path back to St Agnes from the Beacon and Chapel Porth. By the time I visited Padstow a couple of days later I totally deserved the fish and chips I had at Rick Stein’s fish and chip shop. Admittedly however on our visit to Newquay there wasn’t any surfing, just lazing on the beach whilst watching the surfers and the ZapCat Championship.

http://www.bluesheets.co.uk/dnn/racing/News/ArticleDetails/tabid/332/ArticleID/58/Default.aspx

Day of the Moonlight Walk

The moonlight walk turned out to be a sunlight walk. The walk was a very pleasant stroll in the late evening sunlight, taking us two hours. We walked the well marshalled route accompanied by bird song.

No other wildlife was to be seen, but then again would you make an appearance if a hundred people were trampling through you habitat.

On our return we were greeted with a lovely hot drink and a goody bag, we even got free t-shirts from previous events.

Thank you for your sponsorship. I raised £177.50.

Walk For Skin Registration Pack

On Thursday my registration pack arrived for Walk for Skin with a lovely blue t-shirt.

Hubby and I will be walking 5 miles, not much of a challenge for us, but then this walk is only about raising awareness for the two skin conditions I have, Alopecia and Lichen Sclerosus and their support groups Alopecia UK and National Lichen Sclerosus Support Group.

I have had alopecia since the age of 4 and last year lost almost all of my hair on the right side of my head, with further bald patches over the remainder and the loss of an eyebrow and most of my eyelashes.

I started Contact Sensitisation Treatment in January 2010. This involves initially applying a strong sensitizer (usually a chemical called diphencyprone) to the skin of a person with alopecia areata to make them allergic to it. Then weaker strengths of the sensitizer are applied to the bald areas every week to produce a mild allergic dermatitis. A worthwhile regrowth will occur in up to 50% of sufferers in about 6 months. The treatment however may produce some severe local reactions. Loss of skin colour (depigmentation) may develop, so it is used with caution on those with dark skin. After several weeks of treatment I am pleased to say that I am beginning to get some re-growth.

My treatment does make my head red and scaly, which becomes itchy, some days all I do is scratch my head

Due to the almost complete hair loss on one side of my head, I decided to shave my hair off entirely. It would have been weird if I had left it as when it began to grow back I would have one long side and one short and ended up looking like the lead singer of Human League in the eighties.

Due to my being on reception all day at work I did not think a bald head gave a good impression so I have bought a wig. It was great looking at different wig styles with my colleagues.

On returning to work on the Monday after I got my wig my colleagues declared that they loved it, they can't believe how great it looks and that it takes no styling.

I was diagnosed with Lichen sclerosus about ten years ago and have regular flare ups and am currently being seen by two different hospital departments, gynaecology and dermatology. As with alopecia there is unfortunately no cure and it is treated with a steroid cream. Symptoms are different for each person, but the itching can drive you insane.

http://www.britishskinfoundation.org.uk/standard.aspx?id=2673
http://www.alopeciaonline.org.uk/index2.asp
http://www.lichensclerosus.org/

Stereophonics

So the 10k Mothers Day Moonlight Walk is only 5 days away and no training whatsoever has taken place, unless you count dancing at a Stereophonics concert.

The Stereophonic were amazing and also had a great stage show. Well worth going to see.

A very interesting and slightly fun video was shown of Kevin Jones, brother of Kelly Jones, in his preparation for his charity event.

http://www.justgiving.com/MrKevinTaffJones

If any of the Stereophonics get to see this I have supported Kevin so check this blog for my charity events and support me please.

Thank you HeyWayne

Hi

This blog has been made possible thanks to HeyWayne, as without his help I would not have got started.

10k Mothers Day Walk in aid of Marie Curie

I saw a leaflet for this walk whilst I was in a sandwich shop last Saturday on the way to donate blood.

Having read the title of the walk, Moonlight Walk, I thought how cool to do a walk at night. I have always been unusual in that I like to be out when others are inside and as a bonus I will also be raising money for charity.

So Hubby and I are signed up and raring to go on our 10K Moonlight Walk.

In memory of:
Doris Earley, my Grandma
Mary Jones, my Nan
Sheila Metcalf, my Auntie
Barry Morgan, an old work colleague who recently past away
Ann MacMillian, a lady to whom I chatted at the allotment.

In celebration of :
Lance Armstrong 7 time winner of the Tour de France and the inspiration for me to get on my bike and when it is either too cold or wet to be out, you will often find me at home watching his dvd "legend of the tour".

Ben Parkhouse keep fighting.

So please dig deep and donate now.

http://www.justgiving.com/Emma-Harris73