Rotary guest from afar

Bridge of Allan and Dunblane Rotarians are making the most of new technology during the lockdown to connect with a far reaching range of‘guests’.

Despite missing their regular get-togethers, an unexpected benefit for the club has been that distance is no longer an issue when it comes to speakers.

That was amply demonstrated on Thursday when Phil Godfrey from the Rotary Club of Solihull addressed members.

Phil has been a prolific speaker, visiting 153 Rotary Clubs to speak about antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), sometimes known as“sticky blood”syndrome as it can cause blood to clot too quickly.

Signs and symptoms of the rare disorder vary, but may include blood clots, miscarriage, chronic headaches, dementia and seizure. Currently there is no cure for APS.

The goal of treatment is to prevent blood clots from forming and to keep existing clots from getting larger. Because it is so rare, diagnosis is difficult and it can take as long as three years for the true cause of health problems to be confirmed. It is much more prevalent in women than men, often resulting in multiple miscarriages.

Club spokesperson Peter Holmes said:“Phil emphasised the consequences of the syndrome not being diagnosed. He described a number of cases, including those of two women who had suffered a sequence of miscarriages before APS was diagnosed. When treated, they had successful deliveries.

“Phil, himself, had close personal experience of the devastating consequences of a failure to diagnose the syndrome. As a result of this, he had decided to raise money to improve awareness of the syndrome, and to seek to alleviate consequential suffering. His research suggested that some 37 per cent of GPs were unaware of the syndrome. Fundamental to his efforts, therefore, were to be steps aimed at ensuring that GPs were fully informed about the prevalence of APS.

“To raise the money to implement his goal, Phil planned to walk from the Scilly Isles to Shetland, a distance of 1,400 miles. Despite his best endeavours his plans were frustrated by bad weather, cancellation of the flight from the Scilly Isles, and torn muscles.

“Refusing to be daunted, however, Phil revised his plan and decided to use trains to travel far and wide across Britain. Over the period 2018 to two weeks before the lockdown in March, Phil made 650 train and three plane journeys, raising the amazing sum of £125,000. Part of this has been used to develop an e-learning module for GPs.

“President Andrew Hilley said he was most grateful to Phil for his inspiring talk. He praised his record of fund-raising; his commitment to increasing awareness of APS was most impressive.”