We are organising a coach trip to Harrogate Autumn Flower Show on Saturday 19th September. This should be a really good day and we have already had people asking for tickets. The coach can take 40 people and has a wheelchair lift with provision to remove seats and fasten down wheelchairs for

those who have to travel in them.

The price, which includes entry to the show is Adults £15 Children £8.

Come and do some (dare I say it) Christmas shopping!

The arrangements for the day are to leave from the Freeman at 8.30 a.m. and from Gateshead Interchange at 8.45. We should reach the Showground at about 11.00 and will leave to return home at 4.30 p.m.

Transplant Patients v Doctors Charity Cricket Match Tuesday 21^st July 2009

Following the recent bad weather it was touch and go whether this match would take place at all. As we tried to assemble two teams at the Blue Flames club, it started to rain lightly but the clouds looked full and a decision on play was delayed until 6.30.

Both teams had 8 players when it was decided to try to get in 10 over’s per side. Two of the transplant team, Will an 11 year old kidney transplant and his father James, had travelled over from Cumbria so we felt that we should at least try to stage a match.

The doctors won the toss and decided to bat. We had agreed that a maximum of 5 bowlers would be used; each bowling a maximum of 2 over’s each. Graeme Appleby opened the bowling. After 2 over’s each from Graeme, Will’s dad (who took a wicket) and one from me and Will, the umpire led both teams from the field as the rain was coming down quite heavily. I was quite relieved as my glasses were getting so bad I couldn’t make out the ball when it was coming my way and consequently missed several as they went by me (that’s my excuse anyway!). We all returned after about 5 minutes despite the light drizzle. As a consequence of the disruption and further bleak outlook the umpire had decided that we should settle for 7 over’s per team. The innings was duly completed with the doctors scoring a total of 49 runs.

In the fading light and persistent rain the patient’s first two batsmen (Graeme and Will) took their guard and squared up to the doctors bowling. Unfortunately the bowling attack kept the batsmen pinned down with several chin high deliveries (surely wide umpire!) and when they did connect the rain sodden grass held up the ball so although steady progress was made we lagged behind the asking rate of 7 per over. Will was bowled looking to push the rate on and his father James went in. This saw an increase in the scoring rate and, with only one over to go, 7 runs were needed to win when Graeme fell to a magnificent catch deep in the outfield when it looked certain to go for 4 runs. John Harty went in to bat next and tried to give the strike to James. With one ball left 2 runs were needed to tie and 3 to win. John took a step back and aimed a mighty blow.......but missed the ball and was bowled! Victory to the doctors by 2 runs!

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There were a few excuses for the patient’s side. Dawn Fenton, our demon bowler for the past two years was unwell and unable to attend and Phil Brown’s brother Ken had been taken into intensive care and consequently he was also unable to make it (I have passed on our best wishes for Ken’s speedy recovery to Phil). Also I did notice when the doctors were fielding that their numbers seemed to have increased to 10 players (some latecomers?) and the spectators were sure that on at least two occasions the fielder was beyond the boundary ropes before stopping and returning the ball However I don’t want to be accused of being a bad sport so we’ll gloss over those incidents!

Thanks go to Simon Lloyd for acting as umpire (I hope that you’ve fully recovered from your slip that resulted in a cut), Pam Yanez (Surgical Services Directorate Manager Freeman Hospital) for presenting the new ‘Ross Taylor Memorial Shield’, the spectators for braving the elements and turning out to support, Susan Harty and Marjorie Batey for twisting the arm of everyone throughout the night selling raffle tickets, and for everyone who brought prizes, bought tickets and probably won their own gifts back again!

 Ross Taylor pioneered the first kidney transplants back in the RVI; he was also the Chairman of the British Transplant Games (Transplant Sport UK).

A buffet, kindly subscribed to by CSSC (Tyne Wear and Northumberland) and the NESLC (Newcastle Estate Sports and Leisure Club) charity fund to the tune of £70, was enjoyed by everyone afterwards and the raffle, held to benefit the Tyneside Kidney Patients Association and the Newcastle Transplant Games team fund, raised the tremendous total of £73.50 which will be split between the two.

Professor Neil Sheerin Presented Dave Lee with the new ‘Ross Taylor Memorial Shield’

32^nd TRANSPLANT GAMES at Coventry 30^th-2^nd August 2009

The British Transplant Games were held in the city of Coventry with the accommodation at the University of Warwick along with the hotels around the city. With the Newcastle team were 14 competitors and 9 supporters.

On the Thursday night at 7pm in University Square, Coventry the opening ceremony was attended by athletes from all over Britain who paraded around the city centre.

Friday saw a full day of sporting events – volleyball, canoeing, fishing, golf and many more events.

A lot of the Newcastle team took part in the ‘ten pin bowling’ in the afternoon.

On Saturday morning some of the team went into the city centre of Coventry to look at the shops & indoor Market.  In the afternoon at the sports centre the swimming events took place.

The Donor Run took place in War Memorial Park from 7-9pm.

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The Newcastle Team’s night out took place at a pub in the city centre named ‘The Browns’.

 21 members and supporters had a great night out.

On Sunday there was a full day of track and field events at the sports ground at the university.

The evening started with the ‘Gala Dinner’ held in the university. The children had their own ‘Gala Dinner’ after which a lot of the teams had their own parties; some teams attended a BBQ which lasted until 4.30am. Breakfast was at 7.30-9.30am – not much sleep for most of us!

Marjorie Batey won a special award – the MLS trophy for the most ‘Outstanding Female’

Ian Gill competed in his first games since his kidney transplant by entering the fishing competition. 

Susan Anderson came 4^th in the ten pin bowling (a personal best).

Angela Woods (from Stockton) attended her first games since her bone marrow transplant, she brought along her 3 children – they can’t wait for the next games to come round!

Well done to all of you.

John & Susan Harty.

 CANOEING COMPETITION

The canoeing competition was a really good fun event. It was held at the Royal Leamington Spa Canoe Club. The building is beside the tranquil waters of the river Leam. The event was blessed with a fine sunny day with a very light breeze.
 
The competition was in two halves. A slalom through gates of suspended poles that was easy to follow as downstream gates were green and upstream ones red. There were about a dozen competitors and after they had all completed their run, their times were used to seed the
competitors in pairs for a 200 yard race finishing at the clubhouse.
 
The first race was between Simon Lloyd and Michael from Exeter. It was a very close run race which Michael led most of the way but was just pipped in the final few yards by Simon.
 
There was one competitor with very poor sight who had a paddler guiding him and capsized just before the last gate. He was towed through and across the line to get a time. There was also a totally blind competitor who was guided by an accompanying paddler and got through the slalom OK.
He nearly finished the race as well but capsized just before the finishing line and also had to be towed across it.
 
This year there was a cup for both the slalom and the race and Simon Lloyd won both as well as gold for the combined men's events. Joyce Gill got silver for the women's competition. This year we have two canoeing cups to go into the new trophy cabinet that the hospital is going to install in the Renal Service Centre.

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Newcastle Transplant Team Winners

Graeme Appleby      Morpeth                     Kidney                      Bronze Volleyball

Denise Baker            Darlington                 Kidney                      Gold 200m swimming freestyle

                                                                                                         Silver 100m swimming freestyle

                                                                                                         Bronze 50m swimming butterfly

Marjorie Batey          Newton Aycliffe        Liver                           Bronze ten pin bowling

                                                                                                         Gold discus

                                                                                                         Gold Badminton

                                                                                                         Gold shot put

Thomas Boag           Workington               Kidney                       Bronze volleyball

                                                                                                         Bronze shot put

                                                                                                         Silver discus

Alex Crawley            Barnard Castle         Kidney                       Silver Ball Throw

                                                                                                         Silver swimming 50m freestyle     

Joyce Gill                   Monkseaton              Kidney                      Bronze badminton

                                                                                                         Silver canoeing

Martin Graham         West Allotment         Kidney                       Gold 5k walk

                                                                                                         Gold swimming 50m freestyle

                                                                                                         Gold swimming 10m freestyle

                                                                                                         Gold 50m backstroke

                                                                                                         Bronze volleyball

John Harty                Gateshead                Liver                           Bronze volleyball

David Lee                  Whitley Bay               Kidney                      Bronze volleyball

Simon Lloyd             Newcastle                 Kidney                       Gold canoeing slalom & race

Craig Morrow            St Hellier                    Kidney                      Bronze volleyball

Lorraine Seager       Papworth                   Heart                         Bronze volleyball

Laura Tough             Whitley Bay               Kidney                       Gold 3k walk

                                                                                                         Silver ball throw

Angela Woods          Stockton                    Bone Marrow           Bronze Snooker

                                                                                                         Bronze Ten pin bowling

Congratulations to you all for such a great result.

Our best wishes go to Martin Graham who is taking part in the World Transplant Games in Brisbane Australia. He is competing in 100m freestyle swimming and the 5k walk.

Future Transplant Events

2009  November 21 Volleyball Loughborough

2010   August 19^th -22^nd British Transplant Games at Bath

            November British Volleyball competition Newcastle

2011   August 4^th-7^th British Transplant Games Belfast

Felling Festival

This year we had glorious sunshine which brought out the crowds in force! We actually used our new red gazebo for sunshade instead of rain! We had a very busy day – we actually ran out of tombola prizes!  We also had a name the dog competition, a childrens lucky dips, a lollypop game (devised and run by John Harty) various items for sale and Cassie sold some of our Autumn Raffle tickets.

Our thanks go to David Errington, Alan Bond, John Harty, Margaret Nelson, Isobel, Jed, Cassie and Holly Stubbington for their fantastic help without whom we would not have had such a successful day. We raised a grand sum of  £332.

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Household Tip          Simple, cheap household sanitizer:

Boil 2 pints of water and add 10 drops each of tea tree oil and lemon oil. After 15 minutes, use the water to clean kitchen surfaces, chopping boards, fridge doors etc.

Does anyone else have any useful tips?

Fund Raising

An item I missed from a previous issue of the NKF magazine if you click onto www.everyclick.com you can nominate your favourite charity to benefit by using this as your search engine and every time you click your charity gains a donation!

Acknowledgments

Our grateful thanks go to the following:

Pat Aynsley - for gift sets, toiletries & donations to our funds.

Audrey Naylor - for providing an assortment of goods for our stall and tombola.

Vanessa Hardy - for dropping off a large selection of books to sell on the stall.

Doreen & Paul Adamson - for a variety of raffle prizes,

Also to the numerous people who leave donations of books, goods and money but whose names we don't always get. We really appreciate your help.

Smiling

Smiling is infectious

You catch it like the flu

When someone smiled at me today

I started smiling too

I walked around the corner

And someone saw me grin

When he smiled, I realised I had passed it on to him

I thought about the smile

And realised its worth

A single smile like mine

Could travel around the earth

So if you feel a smile begin

Don’t leave if undetected:

Start an epidemic quick

And get the world infected.

NEWSLETTER

 We normally publish our Newsletter every 3 months, with an extra copy in August which contains the nominated candidates and Agenda for the AGM   If anyone has any contributions, information, renal friendly recipes, jokes (printable type please!), poems, puzzles, quiz’s, views or observations for our newsletter, please contact  any committee member, by  1st  October 2009.  We would love to hear from you and would welcome any feedback.  Please contact any committee member.

We would also like to say thank you to those members who have sent us items for this newsletter.

If anyone would like to receive our newsletter by email please contact George Dickson our Membership Secretary – this would also help to reduce our costs.

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This is my last newsletter as I am handing over the printer to someone else – I have edited and printed it since April 2006 apart from the October 2006 issue when I ‘was indisposed’.

I would like to thank everyone who has helped me and given me items for the newsletter especially Margaret Nelson who has been ‘my proof reader’.

One thing I would like to do is to make a leaflet containing tips that could help other renal patients

 to cope with their illness be it pre dialysis, on Haemo dialysis, PD or post transplant. Sometimes what seems to be a huge mountain can turn into a small molehill. I found this to be so when I went

on CAPD and we had a touring caravan and sometimes we had no electricity to heat my fluid, I was advised to wrap the bag in a towel put it with a hot water bottle and put it in a cool bag. This advice was very useful and we were able to carry on with our life going on holiday, having days out, going on coach trips etc.

I have written an article called ‘Have Bag Will Travel’ which is on our website www.tynesidekpa.org.uk.

I look forward to your tips etc.

Joan  

TELEPHONE SUPPORT LINE CONTACTS:

Simon Lloyd                   pre-dialysis, PD, transplant                  01661 871399

Margaret Nelson            haemodialysis                                       0191 4545791

Catherine Graham         Renal patient                                         0191 2150049   

Rory O’Callaghan          Transplant & APD                                 01670 822131

The telephone support team is there to give as much help as we can from our own experiences. Please note that WE DO NOT GIVE MEDICAL ADVICE. If we are asked specific medical questions we will ask you to discuss this with a doctor.

Web sites:         Tyneside Kidney Patients: www.tynesidekpa.org.uk

                        NKF:                                       www.kidney.org.uk          

Transplant games 

For information please contact:   joyce-and-ian@supanet.com

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The people who have been nominated to fill the posts on the committee are:

Election addresses

Simon Lloyd

I am standing for the post of Secretary after completing three years as chairman. During that time I have had to take on the secretarial work on a couple of occasions so know I can do the job.

As a kidney patient I have been through acute renal failure, 14 months on peritoneal dialysis and then living with life renewed by a transplant for nearly 11 years. These experiences enable me to support others.

My career was in agricultural education but I took early retirement, which coincided with acute renal failure. I have my own smallholding and sheep flock as well as a large garden. I am married to Rachael and we have two sons and three grand daughters.

I am a member of the Newcastle Transplant Games Team, have won a medal in each of the national games I have been in. Most have been in canoeing; and have brought home the winners cup for the last two years.

I have been a member of Tyneside KPA since '98 and have gained a width of experience in working with both patients and the NHS. My strengths are that I am a practical person and an organizer but I know I am weak on the social side.

It has been a privilege to serve this Association and receive so much friendly encouragement from so many different people. I hope you will want me to continue serving as secretary. Can I make it quite clear that in doing so I want to help our new chairman as much as I can to serve for a full three-year term.

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David  Errington 

I am a kidney patient who has polycystic kidney disease. I was diagnosed 15 years ago and have been attending clinics at the Freeman hospital over this period. My father has the same genetic disease and was lucky enough to receive a kidney transplant at the Freeman Hospital last July 08 after 7 years of haemodialysis at the RVI satellite unit. I am now on APD dialysis..  Hopefully the above can show I have had several years of dealing with my own illness and the processes my father has been through which would be an asset if I were to be made a member the Committee of the TKPA  as Treasurer.

I am aged 42, married to Anne and am a director of a local successful Mechanical and Plumbing contractor for which I am responsible for estimating and procuring contracts.

My interests outside work are Sailing, Golf, Horse racing and gardening.  We have an allotment and green house at home and try to grow as much fresh vegetables as possible (but it’s not been very good this year).

I have been attending meetings and talks by the TKPA over the past year and am impressed with the progress, which has been made through interaction with the hospital and medical teams and hope I can become a member of the TKPA committee.

I took over as Treasurer when Len cline unfortunately had to retire as treasurer due to ill health.

MIKE HAYHOE

My career was in purchasing and supply. I have worked in various parts of the country and eventually for Newcastle City Council. I took early retirement from the council and then worked for Northumbria University, where I headed up their purchasing and supply department.

After leaving the University I became involved with the RVI Cardiac Support Group and was chairman for the last eight years until I stood down in April 2008. I also sat on two National Health committees and am currently patient representative for my GP practice. I am also a member of my District Church Council for St Cuthbert’s in Brunswick Village.

I have a number of leisure time interests including road passenger transport in London and Essex for which I have a collection of literature, photographs and models. I enjoy listening to classical music and reading."

I am diabetic and I am now on haemodialysis.

GEORGE  DICKSON      

I am a kidney patient with Polycystic Kidney Disease and suffer what is described as stage 4 kidney failure. I am not yet on dialysis and I hope it will be a while before I am. I have lost too many relations from this cruel disease including my mother, grandmother and mother-in-law. My wife died in December 2008 only a month after a kidney transplant operation. I have three grown-up children living and working in London, it is statistically likely that they too will suffer from Polycystic Kidney Disease.

 I am retired and I was employed variously as a Physicist, Production Manager and Civil Servant.

 I am a season ticket holder supporting Newcastle United and so are all of the family. I enjoy walks on the Northumbrian coast or countryside but these stopped with the death of my wife.

 I strongly support the aims of the Tyneside KPA and am prepared to give my time to this.

 I currently hold the posts of Membership Secretary and Vice Chairman, I am willing to hold these posts for another year.

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DAVE LEE

Age;  52

 I’m married and live in Whitley Bay. I received my kidney transplant on the 17th of August 1986 after several years of CAPD and then haemo-dialysis at the RVI Newcastle. I took voluntary early retirement from computer programming in October last year and am looking for work at the moment.

 I am an experienced administrator, having worked in the civil service for some years prior to becoming a computer programmer, and am familiar with various software and spreadsheet packages. I still retain links with my civil service past through being the volleyball section secretary and wine club treasurer at the government buildings at Longbenton, secretary of the civil service area management committee and a committee member of the Newcastle Estates Sports and Leisure Club.

 I have attended most transplant games since my transplant in 1986 and represented Great Britain and NI at the world games from 1995 to 2001 at volleyball, winning two gold and two silver medals.

I worked as an electrician in the shipyards first at Hebburn and then Wallsend from 1966-1971 when I was made redundant. I was then employed by the MOD in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary until 2009 when I retired after 37 years. I was involved with the Falkland war in 1982, supported the army in Split in 1998 and in 2001 the Royal Marines assault into Afghanistan.

My Brother-in-Law Paul Adams, who is a kidney patient, was on Haemodialysis and has recently received a kidney transplant. I became involved with the TKPA in March 2009 to get to know and understand the issues regarding Kidney Disease to enable me to support Paul and his wife.

I have been helping at the Charity Stall in the Freeman Hospital on Friday’s and also at various Tyneside Festivals Stalls. I support the aims of the TKPA and would like to become more involved by becoming an active member of the committee.

Kath Brown

I have been married to Eddie for the past 23 years and we have twin sons Edward and Scott who are twenty years old.

I was born in Lennoxtown a small village in Stirling in Scotland and educated in Glasgow. I attended Glasgow University and then college where I received my degree.

 I have been employed by North Tyneside Council for the past sixteen years within their Social Services department.

 I was a dialysis patient on Ward 22 for four years until I was fortunate enough to receive a kidney transplant in February this year.

 I am looking forward to joining the TKPA Committee as Chairlady and being involved in the various activities of the Association to help benefit Kidney patients and their carers.

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Tyneside Kidney Patients Association {TKPA}

Registered Charity Number 518767

22^nd  ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Tuesday 15th September 2009

7.00 p.m. Freeman Hospital Postgraduate Centre Room 138

 Agenda

1. Apologies for absence

2. Minutes of the 2008 AGM

3. Matters arising from the minutes

4. Committee's Annual Report (used to be called chairman's report)

5. Election of representative to the National Kidney Federation

6. Treasurer's report

7. Approve the accounts for 2008/9

8. Election of the committee - vote to confirm the nominations..

9. Programme for the coming year.
            1. Planning topics for General Meetings as we start our three-year programme again.
            2. Social Events
            3. Doctors v Patients darts evening
            4. World Kidney Day
            5. Transplant Week

10. Fund Raising
            1. Freeman charity stall
            2. Seeking funds from charities
            3. Suggestions for fund raising

11. Newsletter editing and production

12. National Kidney Federation
            1. Election of NKF representative
            2. Conference motions

13. Any Other Business
 
Talk on Living Wills by Barry Speker