I’m going the gym, the jungle gym

There’s only two things which are certain in life – death and taxes – or so says the phrase.
I’d like to add a few more.
People overeat at Christmas, people diet in January, no-one can explain why the two blokes on Masterchef on BBC2 shout at each other when they are sat so close together.
Alas, the post-Christmas tightening of the belt – both around the waist and a cut-back on expense is a certainty as far as I’m concerned.
Now. North Staffordshire PCT reckons it can improve the health of people with an outdoor gym.
So the PCT which claims it hasn’t enough cash to fund fertility treatment, and in the past the drugs sutent and nexavar is now shelling out £120,000 to put a gym into Bathpool Park, Kidsgrove and Lyme Valley Parkway in Newcastle.
Now, another thing is certain. There will be as many doubters as believers in the wisdom of this scheme.
On the one hand, rising obesity levels in children and young people – as well as the population as a whole – causes a strain on the NHS. Obese people, fat people, are unhealthy and cost money.
So make them fitter and ‘ka-ching. The NHS is quids in?
What happens if people from Porthill, Burslem or Tunstall nip to the Newcastle park and do a few stretches next to the balance bars? What happens if someone from Goldenhill heads north rather than south on the a50 and nips to Kidsgrove for a quick workout?
Private gyms are pricey. They aren’t exactly a friend of the credit-crunch. So maybe an outdoor gym is the answer and in fairness, it’s something we all grew up with.
Back when I was younger they were called playgrounds. Apart from getting dizzy you got a work-out pushing the other ( usually bigger) children on the merry-go-round. And your arms remembered it for days after you’d travelled the length of the monkey bars once, twice, three times. And for an abs-workout,  head back to the swings. Maybe there is something about an outdoor gym after all?!

And jokers – I’ve already heard the one about the showers only being available when it rains. Funny ha ha.

Angelena inspired us all

I consider myself very lucky to have met Angelena Buxton and her family. Angelena was a remarkable woman who, while suffering with kidney cancer, was fighting to get drugs paid for and approved for use in England.

The drug Nexavar is already used widely in America and Europe but there were delays in making it available in England.

When Angelena was diagnosed in November 2006 she was given about “three months” to live.

But Angelena was not happy to accept the word of the doctors and her and her family plundered the internet looking for ways to help keep Angelena alive for longer.

Their hard work paid off. Her family paid their final respects at a celebration of her life last week, two years after diagnosis and a year after a petition for the drug to be made available was handed in to Downing Street.

The drug she campaigned for is called Nexavar. Her request for the drug was initially rejected by North Staffordshire PCT but Angelena fought on. Eventually she delivered a 10,000 name petition to Downing Street to campaign for the drug which had helped her.

When her body was saying no her self-proclaimed stubbornness helped her to fight.

Angelena was pleased that her fight helped other people fight for the drug. And like Herceptin campaigned Dot Griffiths her voice made a difference.