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Charity Auction
25th March 2010
Last March I signed up to
be screened when the CRY team visited my school, QEH Bristol, merely as
a precaution, not expecting anything to be wrong. However, there was
something wrong.
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The ECG revealed
me to have
Wolff-Parkinson
White syndrome,
and as a keen
sportsman, this
came as a huge
surprise. I knew
very little
about heart
syndromes, and
what I presumed
was that they
mainly affected
the old or
obese.
Unfortunately
immediately
after being
scanned I made
the big mistake
of looking up
WPW on Wikipedia
and was greeted
by a number of
scary facts.
Though after
coming to terms
with the facts,
and overcoming
the initial wish
that I could
forget all about
the problem at
hand, I realised
how fortunate I
had been.
Through the CRY
website and
other sources I
soon became
aware of how
many young
people are not
as fortunate as
I was. The first
time they
discovered they
had a problem,
it was too late.
In order to
combat the
syndrome, I
initially went
on medication,
before I had the
Cardiac Ablation
operation in
June. Despite
the high success
rate of the
operation, and
the surgeon
operating on me
for over six
hours, the
operation was
not a success.
This was very
hard to take, as
I desperately
wanted to move
on, get back to
my normal life.
A
few months later
though I was
back in the
Operating
Theatre, and
although this
time even more
nervous as I was
without General
Anaesthetic, the
operation
worked.
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It felt
fantastic to be
back on the
football pitch,
to be free from
the worries.
However, now I
was aware of
such heart
syndromes, I was
keen to do my
bit to raise
both funds and
awareness.
As such my
school have
invited CRY back
again this year,
and I’ve
encouraged as
many other boys
to undergo the
screening.
Furthermore, I
organised a
Charity Auction
for the pupils
and parents.
I
was very
fortunate to
receive the
support of many
celebrities,
sports stars and
companies,
allowing the
Auction to boast
an impressive
collection of
‘lots’.
Whether it be
the signed
celebrity
memorabilia
(from such stars
as Gordon Brown,
Manchester
United, Usain
Bolt, Roger
Federer and Sir
Tom Jones), fine
artwork or show
tickets, there
was something
for everyone.
The evening
proved very
popular and with
many very
willing to
donate money to
the worthy
cause, we raised
a fantastic
total of over
£4100.
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I’m very
glad I was able to help
CRY in this way, and
hope I can do more for
the charity in the
future. Without them, I
don’t know where I would
be right now.
James
Bailey
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