Sunday 15 May 2016

2016 - Sailing round the UK


Why do it?

That quite a complicated question.  Life’s twists and turns influence how you think and feel about things and life.

The biggest driving force in my life has been medical and they started on day one while being delivered when forceps caught my left eye and damaged the cornea, the clear bit we all look through at the front of our eye

At the age of seventeen I discovered I has end stage renal failure, basically my kidneys had stopped working and I ended up after a short illness on dialysis.  As a young teenager an event like this makes you grow up very quickly and it makes you realise you are mortal.  I imagine many people who never have a day of sickness as they go through life probably only start to think about their own l mortality when a relative or close friend is seriously ill or dies.

In a nut shell I learnt life and more importantly good heal is very important and I was determined to make the most of life despite these early set backs.

At the age of 21 in 1980 I had a successful kidney transplant.  They call it the gift of life and it really is.  In 1998 I had a corneal graft to my left eye which restored my sight and enhanced my life. As a good friend of mine recently posted on Facebook bot these gifts allowed me to sail around the world, gain a master degree, work fully time for 35 years, look after my elderly mother in her last years, and now to sail round the UK.     

Since I have owned my own sailing yacht I have always had a desire to sail around the UK.  As a small gesture I hope to raise awareness of organ donation as I circumnavigate the UK.
 

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