I had a phone call from David Dixon who works for Radio Cornwall yesterday afternoon and he said he wanted to come later on to interview Chris. The NHS are doing health checks at a farming store in Cornwall to get farmers to be more willing to see the doctor when they are unwell, as they are a pretty hardy bunch and will generally fob things off.
David had read my blog and thought Chris`s input might be helpful with this. Chris didn`t take a lot of notice of his limp at first, which had gone on for quite a few months, even when people were commenting on it. He just thought it must have been a bit of arthritis or something. It wasn`t until in February this year, when Chris had to walk up to the village at about 10pm one evening to retrieve some sheep that had gotten out, that he found that he could hardly walk up the drive, his legs felt like lead and it really scared him so I made an appointment the next day for him to see the doctor. I know there is nothing that can be done for MND, but it might have been something that could have been treated and that shouldn`t have been left so the idea was for Chris to say how important it was for farmers who get symptoms of anything, to get them checked out sooner rather than later. He interviewed me too which I wasn`t expecting, but David made us feel very at ease and both interviews were pretty short anyway. They will be included in the 6-9am Breakfast Show on Tuesday morning. Sneeze and you will probably miss it, but at least we managed to mention MND and hopefully some kind of awareness was made.
Chris was worried that his diction wasn`t very good, but I could understand what he was saying and I`m sure everyone else will too. David said he will continue to read my blog which I thought was very kind, but he has lost a friend to MND, so his life has been touched by it too.
Chris and I are very reluctant to dip our toes into the wider world of media, both being introverted in nature, but I understand that it is a necessary evil in order to get MND awareness across. If further opportunities arise then we would have to `grow some..` as they say, as getting MND awareness out there means a great deal to both of us.
