Mesothelioma UK celebrated Women’s Day in Manchester it is the first time and I bet it isn’t the last. What a success !!!

Many Lawyers helped to make it a wonderful day for the patients and Ray and I were invited on the Field Fisher Table by lovely Bridget Collier.

First though we travelled up the day before as I wanted to be there early Friday morning to meet everyone and have a long chat.

I couldn’t believe that as we pulled into Manchester station from London and I was looking what door to use to go out to find the hotel I walked straight into Mary Mulhal,My Chair of the Foundation. How amazing was that. She is always there when i need her !! We had a laugh and and a hug and then I asked a policeman where our hotel was. Alway ask a British Bobby.

He pointed the way and it was out the back, down two flights of the escalator and across the road.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A lovely room and bathroom all for £114.00 a night. That was wonderful.

After booking in and have a rest in our rooms as Mary had to been to see a client and had to work and catch up, we went down for a coffee.

It ended up with us having a Mavis Nye Foundation meeting as we have a Board meeting next week so it was good to put together points to be raised.

A five year plan has been sketched so we can take it to the table. So exciting we are moving forward so fast now. Thanks to Hugh James.

I had had so many phone calls from Paul Chamberline and Lee of Wefitrpe Ltd as we travelled up from London as he had been to a meeting and had sold all the Sundstrom masks and was putting the money in The Charity Account. He had plans on selling the next lot that Sandstrom have kindly donated and are so pleased we are raising funds this way. Well I just had to thank Paul in some way that I suggested he became a Ambassador for the Charity. He has become my agent anyway and has me talking at so many training sessions and Conferences. He goes above and beyond his duties ha ha !!!

He was over the moon when I suggested it so we have an Ambassador. xx

So our team is getting stronger and stronger, as we have so many supporters. It’s exciting as my Legacy will go on and on after my passing as the Meso is growing so I never know. Mags Portmans death has shook me to the core so I must get my affairs in order.

We had a lovely meal in the restaurant and then an early night.

 

 

 

 

Woke up bright and early and met Mary for Breakfast and coffee then we had to pack the cases as we were vacating the room to travel back after the event.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

People started arriving and it was wonderful to meet so many as they cuddled me and we all hugged. The love in the room was wonderful.

We then went into Lunch. Ladies that Lunch.

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Two Mesowarrors I met came home and wrote :-

Caroline Jamieson is with Philippa Johnson.

I’ve met a few famous people in my life and I’ve never been star struck, I don’t really get it, musicians, actors they just do a job. Today I was in total awe of someone, a lady who has done so much for the fight against Mesothelioma whilst fighting the disease herself. Her fb pages were our lifeline whilst dad was ill, and still now they help and our experience will help others. She has her own foundation, she is on nearly every meso medical board, she is a true fighter along with her husband Ray.So lovely to meet you today Mavis Nye, you are amazing and we love you ❤
That is so lovely as you just don’t realise what effect you have on people do you xx
But this young woman had me in tears as Liz Darlinson played her video. Her funeral was the day before in Leeds
How cruel Mesothelioma took away a young woman who had given so much to medical history

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr Mags Portman passed away on Wednesday, 6th February, 2019. Each of us at Saving Lives is truly saddened by her passing: we looked up to Mags as an example of everything an engaged clinician and advocate can and should be. One of a kind, she will be completely irreplaceable.

Mags was in many ways the embodiment of what we aim for Saving Lives to be: intelligent and compassionate, accessible and exuberant, she had an unerring commitment to making the lives of her patients better. She made the lives of her friends better, too, merely through her company.

We are so much more than grateful for the years we spent working alongside Mags, and particularly proud that she chose to associate herself so closely with Saving Lives. We could not have asked for a patron more committed to the causes we shared – or a friend more likely to keep us smiling.

Thank you, Mags. We miss you.

***

Mags completed medical training (MBChB) in Glasgow, 1998. Initially, she trained as a GP and qualified in 2003. During GP training, she kept up with a love of Genitourinary Medicine (Sexual Health) through continued work for the Steve Retson Project, a specialist sexual health service for gay and bisexual men or men who have sex with men based at the Sandyford Initiative, Glasgow. This was her first encounter with a specialist service set up for, and by, gay men, her first experience of working with “the community” – and she loved it. Little did she know, however, that this would prove to be a cornerstone of her future work.

Mags worked briefly in Leeds as a GP 2003-4, but the calling was always back to a career in Sexual Health/HIV. She made a decision to leave General Practice in 2004, and despite incredulity from her GP colleagues, never regretted her decision. She worked as a Staff Grade at the Leeds GUM Clinic (Sunnybank Wing, Leeds General Infirmary) for nine months before deciding to go back and retrain in General Medicine. This would enable her to enter Speciality Training in Genitourinary Medicine. “The calling was strong!!” she often said.

During her time as a registrar, she helped put National HIV Testing Week on the map in Leeds: Leeds GUM’s working alongside Yorkshire MESMAC and Leeds Skyline continues to be an example of the great things that can be achieved when a sexual health clinic works alongside the community sector. Also working closely with Yorkshire MESMAC, she was instrumental in the set-up of Armley Men’s Sexual Health Clinic, Leeds’ first sexual health clinic in a sauna for men who have sex with men. She also appeared on the BBC3 documentary “Unsafe Sex and the City”. It was during this time that she began to develop a particular interest in HIV prevention and collaborative working with the community.

Mags gained her CCT in 2014 and worked as a Locum Consultant in East London, both at the Royal London and Homerton Hospitals. During her time at the Royal London, she worked on the PROUD study, and her life as a PrEP advocate began. At Homerton, she was responsible for the HIV Antenatal clinic – again, this work was very close to her heart.

In September 2015, Mags took up a substantive Consultant post at Mortimer Market Centre, Central & North West London NHS Foundation Trust, where she was lead for GUM. Frustrated by the lack of PrEP implementation in the NHS, and observing that community activists such as Greg Owen and Will Nutland were supporting people to access PrEP online, she gained agreement from her Trust, and support from clinic staff, to provide HIV and STI testing, plus renal monitoring, for those accessing PrEP in this way. She also inputted to, and pushed for the provision of, the national PrEP Guide, produced by iBase.

Mags sat on the BASHH/BHIVA PrEP guidelines-writing committee and she was Secretary of the BASHH Media Group. Right up to her passing, she continued to work closely with iwantprepnow.co.uk and PrEPster.info.

https://www.savinglivesuk.com/about-us/patrons/dr-mags-portman/

The event also marked the launch of the GEM study (Gendered Experiences of Mesothelioma) which will look at the specific experiences of women diagnosed with mesothelioma. It is believed that women have a different experience to men in terms of awareness of the disease, diagnosis, and access to treatment and legal processes. The study will explore the different experiences to identify the implications for health, social care and legal practices. Email us if you would like to know more about the study, or might be interested in taking part.

I followed Lorraine and Liz and screwed the words I was going to say as I realised it was all about my passion in life Research.

So I told where I was at and if it wasn’t for trials and research I wouldn’t be here. It is a very important subject.

I always come and sit down and say to ray was I alright and he always says yes brill.

I so love that man xx

For more information, please contact us.

After the raffles and speeches we had to grab our cases and run for the train.It was a wet evening.

Arriving in London we partied company with Mary and got the tube to Victoria. Such a long queue, so busy ekk!!

at Victoria our train was cancelled due to a suicide at Whitstable so we caught the train to Gillingham where the fast train rolled in and the line was now open to Whistable. So pleased to get the taxi to home and have a cup of coffee and talk over all that had happened.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A foot note from Ray he wrote on F/B Raymond Nye I attended this lunch. What an inspiring day. I have so much respect for all these women. There was so much love in the room, I felt quite humbled in such amazing company. We shouldn’t need a special day to celebrate women. For me they should be celebrated every day. God bless them all. It was an honour to be amongst them all.