Thyroid surgery, London patient event 7th Sept 2013 - info

The London group of the British Thyroid Foundation (BTF), a national patient charity, is organising an event for thyroid patients and people with an interest in thyroid disorders at the Royal Free Hospital, London on Saturday, 7^th September.

Leading Consultant Endocrine Surgeon, Mr Fausto Palazzo, he will be talking about thyroid surgery and answering questions on all aspects of thyroid health.  

Mr Fausto Palazzo, Consultant Endocrine Surgeon, see bio below

The event will also be an opportunity for patients to share their experiences and connect with each other.

Thyroid disease is very common and usually easily treated - one in 20 people in the UK have a thyroid disorder - yet it is largely a hidden disease and some cases can have a devastating impact on people’s lives. 

Thyroid surgery is used in managing several disorders of the thyroid gland and there are several different kinds of surgery. Complications are rare and usually treatable but can be significant. To avoid complications, thyroid surgery should always be performed by an experienced surgeon who regularly performs thyroid operations.

Thyroid disease will be relevant to many of your readers and a real problem for some of them, we would be thrilled if you could write about our event to help reach out to those who could benefit from it.

Where and when

The event will take place on Saturday, 7 September, from 10am to 1pm, in the Sir William Wells Atrium, Royal Free Hospital.

For more information or to book a place, email lorrainewilliams@btf-thyroid.org.

Refreshments will be provided. Donations will be welcomed, with a suggested minimum of £3 per person, to help cover the costs of the event.

 Notes:

Mr Fausto Palazzo is a Consultant Endocrine Surgeon at Hammersmith Hospital and Honorary Senior Lecturer at Imperial College London where he is Clinical Lead for Endocrine Surgery. He trained in general surgery in London and in endocrine surgery in Oxford, Sydney and Marseille. He has one of the UK's largest practices in thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal surgery and in 2012 performed over 350 procedures including 160 parathyroidectomies and 40 laparoscopic or retroperitoneoscopic adrenalectomies. His specialist interest is thyroid cancer, re-operative parathyroid surgery and minimally invasive endocrine surgery. He teaches on national and international courses and has published extensively on all aspects of endocrine disease and surgery. 

The British Thyroid Foundation (BTF) is a national patient support charity dedicated to supporting people with thyroid disorders and helping their families and people around them to understand the condition. It has been established for 21 years and works with medical professionals from the British Thyroid Association and the British Association of Endocrine and Thyroid Surgeons. Website www.btf-thyroid.org

The BTF London group was launched in 2011 and meets around five times a year. We usually get around 40 attendees and feedback on all events so far has been mostly very enthusiastic.

The Royal Free Hospital is six minutes walk from Belsize Park underground station, 14 minutes from Hampstead underground station, and just four minutes walk from Hampstead Heath railway station. The meeting will be held in The Atrium which will be clearly signposted from the main entrance. Parking space is extremely limited in the local area so attendees are encouraged to use public transport.

You are warmly invited to attend this event, just be sure to email me to book your place in advance. 

The next event after this one is 2nd November, on nutritional medicine and thyroid disorders, with speakers from the University of Surrey MSc in Nutritional Medicine. 

Our walk, in pictures, with a folkie flavour...

This year's BTF London Group Big Summer Walk for British Thyroid Foundation coincided with Broadstairs Folk Week.... 

The hooden horse, emblem of Broadstairs Folk Week 

Since I moved to Broadstairs in 2011 the group have initiated a tradition that each summer a few members come to see me and we do a walk to raise money for the charity, from Broadstairs to Ramsgate and back, along with anyone else who wants to join us. Let me know if you'd like to take part next year.

It's a beautiful stroll. Not too taxing and mostly flat, we feel it's  important to have an event that people who may not be feeling very well can still take part in. In total the distance is about 8km and the route allows for a pleasant break in Ramsgate Royal Marina, where we treated ourselves to fish and chips, coffee and ice cream, to fuel our walk back!

With huge thanks to Anna, Linda and Giovanni who took part with me. Here is our story in pictures:

setting of from Pierremont Park, l-r: Anna, Giovanni, Linda, Lorraine

on the promenade in Broadstairs 

Broadstairs folk week performers

above Viking Bay, the main beach in Broadstairs

Linda and Giovanni with Viking Bay in the background

arriving at Ramsgate Royal Marina

Linda and Anna with Ramsgate Royal Marina in the background

Linda with Ramsgate main beach in the background

Anna enjoying a coffee on the Royal Harbour Brasserie Terrace

Linda and Anna on the clifftops

posing with the friendly  Invicta Morris Dancers,
with many thanks to them for this picture!

Finally - here is a fun video of the start of the Broadstairs Folk Week parade, which began shortly after we arrived back in the town. A wonderful finale to our day! 

We had a wonderful day, made all the more special by the celebratory atmosphere in the town for the Folk Week Festival.

Our aim was to raise £300 for British Thyroid Foundation and we have almost achieved that already. It's not too late to sponsor us if you'd like to. Our Just Giving fundraising page is here.

Or you can click the "sponsor me" button at the top of this page.

We are very grateful for all donations and all  money goes straight to the British Thyroid Foundation to enable them to do more to help people with thyroid disorders.

Thanks for sharing our walk by reading this post. Maybe next year you'd like to join us.

Waving and smiling to you. :)

A somewhat smaller Big Summer Walk

After meeting Jill Liddington the other day, at the end of her epic trek from Yorkshire to London in aid of the British Thyroid Foundation, I almost hesitate to mention the rather littler Big Summer Walk I am organising and taking part in this weekend, from Broadstairs to Ramsgate.  But mention it I must, how else would you know about it, or be able to get involved?

view of Viking Bay at Broadstairs, our start point

Members of the London Group did this walk with me last year and we raised over £900 which astonished all of us and we were so grateful for that wonderful support. It's amazing how generous people can be when they see you doing something that matters to you.

This year we are doing the same walk on 10th August, setting off around 1pm from Viking Bay, we want to make this a regular annual thing.

If you're in the area and you'd like to join us, please feel free to get in touch, it should be another lovely day out and this year coincides with Broadstairs Folk week - an amazing festival with Morris Dancers, Hooden Horses and all sorts cavorting around the town!

I'll post a write up and some pictures afterwards.

In the meantime here's a link to our fundraising page, just incase you feel inspired to make a small donation or leave a cheering message. http://www.justgiving.com/BTFLondonTeamWalk.

All donations will be received with massive gratitude and every penny raised will go straight to BTF to support their work for thyroid patients.

Ramsgate Royal Marina, our end point

The Big Summer Walk campaign is something anyone can get involved with, why not organise your own walk, it's a wonderful way to spend time with friends, get some exercise and raise money for this little charity that does so much and needs all our help to be able to do even more for thyroid patients. See the BTF website for more info.

200 miles later...

This weekend I met an inspirational lady.

Jill Liddington has just walked over 200 miles to raise awareness of thyroid disorders and fundraise for the British Thyroid Foundation.

Yes, you heard right, 200 miles. From Yorkshire to London.  How amazing is that?!

Along with some of her friends and family and members of the British Thyroid Foundation London Support Group, I met her at Granary Square, St Pancras, this Sunday, on completion of her epic challenge.

Though footsore, Jill was in great spirits, every step of the way she had been accompanied by friends, family and supporters who popped up along the route to walk with her at different stages. I think the whole thing has been quite an incredible experience for her, she spoke very movingly about how touched she has been by everyone's support and she has already raised over £2000 for the charity, with donations still coming in.

The photo above shows her at the finish line, along with those who had walked the last leg with her, including Karen George of the London Group and her partner, Rich -  and some young relatives who brought a special home made banner.  Well done Jill!

It's not too late to make a donation and leave a cheering message on Jill's fundraising page. Every penny raised will go to British Thyroid Foundation to help them do more for thyroid patients.

Click to visit Jill Liddington's Just Giving Page