Ooooh a Charity gig, featuring The Panic Report a North Eastern Band at the Schooner. I'll be there!

Guest Blog by Michelle Sheridan


The Panic Report are a local band from the North East.  One of the band - Lee Stephenson spent most of his childhood growing up with my husband - Lee Sheridan.  So when Lee Stephenson heard about my cancer diagnosis and our intention to try and support Glenn Johnstone and Arctic ONE, he said if there was anything he could do to help we just had to let him know and that he'd have a think about what he could do to help.

So one evening, whilst thinking about fund raising ideas, it just seemed so obvious that the one thing Lee could do was to put on a Charity Gig in aid of Arctic 1 and Glenn.  So no sooner had it been suggested that Lee agreed to it.

Fantastic but now we had to try and decide on a venue - and a cheap or free one at that.  Julie Tekin is a great friend and colleague and has given me so much direct support since my diagnoses that I have pretty much kept her up to date with everything.  As it happens, Julie used to be a MacMillan Nurse, so has years and years of experience in supporting those affected by cancer.

Julie has a great friend called Lynne, whose brother, just so happens to own a pub in Gateshead, and a pub that just so happens to supports live bands.  Well need I say anything more ...... yet more support results in us getting a free venue for the Charity Gig .....so a huge huge thanks has to go to The Schooner Pub on South Shore Road, Gateshead for offering us their pub, free of charge.

Well every thing's now pretty much set up.  Julie and I have organised some raffle prizes for the evening with all proceeds going to Arctic ONE.  Al Roberts, a new friend of Glenn's and someone who you can read all about in Glenn's latest blogs, is also seeing if he can arrange some raffle prizes.  Great stuff and fantastic support from people in all corners.

Well that's about it - the event will start at 7pm(ish) at The Schooner on Friday 29th August 2014.  Its been advertised on Facebook and I have no idea how many people may turn up - but any amount is better than none !

xxxx

Checkout the Schooner's Facebook page and add a like

Glenn "Thanks to everyone for all your support I really do appreciate it and I know the guys over at Arctic ONE are simply blown away by how much support I have received over the last few months. I've made so many new and dear friends in fact I often wonder what the hell I must have been doing before you all came along. My life is enriched so much more now that I have you all in my life".

Camera hunting...Fail!...Aww who cares, quality time with friends!

It's a couple of weeks now since wor Kyle accidentally dropped my new camera into Ladyburn Lake. I've now been up a couple of times searching with friends. Looking in the general area we thought the camera was, however have been unsuccessful in finding it. Really it's like the proverbial "needle in a haystack" scenario. I wouldn't mind if it had been just an ordinary camera, as as soon as it went overboard, it would of been a case of "Ahh well it's drowned as it's not waterproof". What's annoyed and frustrated me is that this particular camera I bought especially for it's waterproof ability, as well as being shock and dust proof. You see I got it for when I went out mountain biking, because if you're a biker you will know we get in some right filthy states.

Wayne is our local window cleaner, he is a cracking lad and we get on very well, whenever I see him he always makes time to have a chat as we share similar hobbies and interests. Wayne even did a sponsored bike ride with a few of his friends to raise money for me and Arctic ONE the charity I am being supported by in getting a running blade. Like I saw a top fella. Anyhoo a good while ago as Wayne and I were chatting I remembered him saying he was into both diving and metal detecting. So I thought why not give Wayne a buzz and see if he knew if there was such a thing as an under water metal detector. His reply"Yeah there is I have one, but I'm in Spain and won't be back until the 19th". So I waited a couple of days for him to return then messaged him again asking if he could help me out.

Wayne called down on Monday and we discussed when we should head over to Ladyburn Lake. We decided that afternoon was as good a time as any so Wayne popped over home to grab all his gear and I got my stuff sorted. I had asked wor Kyle to come along as he was the one who was in the canoe at the time and he had dropped my camera. I also invited my mate John and of course Ern, well Ern always likes an adventure and is part of the team.

So we drove over to Wayne's and picked both him and his gear up. I introduced Wayne to John as they had never met and off we went over towards Druridge Bay.

It takes around an hour to get to the lake from ours. Monday wasn't an exactly warm day, a bit of a light breeze and the temperature read 17 degrees C in the car. We got to our destination and parked up, a bit further over than we usually do, as it was nearer to where the camera was lost. Wayne and I soon had our wetsuits on, Wayne's being more like a proper diving suit, he was quite warm, me I was bloody freezing. As soon as I got in the water I wanted a wee lol. I had to hold it in for an hour and a half, as that is how long we were in searching for my camera. 

Wayne what a top fella

Firstly Wayne tried diving down to check the bottom of the lake, but found it difficult as his suit brought him straight up. He then popped on a diving belt and went under again, using his underwater torch, however when he came up he said "I can't see a thing". The water in the lake becoming murky as soon as you disturb the bottom, plus there are loads of underwater weeds.

Wayne the frogman!

 We searched in what I thought was the general area, trying to go slow and work in a grid pattern. The lake bed undulates lots and there are shallows then all of a sudden you can't feel your feet on the bottom, or should I say foot in my case. I had taken my swimming shoe off as I thought if I stepped on my camera I would feel it better. Only thing I stepped on was sharp as I am now sporting a deep nick in my big toe and it is really sore.

We were both gutted we didn't find my camera the detector was definitely working as Wayne found a 2pence coin

Wayne then went back ashore and got his underwater metal detector. We both felt confident that this device would do the trick. This was the first time Wayne had used it in deep water so he was a little tentative, obviously not wanting to break his detector. Anyhoo the detector proved it worked as Wayne found and empty beer can. He then went on to find a 2 pence piece and believe it or not that was all that we could find metallic.  We must have searched up and down the same stretch of water at least 7 or 8 times. Both Wayne and I were gutted we didn't find my little camera. It has either washed ashore and someone else has found it, or it's in deeper water. I guess it's now time to say good bye and stop the grieving process. I loved my camera so much I have ordered a new identical one, just waiting for it coming. This one will be fitted with a float as I have learnt my lesson.

It's canny difficult trying to get in and out of the water with only one leg lol

I'm off Wayne in hot pursuit

Ern taking a few snaps

Wayne with his metal detector and me foot feeling

  After leaving the lake we set off to visit our friends Al and Sarah. Sarah had contacted me saying if we were going up to the Lake to call in and she would bake some scones. Arriving at Al and Sarah's we were met by their two friendly Golden Retrievers, Mac and Molly,closely followed by Al and Sarah. I introduced both Al and Sarah to Wayne as they had never met before. My circle of friends is getting increasingly larger and they are all fantastic people. I love being in their company, each one being different and just adding that certain something special whenever we are together. Happy days.

We sat out in Al and Sarah's garden both Wayne and John sampling some of Al's  home made nettle beer and everyone commenting on how delicious the scones Sarah had baked were. There was both cheese and fruit and they were absolutely lush,well worth the visit, in fact we joked we would come more. It's great bringing people together and just having a bit of fun.

As we sat around the small table we got on talking about all heading out on a biking adventure, biving under the stars somewhere. It was a unanimous decision that there has to be a fire this time around. I think both Wayne and Al are really looking forward to it, I know I am it will be great craic.

As time was getting on we thanked Al and Sarah for their generosity and got up to head to the car, handshakes exchanged and a few hugs for Sarah. I was really proud of wor Kyle as he thanked Al for sorting out some software for him and instead of shaking his hand gave him a proper hug... Nice touch, in that I feel I have helped bring him up at least partly right.

And that's about it until next time...Bye

Jason Lalla Highland 2014

Hi Guys

I wanted to share this amazing video of my friend Jason Lalla. Jason played a huge role in helping me first contact Brian Bartlett, the designer of the Bartlett Tendon. And well from there the rest is history. 

I remember thinking "wow" when I first contacted Jason. I sent one or two emails as I knew he was using one of Brian's prototype knees and my question was "how do I get one of those things". Jason replied immediately, saying something like call me at home in the evening and providing me with his home phone number. You have to remember Jason is out in the States and here's me in the little old UK. As I recall, that phone call lasted somewhere in the region of 45 minutes and I was blown away at just how friendly, helpful and kind Jason was.

Jason went on to explain that Brian had had to go into hospital for a revision on his residual limb and that at the time was going through a rough period what with feeling ill and rehabilitation. I remember Jason's exact words, "I've put a call into Brian, and he will contact you real soon". Each day I checked my email and about 2 weeks later there was a mail from Brian (who had now become like a superhero to me) I can remember the feeling, and it was just awesome.

You have to try and understand that as an amputee, the stuff you can do on a normal everyday prosthetic is very limited. What the Bartlett Tendon allows you to do just depends on your ability (as Jason demonstrates in his video)

I still look to people like Jason and Brian for inspiration, they are amazing people...

You can still fall off on a short ride out!

I've put in a few miles since the weekend, nothing out the ordinary of course. I did a very painful 34 miler with my mate John last Saturday, painful in that I had altered the whole set up of my leg and bike and I think I had just done too much all at once. John invited me to have a ride over Durham way so he could introduce me to his dad. John was telling me his dad is well into his photography, so asked me "bring your big camera so my dad can have a look at it". So on Saturday morning I packed my Pentax K30 and all it's lenses into my camera backpack and took it on a rare outing. I haven't used my Pentax all that much as I'm pretty useless with it for starters, haven't the patience to learn and boy is it heavy on a long trip. Anyhoo as John and I stopped at No Place for a quick snap I discovered "aww crap" I had forgotten to charge both of the batteries, the one in the camera and the spare I had in my bag. Never mind we managed to get a few snaps.

One pic before the battery died

 The K30 is not a top end model but hey it does the job, or should I say it would do the job if I took the time how to learn to use the bloody thing. John's dad isn't the first person to try to teach me how to fiddle with the dials and show me what is the best way to get good results. To be fair it's wasted on me as after buying my little Panasonic Lumix FT5 I don't see the point in having a big all singing all dancing camera. I  have received some great feedback from the few shots I did manage to get from my little Lumix, well that was before it was lost in a lake a fortnight ago Grrrrrr! So now I'm back to my small Canon SX200IS. A camera I absolutely adore, it's been through quite a bit with me and considering it's not dust or waterproof has lasted well.

I also had a 31 mile ride out on the loaner bike I'm using from Bike Swanky It's a De Rosa Idol and this was on Monday. I decided rather than stick with a really long pylon (the bit that goes from my knee down to my foot, which I had lengthened so as to help me become more efficient on my bike) that I would take out 30mm, leaving my prosthetic side roughly 12mm longer than my normal, good side. I have also fitted the dropper seat post from my NS Soda and this works at treat when I need to set off come to a stop. Starting and stopping can be the hardest bit for an amputee as it's real hard getting on or off the saddle when it's high and set at the right height for riding. Anyhoo Monday's ride was smashing, really enjoyed it and I felt quite comfortable on the bike. The bike is a tad small something I went to the bike fit for, so again money well spent. I'm now looking forward to getting my own De Rosa Idol come September in  a bigger size and well pleased the original colour, Blue and White should be available.

Today's ride was to be a short one with both John and Lee. I wanted to keep it relatively short as I didn't want to get sore as I'm taking part in my first triathlon on Saturday. The Arctic ONE Tri & Para-Tri Festival is at Dorney Lake,Eton, Berks. Tomorrow myself, Ern and my friends John and Ade will be travelling down, staying over the night then they will support me in my efforts.

So like I was saying today's ride we agreed would just be a short one. Lee suggested we maybe head out and do a few Geo-caches, he also had the idea of hiding one himself then logging it for other people to find. So we set off from Lee's in search of a good spot to hide a Geo-cache. We rode over towards the turbines on Wagtail lane. I remember as a youngster this road was never referred to as Wagtail Lane, No for us it was the "Lonley Road". From there it was off to one of our regular haunts and Chapman's Wells. And from there well I won't tell you otherwise it's pointless hiding a cache lol. As this was Lee's/ our first we decided to make it pretty easy. I went in search of a stone to hide the small box Lee had put some stuff in and Lee and John went about digging a small area to pop the container in. We all managed to get stung by nettles, a routine hazard in our neck of the woods. I always itch for days. I grabbed a few snaps and we headed off in search of a Cache pretty nearby. 

Lee Writing out Cache Name

 

A Clue

Discussing the dynamics of hiding a small square container...For fecks sake just hide it under a rock!

I told Lee £500 was far too much to leave in one container

This cache was said to be at Burnhope Pond. We all lifted our bike over the gate and stepped over the style and proceeded to follow Lee's Garmin, which instructed the way.

As we approached the edge of the field Lee said the clue was something about holly and a hole. I spotted a holly bush and we ventured over towards it. John stayed this side of the fence and Lee and I stepped over another tyle and begun searching on the other side. After a few moments John shouts "I've found it" to which Lee mutters something about a "basket" and words to the effect of "it's never me", this made me chuckle, here we are in our 40's and just like big kids. That said big kids having  fun.

As we headed on our merry way Lee spotted a really pretty horse, who had a gorgeous little foal with it. He got an apple out of his back pack and gave it to the horse, who appeared ever so friendly. The little foal was a bit shy but eventually came over to stand with it's mom and I caught a few snaps. They both had beautiful blue eyes.

Another cache full of errr...crap!

John the chief Cache finder, Lee "basket it's never me"

The Horse whisperer...No more like you bribed it with a Golden Delicious

Pretty horses

What a cute little guy

 Ok where to go, we decided to head down the Peth Bank, however turn off onto a piece of trail that would lead us down onto the Whitton Gilbert/ Lanchester Road. I had been down this trail with Lee a few weeks earlier and know it's canny rough. It's a pretty good downhill trail, however it's a bit sketchy as there is grass and weeds covering the trail in sections and like deep gulleys where rain has flown down the hill. The mud then hardens and leaves like deep rain water ways (hard to explain, hopefully you get the idea), put it this way a fat bike tyre just about sits nicely in one of these gulleys, thing is as you fly down the trail and Oh yes I was flying you get tram lined. And this is exactly what happened "Oh crap", moving at a rapid pace and wanting to go straight ahead, however the gulley twisted and turned and I got my front wheel stuck. All of a sudden "Wipe out". Next thing I know is I'm sliding to a halt lying on my good side as I go arse over tit. I'm pleased I wear a helmet as wow I didn't half bang me noggin. The impact was so hard my back wheel came out of my frame. I'm now nursing a very sore shoulder and hip. I have to say the ride up to that point was awesome I do like pushing myself, knowing that in reality I should really take more care. I guess sometimes as an amputee I just feel I have something to prove, even if it is to myself. I must have been going canny quick as it seemed ages before John and lee caught up, they didn't even see me take the tumble lol.

As we got onto the Lanchester Road we cycled along until we could cut through the Malton picnic area from there could get on to the Lanchester Way cycle path. As we approached Lanchester we had a bit of a group chat and chose to head back towards home, deciding to take in Lanchester Bank. Both John and lee had never ridden up it before and it's one of those local banks you really should do at some point. I have been up it numerous times now and have to say today on my Fat Bike, yes in granny gear it was pretty easy. I wonder if this is a sign of my fitness, or the knock on the head I had just experienced lol.

Once at the top of the bank Lee wanted to go look for one more Geo before we headed home. I'm not sure if Lee and John found it as I continued just plodding away up into Mordor as we approached home.

And that's it, another adventure over. Now sitting here realising that wow I'm staring to get real sore and stiff and thinking, this never used to happen when I was younger, boy I'm getting old.

Dark Side Of The Lens

I thought I'd share this small movie and pop it upon my blog. The movie itself I saw sometime ago on a friends blog. I watched it and needless to say it caught my imagination I found it very inspiring,the narration throughout the video is excellent. 

I think I will try and do this a lot more and share what I find interesting, hopefully allowing you to do the same. I mean I am not a surfer, however I can see the attraction. It's the raw power of nature and the very things around us that we take for granted.

Enjoy...

My first Bike Fit and WoW what and experience!

Really enjoyed my Bike Fitting sessions with Craig Stevenson... Awesome job Craig Thanks

      After having my amputation in the September of 2007 and then going on to learn to ride early in 2008 I always just figured like most amateur riders that a bike was a bike. Sure you have all the different varieties, you know ranging from road to mountain and whatever comes in between and that they more or less come in sizes from extra small up to extra large. I never really thought about having a bike fit, it was more or less a case of "Oh I'm around 6 feet tall, a Large should do". Almost all of my bikes have been bought on-line and even the ones that haven't I have never been fitted for. So really each of my bikes I have found to some extent I have just fitted to them, whether this meant changing stems, saddles, messing around with anything to make the bike more comfortable and then just basically just living with them.

Returning to BBC Radio Tees and sharing a small piece of whats going on in the life of Glenn with John Foster

Hi guys

I have managed to grab the small story I did with John Foster and popped it on here for anyone intereted who may have missed it...


  John Foster BBC Radio Tees 12.8.14

A mixed bag of great fun and total disaster at Druridge Bay

 

I was well impressed with Mr Hink's

During the week my friend Ade called down after I got in from work. He asked "how do you feel about going over to Ullswater" in the Lakes so that he could get a few shots of me practising my swimming and really just have a nice day out. My immediate reaction was "Err no". I went on to explain that as I didn't know Ullswater all that well, having only been there once before with Ade and his boys for a spot of canoeing, and  that I didn't feel comfortable heading over there and swimming without anyone else. I mean my swimming is ok, however I preferred to air on caution, so suggested we go to Druridge Bay instead. Although I have only been there once too, with my boss and friend Dan I knew I would feel a lot more relaxed there. So both Ade and I agreed on this and chose Saturday as the day to go. 

In the local rag

In order for me to help others, I must first help myself...

Of course, this also includes the support of so many kind people who have helped me from when I first became ill, right up to the present.

I am going to be honest and say I have found it really difficult asking people for donations to help me achieve my goal of running. It doesn't sit well with me, I much prefer to be giving my time and raising awareness for other people.

Many people I suppose will see my getting a running blade as "Just another hobby", or "why should he get all this attention and free stuff". I suppose I would answer that with "Yes I am very fortunate, however I have worked really hard to accomplish my goals" I have never once said "why did this happen to me". For me, it's just part of my life. Terrible stuff happens to people every day, I am one of the lucky ones who can still get out there and do what I want to do. In some cases it can be tough, real tough, as prosthetics are very expensive. I had for a long time to give up on the idea of ever being able to run, instead using a favourite saying of mine, which is "concentrate on the things you can do".

Anyhoo after having my first ever trip abroad last September and meeting my friend Shannon's prosthetist, Scott. I was advised to contact the Challenged Athletes Foundation, which is based in the US. I did this pretty much on my return, completing an on-line application form and asking both my boss at work Dan and my prosthetist over at Pace Rehabilitation Toby for references. I was blown away by the support I got from these two guys as they wrote absolutely fantastic references, so good in fact that when I read them back I thought "Wow who is this guy" (yeah I have a habit of being overly critical of myself and sometimes don't see what others see in me). It's an awesome feeling to know you have the backing of people you really admire and respect.

About a week after sending in my application, I got a mail back saying unfortunately the Challenged Athletes Foundation wouldn't be able to approve my application as they were not supporting International Athletes at this time. "Ahh well" I thought, at least I gave it a shot. I'll just concentrate on my riding. I'm a very lucky chap as I am sponsored on my Bartlett Tendon Knee and I also receive much appreciated and excellent care from Pace Rehab who have looked after me from very early on after my amputation.

Time passed by, probably 6 to 7 months, and I was booked in for an appointment to attend Pace's new satellite clinic right here in the North East in Newcastle. Toby sent me a mail to confirm my appointment, however he also asked "has CAF been in touch with you?" To which I answered "No". It was at this point Toby informed me I had been approved for a Ossur Flex Run blade, complete with Nike sole. Awesome!!! Obviously as Pace was already supporting me with what is essentially a £10K cycling limb, they couldn't then just give me the rest of the components to complete a running prosthesis. This is where the fund-raising would come into play. Yeah! I wasn't keen on the idea, however I knew I couldn't let the opportunity slip away without trying. So firstly, I had to convince myself. My way of thinking being like my opening statement "In order for me to help others I must first help myself".

Fund-raising, wow, how am I going to go about this? That's when Toby suggested contacting Arctic ONE. Well it was weird as actually Matt Kirby the founder and one of the trustees from Arctic ONE got in touch with me. Matt explained that he had been watching me for some time and was an avid reader of my blog. Matt thought we could help each other out. Arctic ONE would fund-raise on my behalf, and I could promote and attend Arctic ONE's amazingly organise events.  And this is how I have came to be entered in my first triathlon on the 23rd of August down in Eton in Berkshire at Dorney Lake.

My grant application runs out from CAF on the 31st of December and I need to raise roughly £8500 to get me up and running.

This is a huge challenge for me. I have only just got back to swimming after 20 years and as far as running goes, well I can't even jog at the moment in my ordinary everyday leg. I can't wait to learn to run and from there know that every step I take will be in getting someone else to where they want to be.

A huge thank you to Gavin and Tom for their newspaper report and images and allowing people to read a little about my story.

Thanks everyone for your support.

Article can be found here Consett and Stanley Advertiser

The Northern Echo