I've been asked quite a lot recently about how the Rally2Raise concept came about, well, sit back, get a cuppa and I'll tell you a little story...
As you're hopefully aware by now we are raising money for three charities, nystagmus, cancer research and multiple sclerosis (MS). At the Scottish rally in "summer" 2011 I discovered that a good friend of Barry and myself had pancreatic cancer. It was a bit of a shock as he's very young and works outdoors in a profession that keeps him physically fit.
On the very long truck journey from Dumfries to home near Aberdeen I started to think. I couldn't use my medical skills to help, except offer general advice as a friend and I hated that feeling. I remember that Jemma Bellingham and myself did a very successful campaign in 2007 to raise money for cancer research so I considered doing the exact same again but figured so many people followed suit that the rally family would probably be bored of that now. As I sat looking out of the window I started to form a plan. What am I good at? Baking, being loud, laughing, speaking to folk... How about making it a year long campaign with a logo and loads of events but not just in aid of cancer research?
I had an idea of a two car team, one with a novice driver (me) with a co-driver who's never even sat in a rally car and knows nothing about it. The other an experienced driver with a celebrity co-driver. Again, inexperienced probably. The plan being to work towards competing on the Scottish rally in 2012. Now, the first part is happening, I have a rally car and Katherine Begg, rally novice, is co-driving. The celeb co-driver is actually under discussion, along with the experienced FEMALE driver. Watch this space!
When I approached Katherine with the idea I had only decided on cancer research and needed inspiration so she suggested the MS Society as her mum had passed away far too young from the condition, that was a no brainer, absolutely yes!
My baby had recently been diagnosed with nystagmus so I looked into charities and discovered the brilliant Nystagmus Network. A very worthy cause, helping the sufferers of this often debilitating condition, although my son’s does not require glasses, it can be so bad that people are registered blind. Most sufferers never drive. The eyes move involuntarily from side to side, up and down and it can be caused by a number of things such as injury, disease and idiopathic nystagmus which basically means they have no clue how it started but there’s no sinister reason for it. My son will be monitored until he stops developing, he has been through many tests and thankfully he has idiopathic nystagmus. I want to raise money to not only help sufferers but allow more research to be done as there have been very few advances in treatment since my dad was diagnosed with the condition as a child.
The postnatal depression awareness part of Rally2Raise is to help erase the stigma attached to it and help women realise they're not a failure, it's very common, more common than is known. It's the same as any disease that needs simple treatment to be cured. And it most certainly can be cured. I suffered quite badly after my son arrived in the world and made the decision immediately to let everyone know. I wasn't ashamed, it wasn't a dirty secret, my hormones were all over the place and all I had to do to cure it was take one pill per day. Ok, at first I felt a bit shattered but the improvement was more or less immediate, although it can take up to two weeks to work. Health visitors are there to help, hiding it won't do ladies any favours - that can lead to future issues that could take longer to sort out. I felt unable to cope at first but now realise this was the "depression".
I do think if the name was changed to postnatal syndrome or similar then the stigma would be eradicated. Unfortunately, despite a lot of searching, we were unable to find a national charity to support but, I didn't want to leave it out as I think if we can help just one person realise they have it and they're not on their own and see their GP, we've done our job.
So there you go, that’s the reason for Rally2Raise. Please support us!
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