Social Entrepreneurs Ireland (SEI) runs an extraordinary competition to win funding and support over two years. I started to write this blog when I had reached the final 18 of the competition in 2011 and before I knew whether I would be in the last eight who are all guaranteed a prize. I began to write the day before I submitted my final documents; I chose that ...
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I seem to have lived many different lives. I have studied and worked in various countries. I was a university student, part- or full-time, for 12 years; I have had several careers, from lecturer to business consultant; I have been a girlfriend, a partner, a wife and a mother. As I moved through these different phases of my life, I simply adapted. I seemed to know how to adjust to each new situation, more ...
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I launched the Research & Hope website in February 2011. It is now three years later and I am working to improve and update the website. From the beginning I have had the same moral dilemma as I now face: do I hold fast to my ethical principles, or earn enough money to speed up the research and help more people?
My choice so far has been to stay with my principles and do without the ...
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For the first five years after Steve’s stroke I spent many waking hours sitting alone in front of my computer. Every time I sat down I knew that my research could help Steve but I didn’t know if anyone else would be interested in the website I was creating. So many elements were needed to create Research & Hope, from hours of web design, infinite reading lists and endless searching for ...
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In February 2011 I launched the Research & Hope website http://www.researchandhope.com/ the following year I founded Neruo Hero http://www.neurohero.com/. Both events were accompanied by a great deal of interest from the media. I have always hidden from cameras; as a consequence, there are very few family photos that include me. Now I find myself frequently posing for the press and speaking on the radio.
Remembering the time…
I remember the first time I was invited to appear ...
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I have always been a perfectionist. For many years, it was a constant struggle to be content with anything, from my academic writings to my skill as a pool player. However, many years of karate have taught me that perfection is infinitely beyond my grasp.
Just eight years after I began practicing karate I was sitting with a group of senior students as they told their epic tales of battles fought, injuries sustained and the weird and ...
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When I thought about launching my first project the Research & Hope website I envisaged all kinds of potential obstacles. Could I complete the research? Would anyone be interested? Would the medical establishment recognise my work? As it turned out, the answers were all positive. I was able to research 24 treatments for stroke that might be helpful in addition to the standard medical approach. The feedback was far better than I could have imagined and I am ...
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One of the big questions in the philosophy of religion is this: ‘If the Almighty is all good, then why is there evil in the world?’ There are many possible answers, but one view states that terrible situations produce good deeds and actions. I have debated this many times over the years but my experiences since June 2006 have enabled me to better understand this answer. I have ...
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In January of 2010, as I trawled through the Internet, I came across a research paper on a drug called L-dopa. It was already a well-known treatment for Parkinson’s disease but it was now being tested for stroke. The researchers’ preliminary results looked encouraging, so I printed out the paper and brought it to one of Steve’s doctors.
We have been blessed with the most wonderful doctors over the years, from our GP to ...
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As I worked my way through Google’s search listings, clicking on entry after entry that had ‘stroke’ in the title, the same advertisement kept popping up. I had trained myself not to see the ads but for some reason, I clicked on this one. I started reading about stem cell replacement therapy that used your own cells. I could feel my heart beating faster.
Two years of research
I phoned the number listed and spent half an hour quizzing ...
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