Motivation part 2…

What made me sign up for this challenge?  I have been reflecting and trying to work out what exactly made me decide to sign up to drag myself over 5000+ft of hills, over 25miles of country side.

For me, there’s two main reasons that prodded me into giving this a go.

You can take the girl out of Yorkshire…

Firstly, I am a Yorkshire lass, born and bred.  I grew up near Bradford, went to medical school in Sheffield, and only left Yorkshire when I came to live in County Durham, so I’ve hardly gone far!  I can well and truly claim to be a proper northerner.  So, for me, the Yorkshire Three Peaks is a true local challenge.  Although I am usually a runner, I also love walking in the countryside, and dabble in a bit of fell running, although I’ve never done a proper fell race – maybe a walking event is the first step in the right direction?

Our local hospice

Secondly, this event is a chance to support our local hospice, at St. Theresa’s.  I’ve been working as a doctor Darlington and the County Durham area since 2005, and I’ve been a Darlington GP since 2012.  Throughout that time, I’ve had many patients that I have looked after who have had care from the hospice.

In practice, when I first mention the possibility of getting the hospice team involved, patients often look terrified and some even decline it at first.  There is often the misconception that “going to the hospice” means that they are going die soon.  But the hospice is so much more than that, it is a place of support for people with all sorts of life-limiting conditions, and their families and carers too.

As a GP I have cared for many people with life-limiting conditions.  People who are coming towards the end of their life need more than just medicine and their physical health needs looking after, they also need emotional and spiritual care, social support and support for their family and carers too.  The GP’s role provides only a tiny fraction of this, and we rely on our skilled colleagues for everything else.

GPs are just human too

Whilst we are supposed to remain professionally detached, we are also just human.  It’s hard not to worry about patients, and there’s always some who stick in our minds.  For me, there’s an elderly gentleman with heart failure; a lady with breast cancer, with a young family; a lady with advanced COPD; another lady with ovarian cancer.  All of whom I worried about for one reason or another, but once they had support from the hospice, although from one point of view you might say nothing had changed, their diagnosis is still the same, but at the same time things were just that little bit better.

For me, when my patients have care and support from the hospice, it is a weight off my mind.  I know that my patients will be in the safest of hands.

And this is why I am so proud to work with the St T’s team, and am honoured to have the chance to take on this challenge in support of their work.