Life's Journey

  History plays a role in so much of life today, but who would have thought that sufferings of one man 110 years ago would have played a part in what has become an important part of caring for folks today. In 1911, a young man named Douglas Macmillan watched his father die of cancer. His father's pain and suffering moved Douglas so much, he founded the Society for the Prevention and Relief of Cancer.  Douglas wanted advice and information to be provided to all people with cancer, homes for patients at low or no cost, and voluntary nurses to attend to patients in their own homes. So how does that affect us today? Many of us know someone who has suffered from cancer. My own father died of cancer in 1977. He died one month from the diagnosis. Where do people seek support? For many its in those circumstances that the role of MacMillan nurses is discovered. Today much of Douglas's legacy lives on. They have continually adapted the support offered to ensure it’s right for peopl...

 "Hart to Hart" was a TV series that many of us enjoyed watching between 1979 to 1984. The series majored on a married couple by the name of Hart who travelled the world as amateur detectives solving crimes wherever they went. However, the topic that comes to my mind this week is not about a RV series, nor anything fictional, but something that we all carry with us wherever we go. The heart! It is a major item that keeps our lives running as it pumps the blood around our body. What happens, however, when the heart runs into trouble? Who has the heart to prepare to meet the needs of another persons heart at such a time as this? Restart a Heart is held every October, where thousands of people across the UK, and many more worldwide, come together to increase public awareness of cardiac arrests and increase the number of people trained in life saving CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and defibrillator use.   The initiative is led by  Resuscitation Council UK ...

  President Ronald Reagan was once challenged by a college student who said it was impossible for Ronald Reagan’s generation to understand his. “You grew up in a different world,” the student said. “Today we have television, jet planes, space travel, nuclear energy, computers. . .” Taking advantage of a pause in the student’s litany, Ronald Reagan said, “You’re right. We didn’t have those things when we were young. We invented them.” Nancy Reagan, My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan (Random House)   In the political world there can be so much that is challenging that we miss what are the real issues of the day. We are in the midst of the party conference season in the UK which gives the opportunity for politicians to make the headlines, but not always for the right reasons. Sadly we have had a senior politician in one party giving time to name calling those of the other party. The response has been for a senior politician of the other party suggesting that the name caller mus...