Eric Martyn

Leading spokesperson on blood cancer in liverpool highlights unique patient physician conference

Lunya’s Elaine Kinsella says more awareness needed to highlight support available as Blood Cancer Awareness Month approaches

A Liverpool businesswoman and leading spokesperson in the fight against blood cancer on Merseyside is calling for more awareness to highlight the support available for patients.

Co-owner of acclaimed Liverpool restaurant & deli business, Lunya, Elaine Kinsella was diagnosed in 2021 with the condition of which there are more than 150 types. She is also vice-chair of a local charity, The Bloom Appeal – Merseyside Against Blood Cancer (MABC), which is dedicated to supporting all those individuals affected.

Now in remission with Multiple Myeloma, Elaine (on right of picture) is co-hosting alongside colleagues and fellow trustees, a Patient-Physician Conference on November 2nd, which will take place at Liverpool’s  Holiday Inn, on Lime Street.

As Blood Cancer Awareness Month begins in September, Elaine said: “The conference aims to bring together patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals, and researchers to foster meaningful dialogue and collaboration. By uniting these communities, Merseyside Against Blood Cancer seeks to provide patients with critical insights into the latest treatment options, innovative research, and supportive care strategies, while also offering physicians a unique opportunity to better understand the lived experiences of those affected by blood cancer.”

Highlights of the Conference Include:

1)Expert Panels and Keynote Speakers: Including Dr Liz Bishop, CEO Clatterbridge Cancer Centre and Prof Sonia Rocha, Executive Dean, University of Liverpool.

2) Oncologists, haematologists, and researchers will share cutting-edge developments in blood cancer treatment and care.

3) Patient Stories: Led by local broadcaster, Roger Phillips, patients will be given a platform to share their journeys, providing invaluable perspectives on the emotional and physical challenges of living with blood cancer.

4) Workshops: Attendees will participate in workshops designed to educate and empower, covering topics including, transplants, CAR -T and clinical trials. Attendees will have a clearer understanding of treatment options, community support and breakthroughs in research.

5) Q&A Sessions: Open forums where patients can directly engage with medical experts, ensuring their concerns and questions are addressed in real-time.

Elaine added: “It will be quite an emotional day for me and I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet some wonderful people through Lunya, which I co-own with my husband Peter, and its through the business that I met customer Abi Pointing, chair of MABC.

“Abi, who also had blood cancer, told us about her role and asked if we could add a pound to each bill in future. We agreed and Lunya has since raised much needed funds for both MABC and other nationally based blood cancer charities.”

Professor Joe Slupsky and Professor Nagesh Kalakonda from the University of Liverpool and The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre will both be at the event, with the latter commenting:

“The Patient-Physician Conference is open to all patients, caregivers, and medical professionals. Merseyside Against Blood Cancer is dedicated to supporting individuals and families affected by blood cancer. Through patient support, research and education, Merseyside Against Blood Cancer strives to improve the quality of life and outcomes for those living with blood cancer.”

Issued on behalf of The Bloom Appeal – Merseyside Against Blood Cancer by The Ubiquity Collective.

Further information is available from Joel Jelen on 07710 436 125.

August 2024

Gala dinner to celebrate 20 years of daisy inclusive uk

Daisy Inclusive UK are celebrating their 20th anniversary with a charity gala dinner on Saturday October 19 at The Delta Hotel in Liverpool.

The award-winning charity, spearheaded by CEO Dave Kelly, helps people with disabilities across the spectrum as well as providing training for organisations to understand and support those with disabilities.

Helping vulnerable people and their families to reach their true potential, Dave set-up the Everton-based charity back in 2004, with the aim of creating a safe environment for beneficiaries to take part in sports and other activities.

Tickets are still available for the event, which includes a glass of fizz on arrival, a three-course dinner, a DJ playing party anthems long into the night as well as access to a private bar.

An auction and a raffle will round off the evening to raise valuable funds for Daisy Inclusive UK as the charity looks to fund the various inspiring programmes that they run.

“Our Charity Ball is a fantastic platform for us to celebrate the impact that we have had on the lives of disabled people and their families over the last two decades,” said Dave, who went blind himself at the age of 30.

“I’m proud of the work that we have done and continue to do, with a sharp focus on improving the lives of our beneficiaries.

“This is an exciting time for Daisy Inclusive UK, and we would love to share this celebration with many of our funders, who have supported us incredibly over the past 20 years.

“It is also a great opportunity for us to engage with business leaders in the local area, who perhaps don’t know who we are, and we would love to explain more about the Daisy story.”

Tickets for the event are priced at £45 or just £450 per table and can be purchased by contacting [email protected].

 

Mib awards 2024 – open for entries

Organisers of the Merseyside Independent Business Awards (MIBs) are inviting entries ahead of the awards ceremony in October.

Now in their 10th year, the 2024 Merseyside Independent Business (MIB) awards ceremony will take place on 17th October, at the stunning Rum Warehouse, Titanic Hotel, Liverpool, and entries are open until August.

This year’s event includes a new category for Children-Focussed Business of the Year. Sponsored by One Knowsley, the new award aims to recognise businesses in a range of sectors, including childcare providers, activity clubs, visitor attractions and retailers. Other categories include Digital & Technology, Professional Services, Trades & Manufacturing and Employer of the Year. One of the individual category winners will also claim the overall title of Merseyside Independent Business of the Year, which was won last year by Mowgli.

Businesses wishing to enter or to nominate their peers are able to do so via a recorded video submission, while a more traditional online nomination form is also available.

Founded and hosted by Morecrofts Solicitors in 2013 to celebrate the firm being 200 years old and remaining independent, the Awards were designed to platform and celebrate independent businesses, their owners and those who support them.

Once again the MIB awards is headline sponsored by Liverpool BID Company, and Bill Addy, chief executive of Liverpool BID Company, said: “The fact that the MIB Awards has endured and thrived to reach its tenth event signifies the important role it plays in recognising the work of the local independent business community. We are thrilled to continue our long-term support of the awards and it will be a pleasure to join our region’s business owners and their inspirational teams at the awards ceremony in October.”

Alison Lobb, managing partner at Morecrofts Solicitors, said: “When we first devised the MIBs, we wanted to highlight the enormous and irreplaceable contribution that our independent sector makes to the city region economy. It is incredible to think that we are now approaching our tenth event, despite a two-year hiatus caused by the pandemic, and the awards are arguably more relevant and necessary than ever before. Our judging panels of local business leaders take real joy in hearing about all of the various success stories happening across our SME community and we look forward to having received all nominations by the closing date.”

 

To enter the Merseyside Independent Business Awards 2024 or for further information, visit www.mibawards.co.uk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Planet liverpool catches up with legendary disability campaigner

Tom Dowling campaigns tirelessly for the disability community at large and founded online and print media format, the All Together Now news network two decades ago.

We caught up with Tom recently to get his reflections on the network completing a 20 year milestone…

What have been your biggest challenges in the 20 years to date?

To survive! And dealing with frustration. Over the past decade loads of newspapers all over the country have folded and gone online. Production-wise it’s far cheaper, but there’s still the problem of making it pay. The problem we’ve got is if we go down that route, we are turning our backs on people who just can’t move forward with technology.

Across the Liverpool City Region and Cheshire, 22% of the population are digitally excluded. That accounts for half a million people across Merseyside and Cheshire, most of whom are disabled or over 60. Despite all the equality laws that have been around for years, these people face discrimination in virtually all areas in life – housing, education, employment and accessing vital information that would help them.

I understand the financial pressures facing the LCR, councils and NHS bodies, and why they are going down the digital route, but they don’t seem to be coming up with ways to reach all those who are not, and will never be, online. It’s the same story all over the country. But here on Merseyside, we’ve a solution. With All Together NOW! we’ve a newspaper that’s reaching tens of thousands of people who are digitally excluded. It’s FREE and it’s run by a charity. There are so many plusses.

Ten years ago, health bosses Gideon Ben-Tovim and Carole Hill saw all this and partnered with us by talking a regular double page spread in every issue. This much-needed funding kept the wolves at bay. However, in 2016 health budgets were suddenly slashed by Government, and we’ve struggled ever since.

All Together NOW! is another Liverpool first – the only paper of its kind in the UK, and probably the world. My real fear is, unless we get more financial support, everything could crash. And that would be a tragedy for everyone.

What skillsets have you had to acquire to make it through?

Resilience, I guess . . . and patience. Rome wasn’t built in a day, as they say. As a kid in inner city Liverpool in the early 60s, things were quite tough. As one of four football-mad boys, there was no spare cash to pay for footie boots or balls. If you wanted something you had find ways to fund it. Newspaper rounds, errand boy, collecting jam jars for the rag and bone man, and even setting up my own car washing business at 12. You quickly learned how to make a few quid. Those days have helped me enormously.

My dad always said he was never particularly good at anything. It’s in the genes. But I’ve never lacked enthusiasm, and I’ve found that if you have that trait then others who have those extra skills just might be there to help you. This is exactly what’s happened to me throughout my life. Much to my regret, I didn’t make the grade as a footballer and left school with just four GCEs – English not included.

Amazingly, the editor of the Ellesmere Port Pioneer gave me a job. It was the same a few years later when the Echo boss gave me a job. Incredible. I was the first person in a wheelchair they’d employed. Along the way I’ve learned a bit about putting a newspaper together – especially the importance of grabbing people’s attention, and keeping it. Good journalism is not just about the quality of writing. It’s about trying to ensure the work is actually read by the intended market.

When I left the Echo in 2004 to set up the All Together NOW! charity I was able to use all that experience. Ironically, our initial funding came from the old North West regional development agency to create a website for disabled people. That money enabled us to set up shop, and I knew I could use all the material from our website to create a brand new newspaper. Of course, there’s more to the job than just looking after the journalism.

Advertising, distribution, IT, social media, recruitment, fundraising, bid writing, governance – the list is endless. I couldn’t have done it alone. My old mate at the Echo, the late Chris Groves, was my right hand. He knew lots of stuff that I didn’t and became the perfect ambassador. Between us, and help from a few other key players like Ken Almond and Gerry Corner, also ex-Echo, we’ve managed to stay afloat. But it all comes down to money. Without it, we can’t continue.

What are your hopes for the next year?

Staying healthy . . . and finding the money to keep going. I’m thinking about it all the time. Luckily, the support we’ve had from people like Steve Morgan (ex-Redrow), Peter Johnson (ex-Everton/Tranmere and Park Group owner) and long-standing partner United Utilities has helped to keep us going.

Over the years, we’ve also received fantastic donations from readers and charitable trusts including the John Moores Foundation, Duchy of Lancaster Benevolent Fund, Eleanor Rathbone Trust, West Derby Wastelands, and Geoffrey and Pauline Martin Trust. We’re immensely grateful. But we need more, and what we’re asking is not a lot in the grand scheme of things.

Up until this year, we have been able to publish 50,000 copies six times a year, reaching about 200,00 people. To run the complete operation only costs about £150K a year, though we are currently running on a shoestring – about half that! If we can pull in a few more partners this year, we’ll have a fighting chance.

If the worst happens and the paper closes, I’m pretty sure that another one will eventually have to be set up to help and inform all those not using the internet – but that will cost the earth. The frustration is that we’ve already got the answer. We just need more funding.

How do you plan to keep growing and maintaining your passion?

It’s 50 years since I was shot and paralysed. In the time it takes a bullet to travel a few yards, my 20-year-old life fell apart. It could have ended there and then on the roadside of an Iranian highway. But I’ve been blessed with support, support that’s enabled me to strive and achieve things that I – and probably lots of others too – never thought possible.

Apart from the commercial support, there’s also been widespread recognition, lots of awards and, best of all, the hundreds of heartfelt comments from readers. The late Sir Bert Massie, the UK’s leading disability rights campaigner, said: “All Together NOW! is much more than a newspaper. It is the key to independence.”

The late Gerry Marsden, Ian St John, Roger Hunt, and Sir Ken Dodd all loved the newspaper – Lady Anne Dodd recently sent us a generous donation. Radio broadcaster Roger Philips is also a big fan, as is Sue Weir (Medicash). A few years ago, Mike McCartney became our first patron. Mike knows all about the affects that disability brings to families. His own son, Sonny, had his leg amputated following a motorbike accident. Mike’s new mantra is “Never ever give up. There’s always light at the end of the tunnel.”

After 20 years hard graft, All Together NOW! has become a lifeline, a beacon of hope to huge numbers of people who are increasingly finding themselves cut off from the rest of society . . . and all because they are not able to keep up with technology.

I’m as determined as ever to find ways of keeping the paper alive. Fortunately, our small team all feel the same way. We’ve just got to keep at it and keep everything crossed. There’s a magnificent newspaper at stake.

https://www.alltogethernow.org.uk/tag/tom-dowling/

 

Care merseyside’s laugh for life comedy showcase is a big success

We attended the ‘Laugh For Life Comedy’ Stand-Up Showcase at the Hot Water Comedy Club and it was belly laughs all evening!

Eight brave participants took advantage of a brilliant course organised by Care Merseyside which was delivered under the remit of Social Prescribing by comedian and mental wellbeing advocate Henry Churney.

Henry told us afterwards that the night couldn’t have gone any better.

He said: “Everybody was fantastic! To see the people I have worked with fulfil their aspiration to be a stand-up comedian even if it is only for one time has brought them and me a lot of joy.”

The Care Merseyside course aimed to support people with their health via non-medical holistic intervention using the medium of comedy to increase confidence and mental wellbeing.

Henry added: “The showcase was a result of everyone completing a 5-week programme plus we included some special comedic guests. There’s no doubt that all the participants set a precedent for future courses like this on Merseyside.

“The course members and their families’ feedback was testimony to a great night. People were howling with laughter!

“I’d just like to thank Cathy at Care Merseyside for giving me an opportunity to work with such a lovely group of people with so many memories made for everyone who has contributed.”

www.caremerseyside.org.uk

www.cuecomedy.co.uk

Photos by Angus.

Jazz funk founding fathers in birkenhead next month

Jazz Funk icons The Headhunters who have influenced every decade of music since their sound was first heard in the seventies are making a very rare appearance in the UK next month.

The legendary jazz-funk ensemble co-led by percussionist Bill Summers and drummer Mike Clark with NEA Jazz Master Donald Harrison on alto saxophone, were originally formed around Herbie Hancock‘s classic recordings, Head Hunters, in 1973 and Thrust in 1974 and, fortunately for followers of My Planet Liverpool magazine, they are embarking on a European tour from July 21-28, which includes performances at the Bologna Jazz Festival, two nights at the London’s Ronnie Scott’s and a night at the Future Yard, Birkenhead, on the 25th July.

Few bands can boast a history as fortuitous and storied as The Headhunters. What each member brings to the table forged a history that most bands can only dream of. Their blend of jazz with funk and rock would go on to sell over a million albums worldwide, while the band’s legacy would inspire musicians of every genre for years to come, be sampled by hundreds of hip-hop artists throughout the ’80s and ’90s, and influence countless musicians’ playing today.

The Headhunters’ impact remains a global phenomenon, and their time with Hancock proved to be a life changing experience.

The band has released 8 more albums stepping out on their own, sans Hancock’s involvement, starting with Survival of the Fittest in 1975 and on Straight from the Gate in 1977 and most recently Speakers In the House in 2022 and Live From Brooklyn Bowl in 2023.

“What Bill and I and The Headhunters do is experience the moment and explore. We’re not in a gym, this isn’t a competition. This is art. The Headhunters is an act of passion, of love for humanity, and for our planet,” says Mike Clark.

The current band consists of a top notch quintet with Clark, Summers and Harrison joined by bassist Chris Severin and pianist Kyle Roussel. The band is poised for more success throughout 2024, having recorded a new album and an accompanying feature length documentary at the legendary Hyde Street Studios for release in October.

Bill Summers summed up their work beautifully: “We live this every day. We have some secrets to give to the youth of the world. We’re not musicians, we are physicians. We heal people.”

Tickets can be purchased here: https://www.ents24.com/birkenhead-events/future-yard/the-headhunters/7080990

 

Breathing: parents need to monitor mouth breathing in kids

“Adverse effects on facial growth and physiological health can be dramatic if  breathing dysfunction untreated.”

Whilst the trend for breathwork is on the increase, breath re-educator Joel Jelen spends a great deal of his working life sharing how many health care professionals in the UK are unaware of the negative impact of upper airway obstruction and mouth breathing on normal facial growth and our physiological health.

Ultimately, Jelen is talking about mouth breathing here amongst children and his view is supported by the likes of eminent physicians including Dr. Yosh Jefferson.

He produced a paper entitled Mouth breathing: adverse effects on facial growth, health, academics, and behaviour and to Jelen, the symptoms are all too familiar.

In it, Jefferson notes how children whose mouth breathing is untreated may develop long, narrow faces, narrow mouths, high palates, and dental malocclusion.

Jelen realised he was a mouth breather at an early age, but his family doctors overlooked the condition.

After corrective surgery for a deviated septum in the early eighties, Jelen’s related over breathing symptoms and quest to meet an appropriate doctor continued until he met Dr Len McEwan in 1995 who Jelen says “changed my life.”

“I was approaching 30 then but still determined! And when I met Dr McEwan, he proved to be a revelation. He was dubbed the founding father of hyperventilation syndrome, something I recognised I suffered from as a kid.”

Jefferson echoes much of what McEwan was telling private clients in the nineties.

“Mouth breathing children sleep poorly at night owing to obstructed airways that can affect their growth and academic performance. Often, many are misdiagnosed with ADHD.

Nose breathing is the only way to breathe

 

 

 

Jelen continued: “I remember what Dr McEwan said about the importance of early intervention where possible and again Jefferson emphasises this.”

He added: “It is important for the entire health care community (including general and paediatric dentists) to screen and diagnose for mouth breathing in adults and in children as young as 5 years of age. If mouth breathing is treated early, its negative effect on facial and dental development and the medical and social problems associated with it can be reduced or averted”.

In his personal wellbeing journey and some 20 years later, Jelen joined the now army of followers that Patrick McKeown enjoys, linking up with him for a week in 2016. As a result, he became a Certified Breath Re-Educator and Fellow of Buteyko Professionals International.

Kids mouth breathing in their sleep becomes habitual

“Patrick is what I would term “ferociously holistic. He has the same outlook that Dr. McEwan had and with the same determination to help the public become aware of what is, in essence, a hidden epidemic of dysfunctional breathing.

“He inspired me to publish my first book recently too called ‘Why Does Daddy Breathe Funny’ told through the eyes of Esther. In precociously pointing out her daddy’s (and mummy’s) breathing issues, Esther then discovers that she too hyperventilates, and mouth breathes.”

Jelen maintains that pointing out those who mouth breathe and its effects on childhood development is nothing new.

“I learnt from Patrick’s Buteyko Clinic that an article was published in 1909 called The Dental Cosmos in which the writer described how mouth breathing affects the development of the face and skull. Children who mouth-breathe, the author explained, are often misinterpreted as being inattentive in class due to their ‘glazed’ expressions. The fact is, there is significant scientific evidence that mouth breathing can lead to poorly developed airways, contributing to a lifelong habit of poor breathing patterns.

“Patrick will tell you that there is also plenty of evidence that mouth breathing causes learning difficulties.”

But what causes someone to mouth breathe?

“Mouth breathing in children is generally caused by some sort of obstruction in the airways or by narrow airways and then it becomes habitual,” says Jelen.

“I’ve seen enough toddlers with untreated swollen adenoids that can lead to long term abnormalities in facial growth.

“But there’s also a multitude of factors that contribute to mouth breathing including asthma, thumb sucking, a high narrow arch (palate), tongue and lip-tie.

“Factors can be environmental too with central heating in homes often exacerbating symptoms of children mouth breathing.”

Symptoms of long term mouth breathing

Whilst many of us are complaining about another below par summer in the UK, some of those same people will be thankful given how ‘allergic rhinitis’ rears its ugly head in the form of hay fever at this time of year.

About 40 percent of children are affected by rhinitis with symptoms including nasal discharge, sneezing, blocked nose, palate itching, mood swings and tiredness.

“These are common amongst children who mouth-breathe and can be relieved by learning to breathe through the nose,” insists McKeown.

Jelen concludes: “One of the key tasks for parents is to monitor their child in two different scenarios…at sleep and during bouts of concentration. If they are mouth breathing extensively in either, seek expert help.”

Joel Jelen is the founder of Sniff Sigh Yawn which helps companies with breathwork-led workplace performance programmes alongside his team. He also delivers events to community organisations and works with private clients to help share the message of breathing better for vitality.

Want to learn how to get your children and teenagers to stop mouth breathing?

Sniffsighyawn.com

Buteykoclinic.com

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Does-Daddy-Breathe-Funny/dp/B0CCZZX2XL

Jelen’s breathing book has been a hit amongst nurseries, schools and colleges alike

References:

Mouth breathing and facial growth:

Jefferson Y. Mouth breathing: adverse effects on facial growth, health, academics, and behaviour. Gen Dent. 2010 Jan-Feb;58(1):18-25; quiz 26-7, 79-80.

Child Facial Development:

DeLong, G.F. Smith, John. “Habitual Mouth-Breathing and Consequent Malocclusion of the teeth.” The Dental cosmos; a monthly record of dental science

Narrow palate effects:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9922614/

Allergic Rhinitis and ADHD:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-28702-5

Mouth breathing & academia: www.researchgate.net/publication/285907265_The_influence_of_mouth_breathing_on_reading_and_writing_learning_in_preschool_children

Swollen Adenoids:

Eom, Tae-Hoon, Eun-Sil Jang, Young-Hoon Kim, Seung-Yun Chung, and In-Goo Lee. “Articulation error of children with adenoid hypertrophy.” Korean journal of paediatrics

 

 

A heartfelt thank you to liverpool heartbeat founder

Founded by Darcy Melia just over 9 months ago Teen Soul Sisters provides a safe space for young girls to come together. It keeps them off the streets and away from crime. These girls are young women who have experienced self-harm, eating disorders, being overlooked, sexual exploitation, suicidal ideation, domestic violence, and living in dysfunctional homes.

 Following a day out on 8th June at Ninja Warrior Adventure Park UK (Liverpool), Darcy and members of the Teen Soul Sisters wish to publicly thank Robin Baynes MBE, founder of Liverpool Heartbeat, for his providing of a generous donation that helped Darcy to arrange the full day out.

Darcy says, “We would like to express our heartfelt thanks and gratitude to Mr. Robin Baynes OBE of Liverpool Heartbeat Foundation for the generous donation of £1,000 to Teen Soul Sisters. This contribution enabled 20 of our young girls to experience the joys of the Ninja Warrior UK Adventure Park (Liverpool), which is located on the New Mersey Retail Park, Speke. Robin’s gift gave all the girls an opportunity they might never have had without such support. It also helped purchase some branded tee shirts so we were able to be a team and show others who we are and what it is that we stand for. It was an amazing day for all the young teenage girls who participated. They had the chance to bond, challenge themselves, and create wonderful memories along with enjoying tasty some pizza and drinks.

Robin’s support has made a significant impact on their lives, providing them with an unforgettable experience that promotes confidence, resilience, and joy. They were all shattered and shared all their photos of their special Teensouls day on social media.

Thank you, Mr. Baynes, for your generosity and for believing in the mission of Teen Soul Sisters. Your support is invaluable, and we are deeply appreciative.”

Instagram:: teen_soulsisters

www.liverpoolheartbeat.co.uk

 

 

June 2024