Flying Friday

When I was around nine I had the chance to fly in helicopter with the now defunct charity called Airborne which was run by Mr Noel Edmunds. I absolutely LOVED it, flying is something I've always been keen on and seeing Wales from the air was awesome. Despite having DMD I have been blessed with amazing experiences all through my life, it's not all muscle loss and pain but sometimes pure JOY!

Extract:
...The sights were amazing we could see rolling green hills and the whole of Wales in the distance. We headed over the old Severn Bridge, which was glinting brightly in
the strong sunshine, like a sleeping grey giant. It was all over so fast, such an anti-climax; I could have hovered up there for hours! A mere ten minutes later we were slowly touching down in the field. I am very grateful to Noel and Airborne; that very day sparked an interest in everything that flies...

Find out what else happened during my flight which could be described as slightly comical or slighty scary but I'll leave that up to you! You can buy my book here; http://duchennemen.net16.net/buymybook.html



Foreword

I’m Ian Griffiths from South Wales. This book is a story of my life so far up to the age of twenty five years. I live with and suffer from the ill effects of DMD which stands for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. It is a severe muscle wasting disease and a life limiting terminal illness. It won’t kill you in six months in the traditional sense of ‘terminal’, but it’s far crueller than that, it steals every muscle in your body first and then kills you, anywhere up to the age of thirty. There have been cases of men living past that into their forties and fifties but only with drastic interventions such as ventilators and tracheotomies, more on this can be found by reading on.
I hope to cover a few things in this book, from a history of my childhood years to a more detailed history from sixteen years onwards and finally onto my current problems and triumphs. At times things I write may make you smile or may make you pause and think about the seriousness of life with this devastating disease. I really hope there will be a cure but currently for us supposedly ‘older’ guys with DMD (over twenty one), there seems very little hope. If I don’t see a cure in my lifetime, I hope my campaigning helps in some way bring it about for future generations, so another child won’t have to see their body wither and die before their time.