Factor 9 - pledge now to take this play to the Edinburgh Fringe

I am writing this post to ask for your help with the attempt to get an incredible piece of work shown at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival.  

A playwright called Hamish MacDonald has written a play called Factor 9 based on the contaminated blood tragedy whereby thousands of haemophiliacs and those with other bleeding disorders were infected with contaminated blood products.  The work is inspired by my friend Bruce Norval, a haemophiliac contaminated with hepatitis C, as I was.  The play premiered in Sweden in March and has so far toured Scandinavia and Wales.  

Below is feedback from an audience member:
"Two actors in front of a smart and really stylish set deliver a tumultuous story... They take us under the skin of two afflicted individuals. And their hunt for answers soon develops into a heartrending sort of crime story... Above all, Factor 9 deals with the intricate connection between cold medical research and economics that in the end reflects how we as society view our sick. And it is an horrific mirror image."   

There is a Kickstarter campaign to fund putting the play on at the Edinburgh Fringe, and it has until the morning of Friday 9 May to raise £16,000 in pledges to take the play to the festival and get it and our campaign vital publicity.  As of today a total of £13,865 has been pledged with 11 days to go and as we are so close to reaching the goal, I am appealing to you to help with the final push.

This link will give you more information and is where you pledge:

Kickstarter - Factor 9

As you know the contaminated blood campaign has been on-going for many years with various anti-climactic moments along the way.  The Penrose Inquiry is currently preparing to report: this is a Scottish government funded inquiry which has considered the subject from a Scottish perspective.  A lot of our hopes are riding on this as a way to shame the UK government into acting - dependent on the results of course.  The inquiry cannot unfortunately assign blame, nor can it enforce action but we are hoping that the evidence it has uncovered will go a long way to helping us achieve a final resolution.  We wait and see.  

Factor 9 was recently featured on Scottish TV News:

STV News Aberdeen

Getting the play performed at Edinburgh will mean mainstream press coverage and raised awareness and this is perfect timing given the imminent Penrose Inquiry report.  Any money you are able to pledge will not be collected until the total is reached.  I have donated what I can and I am asking if you have any spare funds to help towards getting this play into the public eye, and you feel it is a worthy cause, please make a pledge asap. There is a minimum pledge of £1 and, as the saying goes, every little helps.  

I personally would love to see this play, especially if it is on such a world stage as the Fringe.

Thank you to those who have already pledged. 

Do ask, if you have any questions...

World Haemophilia Day 2014

Hello there and happy World Haemophilia Day!

Whether you're a bleeder or a clotter you may be interested to see this video which I made last week of me having one of my regular clotting factor injections.  As a severe bleeder with type 3 von Willebrand I learned to self-infuse factor 8 aged 14 (26 years ago now) and it revolutionised my life.  I am lucky to find injecting relatively straightforward, most of the time.

I was intending to re-record this today, wearing red, for World Haemophilia Day but instead I'm taking my dad out for a birthday lunch as he was 75 yesterday, so you're gonna see my trial run which I figure is good enough.  Please bear with my efforts as it's the first video of myself I've ever attempted!

I wanted to record and post this to raise awareness of the thousands of women who live with bleeding disorders and also to reach the millions of undiagnosed to encourage anyone who thinks they might have a clotting problem to consult their doctor with a view to getting tested.  

Not everyone has to inject like I am doing, those who are severely affected do and you don't have to do it yourself.  I chose to so I can take my treatment and travel / work anywhere.  I am lucky enough to be able to do this and I appreciate that massively.  Others in less affluent parts of the world do not have access to the most basic treatment.  To find out more about that and how you can help please follow this link:

Save One Life

I hope you enjoy (?) my video or at least find it interesting, and if you're a fellow bleeder or carer feel free to feedback on my technique or sanitary arrangements!  

Funny Blood Jab

I've tried to upload the video but blogger won't let me so I now have my first ever video on YouTube.  Apologies the sound is a bit rubbish - I'm a novice!  Thanks for watching ;)

xx