PROFESSOR QASIM AZIZ MARATHON EVENT

[barkingmad]

Time to give back to Prof. Qasim Azziz and his amazing team? Oh yes, no problem for HMSA members!

Dr. Etsuro Yazaki is running the London Marathon!
We all know that Professor Qasim Aziz and his team really do work hard to help us as individual patients. We know that Prof Aziz dedicates his time and knowledge to us a Charity. So when we were approached by Prof Aziz with the request to support his team in raising funds to allow their continued work in to the Hypermobility Syndrome and gastrointestinal complaints we couldn’t refuse to help!

Dr Asma Fikree, team member of the Neurogastroenterology Group, Barts and the London NHS Trust., informs us

‘The Joint Hypermobility Syndrome is a hereditary connective tissue disorder which is characterised by flexible joints, skin and musculoskeletal symptoms, such as joint pain. In addition, patients can have symptoms in various other organ and this can add to their disability. Emerging data has shown that there is an association between the joint hypermobility syndrome and certain unexplained gut symptoms, which suggests that these hypermobile individuals may have an increased likelihood of developing gut problems. This is a really important question but one which has never been studied systematically. This is what we aim to do.

We are currently running a large study with over 1000 patients, over 3 sites, to find out what proportion of individuals with gastrointestinal complaints actually have underlying JHS. In this way we hope to determine what pattern of gastrointestinal symptoms these patients have and what kind of gut disorders they are more likely to develop. This will ultimately help in diagnosing gastrointestinal complaints in JHS individuals and will enable more appropriate treatment and management to be instituted.

Dr Etsuro Yazaki, see above photo, is a member of our Neurogastroenterology Group which is based at Barts and the London NHS Trust. He will be running the London Marathon on the 22nd April 2012 to try and raise funds for the research described above. You can sponsor Dr Yazaki on www.justgiving.com/ET-hypermobility Dont be confused though as the Just Giving page is on the Bowel and Cancer Charity page. They have kindly agreed to manage the page and event as they already support the team. You can add a message to say that you are donating to the event in connection with the HMSA when you go through the donation process and that will appear on the Just Giving page. Let’s see how many HMSA mentions we can get! Time is short so get donating now!

Office thoughts! It is becoming harder and harder for researchers to obtain funding for their projects. And the HMSA would really like to able to support Prof Aziz’s team more directly but we don’t have enough funds currently to do this. So please do sponsor Dr Y. You may not be able to afford to send much but in this case every penny does count. The Bowel and Cancer Charity are also involved in raising awareness of this fundraising event. Do your part and pop along to the link above and donate some money. Then raise further awareness by sending the information on this event to as many people as you can, who you know would be interested.

[madmum]

I do not have a credit card so can I send a donation through the hmsa by cheque? If so will post to the office.

[barkingmad]

Hi MAdmum,

No we cant accept payments made to the HMSA as it will confuse the accountant but if you send it to me and make the cheque payable to the Bowel and Cancer Research Trust I will forward with a note from the HMSA and let the team at St Barts know.

TC Donna

[Sue New]

I have made my donation

[madmum]

Thanks Barkingmad that is what I meant. Will post it tomorrow so keep an eye out.

[shen]

Have just donated too!

[Fiona-Jane]

i've donated too!


fi

[barkingmad]

you are all wonderful!

[barkingmad]

Please do give generously to Dr Y's event..we will honestly all benefit from the results of the study. You can give as much or as little as you like. And I am happy to handle any cheques sent to the HMSA office but made out to the Bowel and Cancer Research Trust and will keep Prof Aziz aware of any donations.

[madmum]

My cheque was sent yesterday. Hope it arrives safely.

[star gazer]

Have just donated online, hope they can raise lots more.
Star gazer

[barkingmad]

Hi just a reminder that this is a still active request. please support Prof Aziz's team, they do work very hard to support us and also are working hard to try and get to the bottom of the relationship with Hypermobility and gastrointestinal issues.