Welcome
Mike Tawse: The Health-Care Survivor
I am a survivor of the health and social-care systems of the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom and life is, at last, good!
I was born with cerebral palsy (spastic diplegia) and I grew up reassured by the knowledge that it was a stable condition, which would certainly not degenerate. In common with many people with congenital (life-long) disabilities, in the UK, I was put through a mix of special and mainstream education and I was treated by a succession of doctors, surgeons and therapists of all kinds, many of whom added to the toxic cocktail, usually called prescription medication, of which they all seem to be so fond. Therefore, once I accepted my limitations and overcame or managed some other difficulties, it should have been possible to live a life, which was not dominated by my health… or the lack of it.
In time, it became clear to me that the health system is focused on illness and that the social-care system is neither social nor caring. They are both concerned with sustaining themselves in spite of the work of many good, dedicated, people who work within them, and not because of it.
In the early 1990s, I started to research and write a series of books in which to explore how these systems could be refocused, reformed and, if necessary, replaced. Reasonably quickly, I learnt that many of the good people who work within these systems feel as trapped by them as do those of us who rely on their services.
By the late 1990s, cerebral palsy was ready to remind me that it often has a sting in its tail, about which very few people are told until it strikes. It is true that the underlying brain damage which caused it had not changed, but the cumulative effect of the wear and tear caused to every system of the body simply by living with cerebral palsy, combined with years of toxicity from prescription medication had begun to overpower me and to send my health into a relentless downward spiral. I had to stop writing and concentrate on simple survival. In December 2005, I had finally accepted that this would be my lot for as much time as I had left and that there might not be very much of it.
Just before Christmas, 2005, my life was about to change again. One of my friends told me about an amazing food supplement; The ‘Miracle’ Enzyme, called Serrapeptase. My research at the time showed that this might be a useful natural painkiller and I definitely needed one.
On January 3, 2006, with my sceptic’s hat firmly on my head, I took Serrapeptase for the first time, sat back and waited for the results. I did not have to wait for long. Within just 48 hours, my lungs began to clear and over the following few days my lung capacity improved and stabilised. In the following weeks, my heart rate returned to normal and stabilised and my digestive system returned to normal. Before the end of February 2006, I was able safely to stop taking all my prescription medications and the improvements were maintained. The progress continues to this day, and you are welcome to visit My Serrapeptase Adventure website.
By November 2006, my eyesight and visual perception, which were damaged as a direct result, and integral part, of cerebral palsy, had also begun to improve. My eyesight is now within normal range and the improvement continues to this day. Does this mean that the remarkable enzyme, Serrapeptase, can overcome the impact of congenital brain damage? I do not have a complete medical answer to this, but I am enjoying the challenge of finding one. There is now some research, based upon studies of newborns, suggesting that inflammation may be amongst the underlying causes of cerebral palsy. One indicator for this was the elevated level of inflammatory cytokines. I am not yet sure that it is possible to extrapolate from this that reducing the level of inflammation in adulthood, could help to mediate the effect of congenital damage, but am sure that it is a question worth asking, and that the answer will be a fascinating one to find.
Now that my health is stable and my continuing progress suggests that the future is one to which I can look forward with confidence, I am, at last, able to return to writing. I have set up a new website. The new site tracks the progress of my research, writing and, eventually, the publication of the books, which now have the working title: The Disability Maze Books. In time, it will carry a summary of each of the books in the series.
Thought For The Day started when two of the people who have enabled and inspired my return to good health, suggested that I should publish some of my own thoughts, and my favourite quotations from others, which I had taken to adding to the end of my e-mails to them.
If I have the energy to complain, then I have something for which to be grateful, but if I have no reason to complain, I should, surely, be grateful for that. If, on the most difficult of days, I can appreciate my freedom to complain, then I find fewer reasons to do so.
Mike Tawse
It is a great gift to be able to learn from other people, but any lesson that is worth learning will be strengthened, not weakened, if you have the courage to question it. If you do not, you will form no opinions of your own and your choices will be controlled by whoever is allowed to fill your mind.
Mike Tawse
It is impossible for a man to be truly free if he will not think for himself, or to fully confine one who will.
Mike Tawse
Do not fear the past; you have already survived it, and its lessons may deepen your understanding. Do not fear the future; you have not reached it, but its potential may inspire your resolve. You may choose to change today, but choose with care; by tomorrow your choices will be the lessons of yesterday.
Mike Tawse
I would like to thank the team at The Power Hour for republishing some of the posts from this site.