Charities

What is Ankylosing Spondylitus?
A.S. is a form of arthritis. It is a chronic degenerative disease, which effects major joints of the body with particular aggression in the spine, shoulders, knees and hips. It is a popular misconception that arthritis is an old persons disease and as such, attitudes towards youngsters who suffer this painful illness are often unhelpful. Diagnosis takes far too long and when finally achieved insufficient advice is often given. Besides having A.S. Lee also suffers from Asthma. These afflictions do not affect his day to day routine, in fact they motivate him to work harder and change attitudes.

What is Asthma?
Asthma is a disease of the respiratory system producing attacks of difficulty of breathing. The difficulty is caused by narrowing of the airways in the lungs in response to a precipitating agent such as house mite dust, pollen and the sulphur dioxide in polluted air. Exercise may also induce an attack. In an attack a person coughs and wheezes and complains that it is difficult to breathe. The severity ranges from mild to dangerous, when the pulse races and the person becomes exhausted, possibly even blue. Urgent admission to hospital is often imperative. In the Southern Ocean that is impossible. So control of Asthma is important.

A Note From Lee
A.S. and Asthma are often left undiagnosed for far too long. A part of the treatment in preventing any further advance A.S. is exercise. I have Asthma, I need to exercise to prevent advance of A.S. but then I suffer from Asthma. Which when I exercise I suffer with my Asthma. It is our intention as a team to change the belief of others that tend to write those people off that are different. By sailing in a variation of offshore races culminating in the Vendée Globe 2008 Around the World Non Stop, we hope to encourage people to reach for their dreams and goals, whatever they may be.

“What would you do if you knew you could not fail?” Dr Robert Schuller