In Memory of Margaret - My Lovely Gran.

Two years ago today, I lost my Gran.

We spoke every morning on the phone and she was very special to me, losing her changed me in ways I could never have imagined.

Gran had been unwell for as long as I can remember, she survived a heart attack in her late 50’s, lived with COPD and had a long list of ailments that affected her daily quality of life. She spent most of her time either at home watching TV or down at the local shops.

I genuinely thought she would live forever.

My Gran.

She was a strong Scottish woman who had lived a difficult life. Her mother was killed in a car accident when she was just 16 years old, a devastating loss that she never fully emotionally recovered from.

She moved to Bristol with my Grandad to start a new life, raising her four children on a weekly family allowance; my grandad suffered from alcoholism meaning money was tight and stress levels were high, but I only knew her as a happy, yet fierce, woman who absolutely doted on her grandchildren and great grandchildren.

My brother and I spent most weekends with her when we were little and they were some of my happiest times.

I still remember every Saturday morning, Gran drying us off after our bath and heading down the corridor to the living room where my Grandad had set up our dominoes on the table. Each week we took it in turns to be the one that pushed that first domino and watch them all tumble in sequence, Gran always cheered as they fell!

In winter she would tell my Grandad to fill the stone water bottle and warm our bed up before we got in. She was the best.

Relying on the System

My gran, like millions of others in the UK, relied on our ‘free’ National Health Service for advice and support. By the time she passed away she was receiving a monthly box, filled with all sorts of prescription medicines.

Tablets for her heart, her bones, heartburn, digestive issues, co-codamol for pain and constant headaches, you name it, she was probably taking it.

Unfortunately though, and probably because of her trauma, my Gran led a very unhealthy and sedentary lifestyle.

She sat at home watching TV most days, had quite a limited diet lacking in fresh fruit and vegetables and consumed 2-3 litres of Coca Cola daily and smoked 40 cigarettes a day, although she did ditch the cigs and switch to Irn Bru after the heart attack, she NEVER drank water. And her GP’s knew this, it wasn’t something she hid from them or lied about.

The Final Goodbye

On 12th August 2024, one month after I got engaged to my soulmate, I got a message from her “Going in to hospital worried about my heart”.

My first thought was, ‘again?’ and assumed she would be home the next day, as usual.

I called her as soon as I got home, she was already there, usually she wouldn’t instantly be ranting about the doctors and desperate to get home, but this time she sounded different; weak and scared. My heart instantly broke, something told me it would be the last time we spoke.

The next day she was gone.

I have never felt grief like it.

But what I couldn’t shake was my anger. At first I felt angry at her for not looking after herself properly and leaving me when I needed her, but that anger soon became directed at the people that were supposed to know better.

The health ‘experts’ that treated her symptoms, ignoring the root cause.

She was handed pill after pill until her stomach could take no more and my poor Gran suffered a fatal internal bleed in a hospital bed, alone and afraid.

The System that Failed Her

The system needs to change, people need to be handed back responsibility for their own health, instead of believing that a life of pharmaceuticals are the only way.

If my Gran had been told that most, if not all, of her issues could be reversed or properly managed with hydration, nutrition, purposeful supplementation of vital vitamins and minerals, she may still be here with us today; excited about the great grandchild due this year and still banging on to everyone that would listen about how much she enjoyed our beautiful wedding day.

What if GP’s, instead of an unlimited drug supply, told patients what really causes their dis-ease?

What if the NHS, alongside necessary medical support, offered targeted nutrition and root-cause health support?

A simple search on Ecosia (a eco friendly version of google) shows that big pharmaceutical companies make profits of approximately £4+BILLION each year from supplying drugs to the NHS.

Could it possibly be that getting people better is bad for business?

It’s a FACT that they would lose their huge profits if the people treating lifestyle driven conditions spent no more than six months on these medications and were able to then stop, because they had supported their body back to optimal health.

And let’s not forget that it’s not actually free is it?

Billions of pounds of taxpayers money each year, going directly into the pockets of Big Pharma and as a nation, the UK in only getting sicker.

The Facts

• According to Age UK, over 50% of adults aged 65 and over take three or more prescribed medications daily and approximately 30-35% of this age group take 5 or more, every single day. That 35% accounts for around 4 million people in the UK.

• Astonishingly, the vast majority of these routinely prescribed medications manage chronic, often lifestyle-induced or preventable conditions, most notably high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, and cardiovascular risk.

• According to the government's ‘National Overprescribing Review’, millions of prescriptions issued annually may actually be unnecessary or potentially harmful, which was certainly the case for my poor Gran.

Turning Pain into Power - The Plan

Under the current model, holistic and root-cause health support is unattainable and unaffordable for most and I am determined to change that.

I couldn’t save my Gran, it was too late for her, but if I can help just one person break free from this cycle I will have succeeded in turning my pain into power.

I plan to do this by:

• Completing my level 6 diploma in Naturopathic Nutrition with The Nutritional Healing Foundation

• Using my new skills gained from recently completing my level 3 Adult Education and Training Award with City & Guilds via Community Learning so I can bring this knowledge to the people that need it the most.

• Using my knowledge and personal lived experience to finish creating a series of affordable courses to help people understand the basics of health, starting with blood sugar balancing.

If you would like more info on these upcoming courses, express your interest using this form.

For Gran xxx