Emmie
Posts:
34
Registered:
06-Nov-2006
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Re: Awful article in the daily mail
Posted:
03-Dec-2006 20:02
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Wooo I'm really going to put the cat among the pigeons here I think! I bought a copy of this paper in order to get some change for a parking meter (not intending to read it!). When I saw the article by Amanda Patell I decided to read it, thinking "Oh here we go...this will be a load of b*llocks". Then I read on and actually I found it fairly interesting.
I don't think anyone has the right to tell a family how they should lead their lives, those decisions are totally personal and individual. However I didn't personally feel insulted by this article in the way that others appear to have been. As far as I can see, she was writing in her personal column and simply mulling over the difficulties that the Brown family will face in combining PM-ship of one of the leading countries in the world and also the world of CF.
I really hope that little Fraser will have a really healthy childhood without many CF-related problems. However there is no getting away from the fact that CF is an illnes which is exceptionally labour-intensive and also emotionally intensive to deal with. At the same time, being Prime Minister is one of the most stressful, labour-intensive and demanding jobs in the world. The country makes demands which have to be placed above one's personal situation, one which involves significant lengths of time abroad or away from home, and one in which it would often be very difficult to drop commitments in the event of personal emergencies. That's not to say that CF and Premiership can't be combined, but I don't see the harm in considering the difficulties that this combination presents either.
My father was an officer in the Royal Navy when my brother and I were born with CF two years apart. For a couple of years my Dad continued as normal...going away to sea for weeks on end, being ready to be called up at any time in the event of a conflict, going away on training events, etc. But my brother and I were both very unwell during those years and my Mum was not only looking after us all day, but was up in the night several times giving us physio as well. Even without the hospital stays and treatent regime, it was a huge amount emotionally for my Mum to cope with alone and she wasn't fortunate enough to have a good family/friend support work to help out.
In the end the navy gave my Dad compassionate discharge so he could follow a career path that was better suited to supporting my Mum and helping with our care. He wanted to be involved in doing our physio whenever he could and helping with our treatments.
I really hope that Fraser will keep very healthy (although how they can say that someone has "mild" CF at the age of only a few months confuses me) and hopefully the Brown family will have a fantastic support network. Whether they can cope with combining the role of PM and living with CF is completely up to them and I wish them every luck with whatever they decide. But at the same time I'm not insulted when someone expresses understanding of what a huge deal CF is for families to live with and muses about how this may affect someone's career.
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