I am getting well on with my story now and thanks for your support, I hope you are still enjoying it.
In September 1980 I set off on what was to be my final promotional trip. It started in Venezuela then Argentina and finally Paraguay. By the time I reached Paraguay I was exhausted and I had no choice other than to go home.
In September 1980 I set off on what was to be my final promotional trip. It started in Venezuela then Argentina and finally Paraguay. By the time I reached Paraguay I was exhausted and I had no choice other than to go home.
I visited my doctor who sent me straight to hospital. X-rays showed that I had practically no air in my lungs at all.
I didn’t need an x ray to tell me this, however it was nice to have my suspicions confirmed.
I was put on oxygen 24 hours a day. With daily visits from physiotherapist I began to make a small amount of progress.
Nobody could put a name to it the nearest they could get was asthma.
I had now been ill for almost twenty years being treated for asthma taking large quantities of steroids called prednisolone. Without these I would not have survived but the side effect is I now have osteoporosis quite badly.
Christmas 1988 I was really ill and after a blood test was admitted straight to hospital.
At first the doctors thought I had Malaria.
After many tests Doctor Amanda Isdale finally diagnosed my problem as a condition called Churg-Strauss Syndrome.
The illness causes inflammation of the blood vessels called vasculitus and it can stop the flow of blood anywhere in the body with drastic results. So why the asthma?
The answer to this is Churg-Strauss disguises itself as asthma and that’s the reason its so hard to identify.
At the time of diagnosis I was one of only one hundred people in the UK with this problem. Trust me to get something that nobody else wanted!
I had now had the Churg-Strauss for several years so the only treatment open to me was chemotherapy.
I had the treatment every two weeks for nine months. Chemo and me didn’t get along and one morning after my treatment my wife called out our local GP.
When he arrived he told me that after my next infusion I should stop in hospital as I was wasting his time and everybody-elses.
Not exactly what I was expecting but as we know there are good mechanics and bad ones it appears Doctors are the same!
After several weeks in hospital I was allowed home for the weekend.
After several weeks in hospital I was allowed home for the weekend.
After the security of the hospital I felt a bit insecure.
I was watching TV when I felt a tremendous pain in the back of my neck at the base of my skull.
The next thing I knew I was in intensive care and I was being told I had suffered a particularly nasty stroke called a Subarachnoid Haemorrage. I am beginning to realise that every illness I get is difficult to spell why cant I get the flu?
Whats happened so far is only the tip of the ice-berg. From now on things get a whole lot worse! – Bye for now – Rob
TRIALS GURU - The Trials Academy 
Wow! Having suffered with Asthma for 25 years before coming to Canada, I can appreciate just a little bit of what you went through Rob – that in itself is a terrible illness. My mother was told by the doctor – It was doubtful if I would live to be 14 – I’m now 77 and still riding my Trials bike. !!
Hi Dave
If you would like to contact me you can do so by sending an e mail to John Moffat (Trials Guru) and he will forward it to me.
Thanks for taking an intrest in my story.
Best Wishes
ROB