Doc 50 gruelling challenges complete
A University Hospital doctor has completed her 50th and final gruelling challenge aimed at trying to prevent more young people dying of alcoholism. Dr Alison Brind, consultant gastroenterologist at University Hospital , has a special interest in liver disease and treats hundreds of people each year for alcohol-related problems. She has seen an unremitting rise in young people dying from the effects of alcohol and wanted to raise awareness of liver disease to stop the epidemic.
Dr Brind has completed the her 50 challenges as part of her 50th year celebrations. She said: "Nationally, liver related deaths have increased four fold. More and more bad liver disease is coming through the hospital. People aren't aware how sick they can get and there is very little public knowledge of it compared to cancer and heart disease. Alcohol is an addictive drug, people become addicted and they can't stop drinking and die. I'd like to help to stop people from getting to the point where they are addicted as at that point it is usually too late.
Dr Brind doesn't think young people know what dreadful damage that they can do to their health through drinking because they don't feel immediately unwell. She said: "By the time they get to hospital, there is nothing we can do to save them. We're not talking about very young people although there have been several under 30-years-old. But the many in their 40s and 50s. I have 50 patients under the age of 50, my age, who I've looked after in the past two years and who have died. I have dedicated each event to each one of them and this has kept me motivated in the darkest moments of each challenge. It's an absolute tragedy that people's lives are wasted and their relatives suffer."
The London marathon was one of the first challenges Dr Brind completed and since then she has travelled to Germany, France and Spain. She said: "I like to set myself challenges and when I turned 50-years-old I wanted to prove I was still up and running. I thought I would do 50 challenges, a run/walk over 20 miles or cycle over 100 miles, but then I thought I should link it to something so I have linked it to something I feel strongly about. Some people would think it rather extreme but something as extreme as this needs to be done to raise awareness of alcohol related deaths. I hope people will learn to value health and fitness. I'd love to be one of these people who is still running at the age of 80-years-old."