Media enquiry: PCOS and your fertility

Are you considering your future fertility or currently trying to get pregnant?

Help raise awareness of PCOS

We are working with a journalist who is writing a feature on a group of women between in their 20s to 40s who are thinking about their fertility or actively trying to conceive right now.

The article will bring the women to a very well known fertility clinic to have their fertility 'tested' which ould involve a blood test for your FSH and AMH hormones and an ultrasound of your ovaries.  A fertility specialist will sit with you and take your medical and pregnancy history, and you'll be given a rough estimate of your chance (as a percentage %)  of having a baby right now, naturally.

The journalist is very very keen to include a lady that has PCOS.  You can other have been trying for awhile with no success and want to know a little more about why, or recently diagnosed and thinking ahead to your future fertility and how easy it may be for you to conceive naturally or how long you should wait until you start.

This is free, personalised fertility testing with one of the most known fertility clinics in the UK.  Your results *will* be published in the article, so you need to be willing to have this information made public.  The journalist has reassured me that you will be treated with the upmost sensitivity, and you will be able to hear back your quote read back to you to check.

If you are interested in this, please email me at media@verity-pcos.org.uk ASAP with:
- your name
- age
- location
- a very short paragraph on your background
- your telephone number and best time to call
- a photograph of yourself

Thanks in advance!

Rachel

South Downs Trekathon update

Now as most of you know, Alison and i from the MC are doing a 26 MILE trekathon on the 18th May to raise money for Verity. 

This fundraising is urgently needed to help continue with our work for publishing In Touch, running the charity, running conferences as we have no government funding.

On Good Friday we completed a training walk of 15 miles across the North Downs Way to help us get used to the hills we will have to face.  Training has been a mixed bunch of torn ligaments, fractured hands and wrists and blisters.

So please please do donate at the just giving page as it will help our aching legs so much!


http://www.justgiving.com/Caroline-Andrews1

http://www.justgiving.com/Alison-Wilcox1


thanks
Caroline x

Nail Art Competition winner

We are pleased to announce the winner of the PCOS AWARENESS WEEK 2012 Nail Art Competition winner was Louise from Kent.

Not only did she have fabulous colour match to the Verity logo but there was also a great story behind it.  The nail technician's daughter also suffers from PCOS so they were pleased to get involved. 

The best bit is that as a result of her nails, Louise was asked by several people what the design was for and so gave her a chance to discuss PCOS - which was the aim of the competition.

A mammoth thank you to all that took part and well done Louise.

Cx

Fertility Show in numbers....

This weekend the Verity trustees had a stand at the National Fertility Show in London Olympia and rather than tell you all what we did I thought the numbers spoke for themselves:

 - over 500 bags given out with information to help and support

 - 15 hours whilst the show was open on our feet networking, talking about pcos, offering support

 - 4.5 hours being the time it took me to get from London Olympia to Chelmsford and home on Sunday

 - 200 special verity purple covered chocolate hearts on the stand

 - 11 - being the hours slept by Rachel, Alison and Caroline over Friday, Saturday AND Sunday....

You can see it is a huge undertaking for us to undertake but boy is it worth it.  Verity gains fantastic exposure to professionals and couples going through fertility issues. What was especially lovely was the comments from all involved as to what a professional charity we are and the shock and appreciation as to the time we give.  A MASSIVE thank you to Kris our volunteer who helped on Sunday and kept us going through the last few hours and the horrendous task of packing up the stand.

More to follow soon.

Cx

PCOS AWARENESS WEEK - UPDATE

We at the Verity MC have been so busy getting ready for PCOS awareness week (Saturday 3rd November -Saturday 10th November 2012)  that i have not written a blog for a while!

So thought i would do a quick update (as i am typing one handed having managed to shut my other hand in the car door!) here are some of the exciting things happening that week:

 - Saturday 3rd and 4th November:  Fertility Show at London Olympia.

 - Saturday 10th November: AGM and conference in York with a fantastic range of speakers.

 - PCOS nail art : wear your 'heart on your nails' an easy way to help raise awareness

 - A day in the life: an online pcos diary about what having pcos means to you.

 - Fundraising challenge: can we get 50 entries for the 5k adidas challenge next September 2013 and just    what have Alison and I agreed to do for Verity....

  - PCOS lecture - more details to follow but a PCOS lecture is being held at the Therapy Life Centre, Sotuhend onThursday 8th November 2012.

 - Low gi mornings - invite your friends or hold a bake sale.....

and much much more.........

regards

caroline

 

PCOS AWARENESS WEEK: How to get involved #2

This week's PCOS AWARENESS WEEK how to get involved is all about our 'PCOS: A day in the life of....' online gallery.

Now even though PCOS is an extremely common condition most people do not know what it is actually like to live with PCOS on a daily basis.  Therefore, as part of PCOS AWARENESS WEEK we want to show by way on an online photo gallery what it is like to live with PCOS day in and day out; in order to raise awareness about the impact of the condition on women with PCOS as well as their friend's and family. 

So how do you get involved?  We are looking for photographs of what living with PCOS means to you; whether it is a photograph of tweezers for the excess hair removal to your photographs of your low GI lunch to photographs of something that represents your emotional feelings.  We would like to show every side of PCOS being the good (my friends say the excess testosterone makes me competitive!) and the bad and a wide variety of issues.

Therefore, get your thinking caps on and once you know send your photograph to me at secretary@verity-pcos.org.uk.  I will then be publishing an online gallery during PCOS AWARENESS WEEK (so by sending your photograph you are agreeing that it can be published.) 

Thats all for now,

Caroline

PCOS AWARENESS WEEK: How to get involved #1

I cannot believe it is September already!  PCOS Awareness Week is just round the corner from 3rd November to 10th November 2012.  So how can you get involved? 

Our Verity members will be able to see a full outline of PCOS Awareness Week in the In Touch Magazine which is at the printers as we speak.  However, for those that are not members you can still get involved; over the coming weeks i will be blogging and facebooking about what you can do to help raise awareness of PCOS. 

This week's PCOS Awareness Week information is all about the Fertility Show which is being held at London Olympia on Saturday 3rd November 2012 and Sunday 4th November 2012.  This is a massive event for anyone interested in fertility issues.  You can book tickets at www.fertilityshow.co.uk.  Verity has had a stand here for the past few years and is not only a brilliant way of reaching thousands of women, it also proves an important networking event.  There are talks on PCOS so come and say hello if you are attending.

More on PCOS Awareness Week to follow shortly....

Regards
Caroline

Christmas miracle baby?

Do you have or are you having a Christmas baby? Or will this year be your first Christmas as a mummy?

Tesco Magazine are writing an article called 'Christmas Miracles' and would love to speak to a lady who has had (or is having) a much longed-for baby after trying to pregnant for some time with PCOS.  This could either be someone who eventually celebrated giving birth around Christmas time - OR a woman who is going to be celebrating her first Christmas (December 2012) with a new baby.

The magazine would need you to be available for a London photoshoot in the next 3 weeks (travel expenses paid) - and preferably for you to bring your baby along.

If you can help, please email me at media@verity-pcos.org.uk with a short paragraph on your story, your age, location and contact phone number.

Resource Packs

I got back from a long weekend away (love the long weekend but now have five days work to fit into four...) and my lovely mum had put together some more resource packs for me.  Mainly i think it is because all the boxes of leaflets, posters and pens are taking over my parent's house but also because i know that she realises the importance of them.  So i have filled out the addresses from the data base and will be popping over to the post office to send them out later.

How are you all finding your GP's/professional's responses? - i love it when we hear about a member going to the surgery and seeing the poster up.  

Any how, going to go back to work now.  Will be doing a longer blog soon about all the exciting things coming up in PCOS awareness week.

Regards

Caroline

Keeping in touch with In Touch

Evening all, hope everyone is keeping well and not to depressed at this horrendous weather - where is summer!

Anyhow, I digress!  This is just a little blog about In Touch which is going to press very soon.  It always continues to amaze me the numerous different skills we Trustees have to employ when volunteering for Verity.  So at the moment I am working hard with our trusty editor Colette and some other wonderful helpers to complete In Touch in time for printing.  You may have noticed that there have been a few 'tweaks' to In Touch over the past year or so, such as more ask the expert, hot topics and real life stories as that is what you are readers were asking for.  So what have you got to look forward to in the next issue, PCOS AWARENESS WEEK update, spotlight on Prof. Mason, looking at exercise motivation secrets and much much more.  

That's all for now.....

Cx