‘Check yo’ self, before yo’ wreck yourself’ words of wisdom from Ice Cube, which are as true today as they were back in 1993.

Which is why today I found myself blowing into tubes and sensors at St James’s hospital in Leeds.

The background to this is that in 2014 after feeling ‘a bit unwell’ for over 12 months, I was diagnosed with Sarcoidosis, and then admitted to Leeds General Infirmary. Sarcoidosis is an immune disease of unknown origin, which manifests as inflammation in organs; in my case lungs, skin and eyes.

Following the diagnosis I had two years of steroid therapy, and then I was observed as an outpatient for a further two years having regular x-rays and blood tests to keep an eye out for any flare-ups.

Happily in July 2018 I was discharged by my consultant, and given a clean bill.

At that time I already knew I had been provisionally accepted on the Kilimanjaro challenge, and I asked my consultant if the diagnosis might prevent me from climbing, especially given the potential risks regarding altitude. The consultant’s response was ‘that as long as my condition remained stable, and there were no flare-ups there were no reasons why my previous diagnosis should prevent my participation’.

Demonstrating Autovista Group’s care for its employees, it was made clear that Autovista will require participants to be certified healthy by their doctors before they will be allowed to undergo the trip. Of course they would want to check and confirm this, they are a very people orientated business.

When I asked my Consultant about the letter, he took Ice Cube’s stance, and requested a full pulmonary system check, which was provided today by the wonderful NHS.

So today we put safety first, and got a chikkidy check…

I should get the results in a few weeks – fingers crossed for Dan please in the meantime….