Dr Penny Woods, chief exec of British Lung Foundation, talked to a group of Breathe Easy members about the way forward for our charity. She talked of putting the emphasis on research and that she dreams of a day when lung diseases can be cured. It's happening in other areas of medicine and one day it will happen for us too. Already we have seen improvement in quality of life through new approaches to dealing with lung conditions which are delivered through pulmonary rehab programs - pulmonary rehab is the best thing since sliced bread as far as I am concerned. It certainly showed me that life is worth living with COPD. Also there is great research going on, being funded by BLF, to ease the symptoms. In our case "every little helps" but for our grandchildren and their children we want lung disease to be a thing of the past. After all, a lot of it is caused by pollution such as smoking, asbestos, traffic, industrial etc, and all of these can be eradicated through smoking cessation, clean air programs and other means.
We were joined by members of other Breathe Easy groups from Gilfach Goch, Llanelli and Swansea - some old friends and a lot of new faces. It's always nice to see a crowd of people enjoying themselves.
Then came the surprise of the day, Breathe Easy Neath Valley was presented with the National Winner Award for an outstanding contribution to awareness raising and campaigning.
And then another pleasant surprise, I was awarded a Regional Award for outstanding service to BLF, Breathe Easy and the community.
How nice it is to get recognition for the work we do .
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