3Amigos's profile

Our Charity series covers many months with multiple challenges and events where we chose to raise money for 2 amazing charities…One for me to thank for my future and the other , a more local based charity that has helped each of our own families so are, pretty sure, helped many of you and your families or friends too.

The Alan Hudson Day Treatment Centre is part of the Arthur Rank Hospice and provides many services and treatments for adults living with advanced serious illness or life limiting conditions through Wisbech & Fenland.

All of the money raised for this cause will go to the Alan Hudson Centre and help them fund and provide all of the following…
- Treatment Service.
- Living Well Service … Tailored programme offering creative & social activities with refreshments.
- Complementary Therapies … Reflexology, Massage, Relaxation, Hairdressing etc.
- Important Inpatient Services.
- Social Group.
- Bereavement Group.
- Community Specialist Palliative Care Nurse.
- Hospice At Home Service.

As you can see, this amazing centre tries to offer so much to patients and families but, need the communities help and kindness to fund all!

Please, help us raise more funds for this important centre and help them continue providing all of the above, & more, wonderful services for those in our community living with these awful illnesses and their families. 💝

Today we are sharing the details of our 3rd event…10am Sunday 22nd September 2024…Triathlon 3 Amigos Style Across 3 Counties!

This is probably the most challenging personally and as a team. It is definitely quirky and will challenge 3 Amigos team work to the absolute limit to be able to make it to the finish line with out a visit to A&E !! 🤣

Stage 1 (Norfolk) - Personally the hardest challenge I’ve faced both mentally & physically since my operations!…3 mile swim ‘The Heron Pub to Magdalen Bridge’. Thank you to all our friends supporting us in training and on the day both swimming the distance at our sides or boarding/kayaking with us to keep us safe and fuelled.

Stage 2 (Cambs) - THE MOMENT YOU HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR… a bike circuit on ‘Frank’ with distance TBC as we master how far this strange, quirky, beast, brain child of Lorraine’s! Can actually cover safely on the Cambridgeshire rural roads! ⛑️

Stage 3 (Lincs) - The final stage of this triathlon continues the 3 Amigos insanity as we walk/March/trip/roll (who knows what else! 🫣) 3 legged, connect with straps all the way to the Finnish line…Hopefully a pub!!

Training is in full flow (literally) to reach stage 1 immense distance target! 🤞

Please keep supporting and helping us reach finish lines and fundraising targets… Our dream is to reach that £2000 target! 😇💝

The 3 Amigos took on the Holkham Triathlon Relay raising amazing funds for our Charity series…

Firstly, thank you everyone for your kindness, caring and support for the 3 Amigos! It all means the world to us and is all so deeply appreciated!

We trained as hard as we could to challenge ourselves at this amazing event but, the one thing we were unable to prepare was our nerves on the day…Oh there were plenty of them! So far out of our comfort zones!…. Oh and the other thing we were ‘unwilling’ 🤣 to prepare/train for was the 3am alarm for travel & 6-7am start!

The day was one of the best experiences ever! We each gave all we had…Me 1.2 mile swim/Lorraine ‘50’ mile bike/Sam 13.1 mile run…We did in in the awesome 3 Amigos style, fun and unlimited laughter!

So so soooo proud of my beautiful Amigos! All did amazing and beyond our own stage hopes - Lorraine enjoyed her stage that much that she literally went the extra mile(s) for the Charity cause!

Thanks everyone again for your humbling support! Now we move on to our training and preparation for Event 3… 💝

I was 22 yrs old (Now 50) when my battle began. serving in the Royal Navy, something I had dreamed of since 8 yrs old and sadly something I would lose to the crippling TOS.

The condition was so rare those years ago, no knowledge or awareness through the medical profession. No expensive mechanical tests showed TOS which unfortunately led to my toughest battle at the start, to be believed! The pain, the loss of function were real but due to the narrow minded Dr’s not willing to look outside the box, look past black and white text books, brought me to the most crushing moment where I was told they were referring me to a psychiatrist as they can find or see nothing wrong…Years later with a diagnosis and help, I sadly found out this was the outcome for many sufferers!

Thankfully with the support of my family, I kept battling to be heard and believed, and finally with some luck, I met a consultant that knew how to look outside the box and with 1 simple test, used no expensive equipment, diagnosed TOS and immediately operated removing both my 1st ribs as I also had rare dual TOS.

The weight of the world had been lifted having a name to my hell but sadly, my battle did not end there as the extremely invasive early known operations and the deterioration of TOS caused years of worsening pain and function. The pain was with with me every second of the day & night, through every little movement no matter active or rest, I felt damned if I did and damned if I didn’t, literally living feeling constantly punished by my own body.

Those years back, after the surgeries, nothing more could be done, I lost my career in the Navy but, I chose to live my life trying hard not to let TOS win and tried to keep active as my motto became ‘damned if I did & damned if I don’t so I will’!…but eventually, after running Brighton Marathon to raise money for Diabetes Uk for my son and nephews, the disability and pain became so severe it took my function and control of my upper limbs, my speech and my short term memory and 7 years ago, at the most excruciating pain raging through my upper torso, limbs, neck and head, I finally reached out again to my old surgeon for help as, sadly, still minimal knowledge and awareness. Thankfully he kindly guided a referral to his friend, an amazing surgeon at the JR Hospital OUH Oxford who was also not afraid to think outside the box and use innovation to solve major traumas to the brachial plexus system.

Now my journey with Oxford begins…

It’s hard trying to condense over half my life battling TOS to a story I can share that explains why I so strongly need to thank my team at Oxford while hopefully bringing awareness to TOS but also, the battles faced by many with rare and hidden disabilities or illnesses.

TOS stands for Thorasic Outlet Syndrome, it affects nerves and blood flow to the upper torso/limbs. It’s a crippling complicated condition that varies its attack on individual bodies and follows no rules.

I will share my story throughout our Charity Series over 4 parts to condense but cover a battle covering 30 years...

Our first event to kick off this charity series was Quiz Night Friday 17th May … Thank you to everyone who so kindly came and supported us so generously on the night!….£895.90 on our first event and more donations given online by beautiful friends who couldn’t make the evening but wanted to support us and our hopes!! …. With your humbling generosity, Quiz night total & online support, We have managed to hit our first Charity target of £1,000 🎉💝

Please do not be fooled by the ‘Hand Therapy Dept’ emblem of the Oxford JR Hospital team on our Charity page and tops, this is their, already inspiring, day job where they work alongside my surgeon in the plastic surgery department rebuilding bodies and lives!…For my journey, they were a team who learnt to look past black and white text books, think outside the box, adapt to curve balls rare conditions throw as they follow no rules invading your body!

I am sorry it has taken me so long to bring my story to this page but, something mentally happened I never expected! From the miracle of Oxford, I literally hit the ground running, locking my past with its darkness in a box, solely focused on my future and making the most of everyday!…Opening that box to share with you has overwhelmed me, reduced me to tears reliving the hell myself and my beautiful family faced, unable to put it to words…

Maybe sharing for this Charity series will bring light to that darkness, maybe sharing my story and this moment of struggle to open the box will reach somebody in their own struggles and let them know they are not alone, to reach out and to keep fighting…

Please keep following and supporting us as over the coming weeks, I will finally share my TOS story in small instalments and keep you up to date with our training and future events still to come! 💝

The 3 Amigos will take on the Outlaw Triathlon Relay at Holkham

Leg 1 - Me - Open water swim 1.2 miles … Unable to swim for 9 years from TOS & traumas of surgery, re learning to use muscles and move upper limbs! To complete this will be a special & emotional moment for myself and my team in Oxford JR Hospital.

Leg 2 - Lorraine - Bike 56 miles! … Possible summer heat of July with plenty of hills, pot holes and more obstacles to overcome around the narrow Norfolk coastal circuit.

Leg 3 - Sam - Run 13.1 miles! … Again in the possible heat of July in her worst nightmare of loops x 3 and plenty of hills to tackle through the loops.

Each discipline has the added pressure of cut off times so, the tough training is well under way! 🏊‍♀️🚴‍♀️🏃‍♀️💗