Posted on: May 2, 2017

Patient Blog: Ironman Amanda tackles bowel disease

Amanda’s Amazing Fundraising

We all know someone who likes to swim, another that’s crazy for cycling, and we all certainly know that ravenous runner. These are not entirely unusual activities. But sometimes we find a person who not only tackles all three, they do so with unwavering determinism, despite facing adversity and with a message to deliver… The name we give to such a person? IRONMAN!

Follow Amanda as she aims her sights on the finish line and doesn’t let bowel disease get in her way…

Amanda Scott shows off her Liverpool Half Marathon Medal for St. Mark's Hospital in hopes of a future free form bowel disease

Amanda ran the Liverpool Half marathon to help research for better treatment of bowel disease

Supporting research into bowel disease

Patients & supporters of St Mark’s undertake a huge variety of tough and daring water-based challenges. From Kayaking, swimming the Channel and even Stand Up Paddleboarding (to name but a few!). Amanda Scott, a patient of St Mark’s, will not only take to the water but additionally, running and cycling in Wales upcoming Ironman! Find out more about her story and how she is helping to better research into bowel disease below…


Amanda is a bowel disease patient at St Mark’s

“After starting Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN – see definition, below) in 2016 and for the first time in years, well-nourished and hydrated, I got back into training and finished my first half marathon post TPN in April 2017. Now realising the possibilities of what I could achieve in my athletic ambitions, I entered the Ironman in Wales.

Raising vital funds for Bowel Disease

I’m raising money for St Marks Hospital Foundation’s innovative education and research and Kidneys For Life. St Marks has given me back my life and I cannot thank the staff on the Intestinal Failure Unit enough. My special thanks also goes to my consultant, Dr Simon Gabe, as he has helped me to realise what I can achieve whilst being on TPN. I also raise money in memory of my Mum, Leonie Scott, who passed away in 2015 from a rare complication of peritoneal dialysis called Encapsulating Peritoneal Sclerosis (EPS). Kidneys for Life puts money into EPS research and is another worthy cause. Ironically, my Mum was on TPN for the last few months of her life as well.

Fundraising

So, up until the 10th of September 2017, I can be found running, swimming and cycling. I’ll be undertaking lots of training races in the interim also. My first being the Milton Keynes Half Marathon on the 1st May. My fundraising target is £10,000 and I aim to highlight these worthy causes as I go along my journey to become an ironman. Anything is possible with determination and positivity. After all, 140.6 miles does begin with a determination to “tri”!

Check out Amanda’s fundraising here

*TPN: 

Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN) is the most widely employed and effective treatment in improving nutritional intake in sufferers of severe Crohn’s disease. Patients receive all or most of their nutrients and calories intravenously via a major vein into the heart.