Self-Advocacy Story: Kim Spicer

With advice from myaware and the myaware Facebook group, where it has been helpful to be able to talk about everything, they helped me realise that I have footdrop and there are things I can use to help reduce this. Things to help can be costly, but a member told me that they can be supplied by a physio, so I’ve made another appointment with the physio at my GP’s surgery to ask about this. I’ve also made an appointment with my GP to discuss the falls to exclude other possible causes. I had questions I needed answering and my GP could not help me. I was advised to phone my Neurologist, so I spoke to his secretary and asked if she would pass on my concerns. He responded by email with the answers I needed which was so helpful.

Family has been more problematic in terms of self-advocacy. My mother is elderly and frail herself and my siblings and I are in our 60s. We all have different physical challenges to manage. To make things easier I now order food deliveries for my mother and me to get most of what we need. Mum however loves to go out and look around the supermarket. Last week was one of those weeks, and while I can a use trolley to lean on to go around the shop, having to do both mine and mum’s shopping and check-out both trollies was hard work. When we got back to the car, I told her to leave her trolley by the car while I rested. I needed to sit on a nearby seat to recover before I put the bags in the car.  Thankfully a young man nearby asked if I needed help. He put the bags in the car for me and returned both trolleys and brought back our pound coins, bless him!