The Death Of My Son George
In some ways our youngest son; George, was more my baby, than my wife’s!
When you have three children under three, you have to devise a system so they can all be fed, watered and managed.
In the early 1970s, I was working at home, writing software for the likes of companies like Lloyds Bank, Plessey, Ferranti and others, usually by means of a dial-up line to a company called Time Sharing Ltd. in Great Portland Street.
- So most days George sat on my desk in a plastic baby chair, as I worked.
- C would look after the two elder children, generally taking them to the park or friends.
- George was still in nappies, real not disposable. We did use a nappy service!
- I sometimes wonder, if I can still install a proper nappy on a baby!
- I would feed him as I worked.
- George also used to come with me to visit clients, I had to meet at Great Portland Street. Usually, the secretaries would steal him away.
It was a system, that worked well for all of us.
Of our three children, George was the only one, that C thought could be coeliac, as I am. Mothers know their families! We once tried to test him with a self-test kit from the Internet. but the results were inconclusive.
I now believe he was coeliac for one genetic reason. His daughter was born with a severe congenital hernia of the diaphragm and research shows this can be linked to a coeliac father.
At least I was lucky with my three boys in this respect, but it points to George being coeliac.
George worked in the music business and was the sound engineer on some of the work of Diane Charlemagne. I met Diane once, when I stood on The Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, which I wrote about in Fun and Games at the Fourth Plinth.
- Diane was working as the security guard and it was an amazing coincidence, that we realised our connection through George.
- She spoke highly of his work.
Sadly Diane died of kidney cancer in 2015.
George didn’t drink, but he smoked heavily and not just tobacco. He also lived on a very gluten-rich diet of Subways and the like.
I suspect that his immune system was as good as much protection as a chocolate colander in a tsunami!
I have discussed this with doctors, who specialise in cancer and they feel that it could have contributed to his death from pancreatic cancer.
- George died at home.
- He was not in much pain due to the morphine he was controlling through a pump and the cannabis he was smoking.
- One day, he was in bed and talking to my then aristocratic girlfriend and myself, when he just expired.
- There was no drama and he just went to sleep.
A few minutes later, my girlfriend and the housekeeper, laid out the body for the undertaker.
I had been at George’s quiet death, just like I had been at the birth of all three sons.
Looking Back
George died ten years ago and his death has left some marks on my mind.
- Because of our early relationship, some of my grief for George was more like that of a mother.
- George died a peaceful death, which with modern medicine should be almost a right for many!
- His death has driven me to fund and take part in medical research, especially for pancreatic cancer.
- I also feel strongly, we should steer clear of cannabis, eat sensibly and check as many as possible for coeliac disease.
But now above all, I have no fear of Covid-19 or death.
Thoughts On Coeliacs And Covid-19 In Cambridgeshire
I was diagnosed as a coeliac by Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.
- One of the consultants there told me, that they had a very high number of coeliacs on the books and the number was one of the highest in the country.
- I also used to eat in Carluccios in the centre of Cambridge and the manager once told me that they did an Annual Dinner for the local branch of Coeliac UK.
- He also told me, that they had the highest gluten-free sales in the group.
I think it is fairly likely that Cambridge has a lot of diagnosed coeliacs.
But it is not a place with health problems, that jump out of the pages of the tabloids.
My theory is that because Cambridge does a lot of gastroenterology research, they have a good rate in finding coeliacs.
So how is Cambridgeshire doing in the COVID-19 pandemic?
In Five Eastern Counties, I said this about COVID-19 in Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, where a lot of patients go to Addenbrooke’s.
- Cambridgeshire – 673 of 852,523 or 0.08%
- Suffolk – 936 of 768,556 or 0.12%
Both seem to be low. How do they compare to Oxfordshire?
- Oxfordshire – 1515 of 887, 564 or 0.17%
I wouldn’t have thought that Oxfordshire would have a rate twice that of Cambridgeshire!
- The counties are similar in population.
- Both have proportions of industry, farming and academia
- The cities of Oxford and Cambridge are similar in character
Could it be that Addenbrooke’s has diagnosed most of the coeliacs in Cambridgeshire?
I’m no medical expert, but someone should look at it!
A Thought On Deaths Of The Elderly From Covid-19
It has been shown, that a lot of the deaths from Covid-19 are over seventy.
I am seventy-two and a coeliac, which was diagnosed when I was fifty.
As my GP practice nurse said at the time of my diagnosis, as we read my doctors notes together, the signs are there of coeliac disease in a lot of my visits to a doctor.
So why wasn’t I diagnosed earlier?
- There wasn’t a test for young children until 1960, so my early bad health couldn’t be diagnosed.
- No clue as to my problems was obtained until an elderly but extremely competent locum decided that my blood should be analysed as a fiftieth birthday present. I had no B12 and was running on empty.
- Eventually, I was sent to Addenbrooke’s and I was diagnosed by a blood test. I suspect it was a trial of a new genetic test, as I got the result by post in two days.
How many undiagnosed coeliacs are there in those over seventy, who because they are coeliacs, have a compromised immune system?
I would be undiagnosed but for that elderly locum!
How many other coeliacs are there in the UK population?
- Age UK has a figure of twelve million who are over 65 in the UK.
- If 1-in-100, as stated by Coeliac UK, in the UK are coeliac, that is 120,000 coeliacs over 65.
Note that as of today 177,388 have been diagnosed with Covid-19.
Conclusion
Many of those 120,000 coeliacs will have been born before 1960 and have a high probably of not having been diagnosed. for the simple reason, that a childhood test for coeliac disease didn’t exist.
Will these undiagnosed coeliacs have a compromised immune system, that makes them more susceptible to Covid-19?
It has been said, that a good immune system helps you fight Covid-19!
My Strange Skin
As a coeliac, a stroke survivor on Warfarin and a lab rat for a medical research centre, I’ve had my blood taken many times in the last ten years. I also have several injections a year for vitamin B12 and a yearly one for flu.
I never need a plaster, as despite being on Warfarin, once the needle is taken out, the skin seems to shut the hole tight.
On the other hand on a typical night, I’ll lose just over a kilo in weight, whilst I sleep. I once spoke to a sleep expert on the radio and they said that was normal.
But the funniest thing that happened, was one day not unlike today for weather with rain about and not cold, I fell asleep on the living room floor in my underwear.
About half-an-hour later, I awoke and thought for a moment, that I’d gone blind, as I couldn’t see a thing.
I then realised that the room was full of water vapour, as if I’d left the kettle on the stove. But I have an automatic kettle and there was nothing on the stove.
So where had all the water vapour come from?
There was only one place! It had leaked from my skin and the temperature and pressure, were just right for the fog to form.
My skin is often very dry and I usually start the day with a deep bath, when I put my head under the water and irrigate my dry eyes, which an eye surgeon, once described as the driest he’d seen.
Prue Leith’s Solution To The Flour Shortage
I was watching BBC Breakfast, when Prue Leith was interviewed about the shortage of flour.
When asked for her solution to the problem of making cakes without flour, her answer was forthright.
- She said the best thing to do, was to buy a gluten-free cookery book.
- She then gave some ideas for cakes.
As a coeliac I thoroughly approve.
Alert Over Child Inflammation Cases
The title of this post, is the same as that of an article on The Times.
Someone has posted this comment,
It’s Scarlet Fever. My grandson just had it . It responded instantly to antibiotics, so it can’t be viral.
Get a grip!
And this was my reply.
Strange you should mention scarlet fever.
I’m 72 and growing up in a polluted Southgate in North London from all that domestic coal smoke, I was quite a sickly child.
At about six, I caught scarlet fever and was isolated at home for about eight weeks. Strangely, it was an isolated case as my GP told my parents, that I was the only case in London.
Doctors, who I’ve discussed this with since, suspect it could have been a misdiagnosis.
But, I have another explanation.
At 50, I was found to be coeliac and I think it was an extreme reaction to gluten, perhaps brought on by the pollution. My medical records of that time have also been lost.
Not for nothing, does one doctor call coeliac disease, the many-headed hydra!
I didn’t think that scarlet fever was still about.
Is Undiagnosed Coeliac Disease A Possible Explanation For High Deaths From Covid-19 Amongst Those Of Caribbean And Jewish Heritage?
In The Times today, they publish a list today of deaths per 100,000 people, who died in hospital from Covoid-19.
- Caribbean – 70
- Any other black – 48
- Total black – 43
- Indian – 30
- Any other Asian – 27
- All Asian – 27
- African – 27
- Overall – 26
- Pakistani – 26
- White British – 23
- Bangladeshi – 20
Some things jump out from the data,
- Those of Asian, African and Pakistani heritage have death rates similar to the general population.
- Bangladeshis do rather well, which is contrary to the expectations of some people.
- Those from the Caribbean, fare much worse than other black groups and Africans.
In the statistics, one group of immigrants were ignored. I live in Hackney and there have been a large number of Orthodox Jewish immigrants to the borough in recent years. From statements, by the Chief Rabbi, in The Times and on BBC Radio, he is worried and has closed all the synagogues under his control. Separating this group might give an insight into the data.
Recently my GP, asked if I had been vaccinated against measles, as Hackney is a measles hotspot. I haven’t been vaccinated, but I have had the disease. Apparently, the Orthodox Jewish groups have low vaccination rates.
I am also coeliac, which means I have a gluten allergy. Mine comes from an Ashkenazi Jewish line from the Baltic, but coeliac disease is also present in the Irish and some West Africans. In these three groups, historic famine seems to be the cause. Over the years, I have met several coeliacs from Jamaica and other islands in the West Indies, but never have I met any from Asia or East Africa.
Various research into coeliac disease has shown, that as many as one in a hundred of the UK population could be undiagnosed coeliacs. I wasn’t diagnosed until I was fifty, twenty years ago, so sufferers do slip through the net.
But research from Nottingham University has also shown, that coeliacs on a gluten-free diet are less likely to suffer from cancer, than the general population. Could this be because this group has a strong immune system, which gets an immune response in early on the cancer?
Undiagnosed Coeliacs And Pollution
I can speak of this with authority, as that was me as a child.
I grew up in Southgate in North London and the air was polluted with the smoke from domestic coal fires. I suffered badly and was a very unhealthy child, who regularly had three months off school.
My health improved about ten and it could have been one of three factors.
- I was exercising more, having learned to ride a bike.
- My parents had bought a house in Felixstowe, where we tended to spend lots of boring weekends and holidays.
- The Clean Air Act of 1956 had cleaned up London’s air.
My breathing certainly improved and I was a good enough athlete to make a school team at fifteen.
Recent research has shown, that there can be a link between air pollution and COVID-19. I wrote about this in Air Pollution May Be ‘Key Contributor’ To Covid-19 Deaths – Study.
These days, even in a polluted street, I don’t suffer much at all, but then I’m on a strict gluten-free diet!
Although, I do find that my breathing improves in the Spring, when we start to get longer days with lots of sunshine.
Undiagnosed Coeliacs And Strokes
I had my serious stroke because of atrial fibrillation. My father died after two serious strokes. He must have been coeliac, so were his strokes caused by the same reason as mine?
I have talked with cardiac specialists and they have felt, that my fifty years as an undiagnosed coeliac could have damaged my heart muscle to cause the atrial fibrillation.
Slavery
It would not be right to ignore slavery.
Millions of Africans were taken from West Africa to America and the Caribbean and they were probably fed nothing more than bread and water most of the time.
Did this increase the predominance of coeliac genes in those that survived the horrific treatment?
What Are The Bangladeshis Doing Right?
As a coeliac, if I’m stuck in a town, that is unknown to me and I need a meal, I’ll often go to the smartest Indian (Bangladeshi?) restaurant, as I’ve never found one with cloth tablecloths and napkins, that doesn’t do good gluten-free food. The only wheat they use is in the nans!
So has this diet given Bangladeshis a good immune system?
What Is The Figure For Jewish People?
In this article in The Times, Melanie Phillips says this.
As of last Friday, 335 British Jews had died of the virus, more than five times their proportion in the population.
Wikipedia gives the number of British Jews as 263,346 in the 2011 Census.
A rough estimate using these figures gives a figure of 127 per 100,000 of the population.
Conclusion
Could undiagnosed coeliac disease be the unexplained link as to why people with Caribbean heritage have higher deaths than those with African?
Queuing For Marks And Spencer In Dalston
I took this picture of the orderly queue waiting to get into Marks and Spencer in Dalston.
It does appear that everybody was obeying the rules and I only took twenty minutes to enter the store.
- The store was well-stocked, although there were very few ready meals with long Best Before dates.
- Gluten-free bread, biscuits and cereals were at near normal levels.
- There were about a dozen bottles of Adnams low-alcohol beer on the shelves, which I reduced by a couple.
- There were no gluten-free cakes. Not that I buy them often.
- Some lines like gluten-free sandwiches seem to have been dropped. Not that I wanted any, as I won’t be travelling.
- The staff were being very professional.
I was able to get enough food in my bag to get me through to the middle of next week.
A Glorious Sight In Marks And Spencer In Dalston
I get through almost a dozen bottles of Adnams 0.5% alcohol beer in a week
Marks And Spencer in Dalston has both varieties.
As my body says the beers are gluten-free, I am grateful for small mercies.
But then, I’ve been drinking Adnams since I was about fourteen!
A Toned Down Automatic Leon In Leeds Station
Leon have opened a new outlet in Leeds station.
It’s toned-down with an automatic order facility.
The Anonymous Widower 