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UK: Les’ Cutting Remarks All For Charity By Helen Barnes 1:49pm Wednesday 17th November 2004 It will be a case of hair today, gone tomorrow for Les Hallam when his prized mop gets the chop on Saturday to raise money for research into Parkinson's Disease. For Les, 48, the fundraising event is doubly important as he was diagnosed with Parkinson's four years ago. The news came as a bolt out of the blue for the HGV driver who used to travel all round the M25 delivering materials to building sites. He said: "I was shocked. It is very difficult to come to terms with, it still is sometimes. "You cannot do a lot." Les may have had Parkinson's for up to a year before his diagnosis as the early symptoms are often difficult to detect, particularly in younger patients. Parkinson's affects the part of the brain that controls movement. Chemicals dopamine and acetylcholine work in balance to transmit messages between the nerve cells and muscles. But in people with Parkinson's the balance is upset and some of the dopamine-producing cells are lost, which can lead symptoms including tremors, stiffness and slowness of movement. Les, of Mayday Road, Thornton Heath, first noticed he had a problem when he struggled to get his lorry into gear with his left arm. After numerous tests, hospital appointments and two operations, Les was diagnosed with Parkinson's. He said: "It is very difficult to cope with especially at my age. I have tremors in my left arm and my right arm is starting to shake." Now he is hoping to raise thousands of pounds for the Croydon Parkinson's Disease Society at a charity night at his local pub the Saints and Sinners. There will be a grand charity auction on the night with prizes including signed football memorabilia from Premiership sides including Arsenal, Chelsea, Crystal Palace and Spurs, as well as meals for two at restaurants in Croydon and a combined TV and DVD player. Pub regular Derek Gauntlett will be auctioned as a slave for the day and the highest bidder on the night will get to shave Les's hair, which he has been growing for the past eight months. Les said: "We came up with the idea of idea of a head shave and within an hour we had designed and printed off a sponsor form and collected £150 from people in the pub." The money will go towards research into the disease and supporting people in the borough who have Parkinson's. The event starts at 7pm at the Saints and Sinners pub in London Road, Thornton Heath. 1:49pm Wednesday 17th November 2004 SOURCE: Croydon Guardian, UK http://tinyurl.com/3oymk * * * Murray Charters <[log in to unmask]> Please place this address in your address book Please purge all others Web site: Parkinsons Resources on the WWWeb http://www.geocities.com/murraycharters ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn