Welcome
Welcome to the personal website of Mike Tawse, The Health-Care Survivor.
I was born with spastic diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy, which affects everyone slightly differently. For me, it has restricted my mobility and muscle control and my eyesight and visual perception were severely limited, which made reading particularly difficult.
I grew up reassured by the knowledge that cerebral palsy was a stable condition, which would not degenerate. In common with many people with congenital (lifelong) disabilities, in the UK, I was put through a mix of special and mainstream education and I was treated by a succession of doctors, surgeons and therapists of all kinds, many of whom added to the toxic cocktail, usually called prescription medication, of which they all seem to be so fond. Therefore, once I accepted my limitations and overcame or managed some other difficulties, it should have been possible to live a life, which was not dominated by my health… or the lack of it.
By the late 1990s, cerebral palsy was ready to remind me that it often has a sting in its tail, about which very few people are told until it strikes. It is true that the underlying brain damage which caused it had not changed, but the cumulative effect of the wear and tear caused to every system of the body simply by living with it, combined with years of toxicity from prescription medication had begun to overpower me and to send my health into a relentless downward spiral. In December 2005, I had finally accepted that this would be my lot for as much time as I had left and that there might not be very much of it.
So much has changed since then; I am now seeing the world with fresh eyes. I have now passed my 40th birthday – I am a survivor of the health and social-care systems of The United States, Canada and the United Kingdom and life is good.
My Serrapeptase Adventure
The remarkable story of “The ‘Miracle’ Enzyme”, Serrapeptase, which gave me back my life in January 2006. It is a great, continuing, health adventure, enabled by the sharing of information on the internet, the airwaves and now in print. It is a story of personal determination, inspired by the kindness of people around the world.
Since I learnt about Serrapeptase, I have been able to move away from medically controlled symptoms, towards naturally sustained good health.
The search for good health has so much more to offer than freedom from illness. It is as much about new insight as new eyesight and as much about new hope as new health.
Mike Tawse
Just before Christmas, 2005, my life was about to change. One of my friends told me about “… an amazing food supplement called Serrapeptase.” As part of my research, at the time, I learnt about the work of the author, broadcaster and natural health advocate, Robert Redfern, The Serrapeptase Guy. Amongst the information, which I found were highlights from interviews, which Robert had given to The Power Hour Radio Show. These recordings were a true gift to me because reading was very difficult for me; they enabled me to find the information, which would change my life. In a very few weeks, the show was to become the integral part of my own story, which it still is today.
On January 3, 2006, with my sceptic’s hat firmly on my head, I took Serrapeptase for the first time, sat back and waited for the results. I did not have to wait for long. Within just 48 hours, my lungs began to clear and over the following few days my lung capacity improved and stabilised. In the following weeks, my heart rate returned to normal and stabilised and my digestive system returned to normal. Before the end of February 2006, I was able to stop taking all my prescription medications and my condition has been stable and continued to improve since then.
By November 2006, my eyesight and visual perception, which were damaged as a direct result, and integral part, of cerebral palsy, had also begun to improve. My eyesight is now within normal range and the improvement continues to this day. Does this mean that the remarkable enzyme, Serrapeptase, can overcome the impact of congenital brain damage? I do not have a complete medical answer to this, but I am enjoying the challenge of finding one. There is now some research, based upon studies of newborns, suggesting that inflammation may be amongst the underlying causes of cerebral palsy. One indicator for this was the elevated level of inflammatory cytokines. I am not yet sure that it is possible to extrapolate from this that reducing the level of inflammation in adulthood, could help to mediate the effect of congenital damage, but am sure that it is a question worth asking, and that the answer will be a fascinating one to find.
My health continues to improve and my enthusiasm for life continues to grow. I am looking forward to the opportunities, which lie ahead, and to the challenges through which I will continue to learn on my way towards reaching them.
The 2009 edition of The ‘Miracle’ Enzyme is Serrapeptase, by Robert Redfern, includes The Mike Tawse Story – From Wheelchair To wings.
My return to good health, and my improved eyesight mean that reading is becoming a useful pleasure. Although fluency is still a challenge, I am sure it is one which I will be able to meet. Being able to read, independently, has enabled me to return to the research and writing, which I started before I became preoccupied with my own health.
The Disability Maze Books
My hope is to encourage a holistic, positive, approach to the assessment of individual needs. There is much evidence to suggest that assessments carried out by professionals in the fields of education, social-care and health, often have a negative focus. In simple terms, the aim of many forms of assessment seems to be to highlight limitations and to focus on the things that someone finds difficult, or impossible. This approach is often referred to as ‘the deficit model’.
One reason for the popularity of deficit modelling is that it gives easily predictable and replicable results. There are obvious advantages for assessors with this approach. The assessor knows, in advance, that someone with a given condition is likely to respond in a particular way during the test.
The major difficulty with deficit modelling arises from this same predictability. It is far too easy to allow our familiarity with given conditions, and the test procedures, to guide us towards familiar responses. The danger is that conclusions and recommendations are not drawn from test results. Instead, recommendations are made from a predetermined stock.
A positively focused assessment will consider the impact of the individual’s needs as well as that of our recommendations. An impact model takes full account of the consequences of our recommendations on all aspects of a person’s life and includes consideration of the impact upon family members, friends and colleagues, whose lives may be changed when a person with a disability gains a new skill or level of autonomy.
Disability can limit the range of an individual’s communication, and his or her degree of independence in day-to-day life. This often means less is possible, less expected, less attempted and less achieved. Limitation breeds the assumption of further limitation. HRH Prince Charles, Prince of Wales once said, “Man’s greatest enemy is not disease but despair”. … [My] approach to Consultation, Assessment, Research and Evaluation (CARE) is grounded in the firm knowledge that this cycle must be broken. There are no magic wands. Nothing can remove a disability and no solution is ever achieved without flexibility, effort and determination. [We must] … provide an effective bridge between a person’s current level of ability and what he or she wants to achieve. It is a bridge whose central peers are potential, motivation and realism.
Mike Tawse
The differences between disability and handicap do not come from the choice of acceptable language; they depend upon the gifts of understanding, acceptance and responsibility. Whatever disability or difficulty I face, can never become a true handicap if I acknowledge two fundamental truths: First, I must understand the limitations imposed upon me by my disabling condition. Then, I must accept my responsibility to overcome them.
Mike Tawse
Thought For The Day
Two of the people who have enabled and inspired my return to good health, suggested that I should publish some of my own thoughts, and my favourite quotations from others, which I had taken to adding to the end of my e-mails to them. I share some of these posts with listeners to The Power Hour.
If I have the energy to complain, then I have something for which to be grateful, but if I have no reason to complain, I should, surely, be grateful for that. If, on the most difficult of days, I can appreciate my freedom to complain, then I find fewer reasons to do so.
Mike Tawse
It is a great gift to be able to learn from other people, but any lesson that is worth learning will be strengthened, not weakened, if you have the courage to question it. If you do not, you will form no opinions of your own and your choices will be controlled by whoever is allowed to fill your mind.
Mike Tawse
It is impossible for a man to be truly free if he will not think for himself, or to fully confine one who will.
Mike Tawse
Do not fear the past; you have already survived it, and its lessons may deepen your understanding. Do not fear the future; you have not reached it, but its potential may inspire your resolve. You may choose to change today, but choose with care; by tomorrow your choices will be the lessons of yesterday.
Mike Tawse