We were pleased to welcome Helen Tew of the Butterfly Trust to our 10th October meeting. The Butterfly Trust is a Scottish charity that works to support people with Cystic Fibrosis.

Helen gave an informative and moving illustrated talk about this condition, which affects about 1000 in Scotland. It is a genetically-inherited life-limiting condition, with one in twenty people carrying the gene that causes the disease. The faulty gene damages lungs and pancreas and those affected might expect to live to 30 or 35 years.

A high-protein, high-fat diet is needed and treatment is constant, involving high doses of powerful antibiotics, nebulisers and twice daily intensive physiotherapy. We heard that treatments can be at best unpleasant and can unfortunately at times be painful. At present there is no cure.

The Butterfly Trust was founded in 2002, to provide support to the cystic fibrosis community in Scotland and with the aim of providing access to the support people need in order to enjoy the best possible quality of life in the community.

All help is provided free of charge and is very practical in nature – education, befriending, counselling and emotional support, transport to treatment centres, guidance on employment and with housing, access to financial support, mentoring and, very importantly, a massage service. This latter is provided by professionally trained massage therapists, who donate their time.  

Following questions, an appreciative vote of thanks was proposed by George Hunter – especially since Helen was suffering from a cold, which made speaking difficult.

More about the Butterfly Trust is at www.butterflytrust.co.uk and at www.facebook.com/butterflytrust