David and raising awareness in National Essential Tremor Awareness Month
Support group attendee David shares his experience of getting involved in March National Essential Tremor Awareness (NETA) Month.
Hello, my name is David Murdoch and I have essential tremor.
I have been a supporter of the National Tremor Foundation (NTF) for many years now. The NTF helped me by providing practical up-to-date information about essential tremor. I feel I have been greatly supported with my tremor because of it. Through the online groups I have been able to connect with other people who have tremor and find support.
David raised awareness of essential tremor
In my opinion, the NTF is invaluable for anyone who is seeking reassurance about a tremor condition. The waiting lists over here to access neurological services are said to be the worst in the UK. I am certain that here in Northern Ireland there must be a lot of people who have a tremor condition, such as ET, who haven’t heard of the NTF and would benefit greatly from it.
This was the main reason why I got fully behind the National Essential Tremor Awareness (NETA) month of March last year, and tried to think of as many places as possible to get the posters put up. I was really appreciative of the templates you provided online that allowed me to get a full page in our local newspaper to raise awareness. My next thought was “where would a person look for information with the hospitals and GP surgeries being unavailable because of the coronavirus situation?” I drew up a list that included churches, MP, local devolved government ministers, local councillors, Citizen’s Advice offices – and then set to emailing or writing a letter to each one of them with a brief covering note and the NTF leaflets. Also, anywhere local that had a noticeboard for community use, e.g.; sub post-offices, supermarkets, leisure centres, etc.… and asked if I could put a poster up. The majority agreed which was fantastic. If you but ask, the worst thing they can say is “no”.
I am looking forward to having another share in this year’s campaign to raise awareness about Children with Essential Tremor. It is exciting to know that I’ll be part of a large group of people who will be doing the same thing in March; and it will be so encouraging afterwards to hear and see how everyone has succeeded in raising greater awareness about tremor.
