Self medication helps patient live fuller life

KAREN Cannon - taught to medicate herself at home

A GRANDMA from Saddleworth has gained a new lease of life after health staff taught her to medicate at home.

Karen Cannon (53) has to take intravenous (IV) fluids, magnesium and heparin as well as other medication due to having acute kidney disease.

The Diggle-based gran-of-one and mum-of-three had a bone marrow transplant and chemotherapy to treat cancer.

However, the transplant led to a medical complication known as Graft-versus-host disease (GvHD), whereby the donated bone marrow views the body as foreign, and attacks the body. This means Karen's immune system must constantly fight the new bone marrow.

Faced with this battle Karen previously had to attend hospital for eight hours a day, twice a week, to receive fluids and medicines through a drip.

But she has been saved from constant hospital visits after staff at Butler Green Enhanced Intermediate Care Centre stepped in and trained her to use an IV drip safely at home.

Karen said: "Before I was always going backwards and forwards to hospital. I'm under a lot of different consultants but with the IV I was just sitting around all day.

"Now I have so much more freedom and flexibility and so much less stress.

"The staff at Butler Green provided me with all the equipment and gave me the confidence to use it and it really has changed my life."

The grateful gran thanked staff at the Chadderton centre, which is overseen by Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, for teaching her to medicate herself at home.

Administering her own IV medicines has enabled Karen to fit her treatment in around caring for her family as well as giving her the freedom to enjoy caravan holidays in the UK.

Manager at Butler Green Vicki Elcock said: "We know people don't want to spend time in hospital when they could be administering medications at home.

"By providing this training we're allowing them to fit their IV medicines around their life and freeing up hospital beds for those most in need."