Declan still recuperating

Declan is now getting over his “viral infection”. Gone are the sweats and the shivers and the fever, the only remaining symptom is the headache. When last Friday we returned to the Royal London Hospital (where he was hospitalised from 2-4 October but only treated with Paracetamol tablets and a fan one afternoon to reduce his temperature), he was told he had been discharged and that if he had problems he should go to the hospital’s Walk-In Centre. And what of Declan’s temperature of 39.1C, which had been taken by me with one of the hospital’s own 3M Tempa Dot Single Use Clinical Thermometers? Well, they are apparently quite unreliable things.

So a combination of Paracetamol and the Ibuprofen and Codeine Declan obtained on Friday afternoon from Médecins du Monde (Doctors of the World), as well as almost total inactivity during the weekend, has more or less done the trick – at 9.00am on Saturday, when we were waiting for the Idea Store Whitechapel library to open, Declan’s face was colourless and big drops of sweat dripped from everywhere, really.

I was a bit worried early this morning because we were on our respective pitches at Liverpool Street Station selling The Big Issue and it was raining – Declan got sick after rain got through the bottom of his runners and wet his socks – but no, it looks like the infection is nearly over. It wouldn’t be thanks to the clothes that the Sisters of Mercy-run Dellow Centre gave me yesterday though. First, on Friday morning I was told by the nun in charge of clothes to come back on Monday, and on Monday she handed me an almost empty bag (I haven’t asked her for anything since 11 April and of course I don’t have to dig deep in my memory to remember why). I suspect I am wasting my time having another bash at asking for more clothes – so things on that front are a bit tricky. But perhaps not tricky enough: last night the alarm of the porch we sleep in at night flashed a blue light all night.

On Saturday, Declan wrote to the Registrar of the European Court of Human Rights in further reference to his application of 8 September and with particular regard to his urgent request for expedition of the same date:

Application no. 22541/07
Heavey v. the United Kingdom

                                RULE 41-URGENT

Dear Sir/Madam

In further reference to my urgent request for expedition under Rule 41 of the European Convention on Human Rights made on 8 September 2007 (with particular regard to the reasons cited for the necessity of expedition), I enclose for the attention of the Court copy of Discharge Summary Report of 4 October 2007 from the Royal London Hospital certifying that I was admitted on 2 October with a viral infection.

I also enclose copy of prescription of 5 October 2007 from Medecins du Monde UK for Ibuprofen 400mg for 4 weeks and Codeine Phosphate 30mg for 1 week.

I also re-enclose copy of my letter and enclosures of 22 September 2007 to Chief Superintendent Ken Stewart of Bishopsgate Police Station regarding my (illegal) begging and severe assault on my wife.

I beg to again point out that under the heading “Necessity of expedition”, the aforementioned urgent request for expedition of 8 September states the following:

An urgent expedition is necessary in this instance because of the violations of the applicant's human rights already existing and are likely to be even greater. The right that will be violated is the right to private and family life by the threat to the applicant of being severely assaulted, becoming seriously ill and/or being reduced to begging. This would constitute a threat of irreparable and serious harm. Being reduced to begging is a threat that is imminent given that the applicant’s savings have already been exhausted.

Yours faithfully

Declan Heavey

Mario Capecchi and Oliver Smithies of the United States and Sir Martin Evans of Britain won the Nobel Medicine Prize yesterday for their research with stem cells. Their discoveries on embryonic stem cells developed a technology called gene targeting in mice that can inactive genes, providing information on their roles in various diseases. They can change any gene, disabling or enabling it. The manipulations are carried out in embryonic stem cells, then it's reintroduced to the mouse, where it's incorporated by the germ cells – sperm and eggs – so that the desired change is reliably passed on to a new generation of mice. Evans is widely credited with the discovery of embryonic stem cells.

In relation to NAC’s campaign for embryonic stem cell research, I am still doing my research but getting quite close to figuring out the campaign’s first take action. Declan and I are particularly taken by the work and accomplishments of Italian Luca Coscioni, who, before dying of amiotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2006 at the age of 39, had received the support of 96 Nobel Laureates in his appeal in support of freedom of scientific research. Portuguese Nobel Laureate in Literature, José Saramago, wrote to Coscioni:

Perhaps the support of a mere writer like me might be rather out of place in the list of renowned scientists who, by means of their names and their prestige, have put a seal on the statements made by Luca Coscioni in his letter of 20 March, so clear and moving. In any case, you are welcome to use my name. So that the light of reason and of human respect may illuminate the gloomy spirits of those who still believe, and will always believe, that they are the masters of our destiny. We had been waiting a long time for the day to dawn, we were tired of waiting, but suddenly the courage of a man struck dumb by a terrible disease gave us new strength. Thank you for this.