Since being diagnosed with osteoporosis last fall, my life has taken surprising turns. But I didn’t expect it to lead me (and my mother) to meet the Queen in the Morning Room at Clarence House.
I was invited because of my campaign in this newspaper to raise awareness of this deadly bone disease, particularly to help people receive an early diagnosis by making fracture liaison services available across the country.
At the reception I was presented with a certificate of gratitude in the presence of Her Majesty. I felt a surge of pride as I supported her and when she expressed her “great gratitude” for the work this newspaper has done.
“It’s really put osteoporosis on the map,” he said. ‘Can I beg you to go ahead…it makes a huge difference to many people who would otherwise go undiagnosed?’ At that moment, it was full.
The lead-up to reception was stressful: in impeccable timing, earlier in the week I not only had a stye in my eye, but also an emergency visit to the dentist.
Mail on Sunday journalist Ruth Sunderland and her mother meet the Queen in the morning room of Clarence House.
Queen Camilla with the winners of the inaugural Queen’s Award for Osteoporosis at Clarence House on October 3
Only with industrial amounts of makeup did I avoid looking like a peasant in a Breughel painting. I was shaking with anticipation when we arrived at the reception, an intimate event with 20 guests. Mom, however, was immediately home.
She didn’t feel intimidated in the least and could have been in the back kitchen. Within moments, he was chatting to actress Susan Hampshire, a celebrity ambassador for the Royal Osteoporosis Society.
It meant a lot that my mother, Lyn Hunter, who is in her indomitable 80s, was there with me. Mostly because he wanted to make it up to her. The weekend I had the fracture she diagnosed me with a year ago, she had traveled from Teesside to see me in London.
Instead of a lovely mother-daughter dinner, she was stuck for five hours with me in the A&E of St Thomas’ Hospital in London. As she said, she thought the days of taking her children to the hospital with a broken bone were over years ago.
Unfortunately, however, osteoporosis is often a mother-daughter issue. The mother has not been diagnosed, but having a father with the disease is a risk factor.
The Queen, who is president of the Royal Osteoporosis Society, became involved because her mother and grandmother suffered terribly from the disease.
“There is still a big stigma” about osteoporosis, the Queen said in a conversation with us.
This is despite the fact that it affects half of women over 50 and one in five men.
The Queen spoke movingly about her mother Rosalind Shand, who died of osteoporosis aged 72 in 1994.
“All those years ago, no one talked about it,” the Queen said, adding that back then signs of the disease, such as a “dowager’s hump” or loss of height, were considered aging.
“My mother went to the doctor and he told her: ‘You’re old, of course you’re going to have a hump,'” the Queen said.
The Queen commented that Ruth’s work had ‘put osteoporosis on the map’
Queen Camilla, president of the Royal Osteoporosis Society, became involved because her mother and grandmother suffered terribly from the disease.
‘We all felt very guilty because we thought she was making a lot of fuss. We couldn’t believe that someone would suffer so much pain; We didn’t know why he was screaming like that. He lost six to seven inches in height. She couldn’t do anything.’
The Queen asked Mum if she also had osteoporosis. “No, not that I know of,” Mom replied. —Have you ever been examined? ‘No…’ Mom admitted.
“Well, that’s the thing, no one was controlled in your generation,” the Queen said. ‘Now younger people are diagnosed. I suspect that would have been the case in your generation, but no one knew because no one checked.
“At least,” the Queen added, turning to me, “you can do something about it” and asked if I was receiving treatment.
When I told her I was taking Evenity, a bone-strengthening medication, she responded: ‘They (the treatments) are amazing. I have seen many people completely rejuvenated.” I said I wanted to be well so I could take care of mom. “It’s the other way around,” Mom objected.
Her Majesty spoke of the importance of scans, known as DEXA, which identify osteoporosis.
“It’s very important for doctors to realize that when people come in with a broken bone, they should get a DEXA scan because that’s the way to detect it,” he said.
My campaign at The Mail on Sunday has been to achieve exactly that: rapid diagnosis and treatment after the first fracture.
If this happens, there is a good chance that patients will not break any more bones and will be able to live well.
I want to see an end to a cruel postcode lottery that condemns millions of people to have their lives ruined by avoidable fractures.
Fracture linkage services (FLS) are the gold standard. They pick up patients who come to the hospital with a broken bone and offer them a DEXA scan that will determine if they have osteoporosis.
The Queen spoke movingly about her mother Rosalind Shand, who died of osteoporosis aged 72 in 1994.
But FLS is only available in around half of the NHS trusts in England. It is offered in Scotland and Northern Ireland and full coverage is promised in Wales.
At the Labor conference, Health Secretary Wes Streeting promised to deliver on his promise to roll out services across England by 2030.
But there are fears the Treasury could backtrack on the £30m cost, although that is a fraction of the burden on the NHS to treat osteoporosis victims.
Craig Jones, chief executive of the Royal Osteoporosis Society, said the Mail on Sunday campaign had “shattered stereotypes” and highlighted the fact that “younger people in work, at the peak of their career, suffer from this condition.” “.
Dr Nicky Peel, a consultant physician at the University of Sheffield, received the Queen’s Award for 30 years of excellent work on osteoporosis.
When the event was over, I was on the verge of tears, but Mom took it in stride. “The Queen is charming… and some very delicious shortbread cookies,” he said.