Derek Telfer My name is Derek Telfer. Age 46. Scottish, and former retail manager for over 17 years, including a Tesco Store Manager, direct salesman for 6 years, and now a Gold level Kleeneze Distributor. Since the age of 15, I have been a keen weight trainer, competing bodybuilder and basically a grafter at whatever profession I had ventured into.On May 15th 1995, I was brutally attacked near Waterloo Station from behind by 2 men out of their heads on drugs, who put me headfirst through a shop window. I didn’t see it coming, and although at that time I weighed a very powerful 161/2 stone at 6ft 3in, it did me no good, as I wasn’t given the chance to defend myself. As I lay half-through this window, they took my wallet and then kicked my back with steel-capped boots for what seemed like minutes and eventually I passed out. The next thing I knew, I was in a wheelchair outside the A&E Dept at St Thomas’ Hospital. Apparently a taxi driver saw the blood from my head wound running into the gutter and picked me up, placed me at the Hospital and drove off, not wanting to get involved. My head wound was glued back together, and although my back was looked at, no scans were done. I was taken home and given some painkillers. Although my back was black & blue from one side to another, I never realised at that time what damage had been done internally, until the next day when I collapsed, unable to move in my living room. I was paralysed from the waist down! I hammered on the wall of the room and my neighbour came round, took me to Hospital and there, eventually after an MRI scan several days later, I had an emergency discectomy. 2 of my discs were so badly squashed that the nerves around them were destroyed and had to be removed to make some feeling return to my legs. I was released some time later and spent the next year on crutches, suffering many episodes of excruciating pain, which resulted in 25 ambulance callouts in the first 2 years after the operation. To this day I have constant bilateral sciatica (both legs and back), and very often muscle spasms brought on by the simplest of little movements, like picking up something from the floor. Whilst employed, my Private Health Cover allowed me to have 8 Epidural (Cortisone) injections into my spine every 3 months to help alleviate some of the pain. Now, at £800 a session, that is a luxury that I am working towards again ASAP. I do have an appointment for a consultation with the same surgeon on NHS for this procedure – in one year’s time from now! I continued to weight train as the consultants said that the muscle development that I had built up was basically what was keeping me upright, and if I stopped, I would be permanently on sticks! In March 2002, I came 2nd in the London & SE Britain qualifier for the over 40’s Mr Britain competition and qualified for the Mr Britain Finals. At age 42, with a back injury, (and without taking drugs like most of them), I was amongst the top 20 physiques in the country of 60million people. That dream had taken me 27 years of training to achieve! After finally getting myself into employment again, I had so much time off for Hospital episodes or treatment that an agreement was made this year to terminate my job in a call centre on medical grounds, and be as they called it “unemployable”. I had joined Kleeneze at the end of March 2004 to try to earn an extra £50 per week and also to get myself mobile again after being “chained” to a desk, computer and headset for 8-9 hours a day. The combination of focussing on something that I was in control of, plus the short distances I was walking on a regular basis seemed to help me mentally keep my pain in a manageable state. My medication still involves 8 x 800mg Ibuprofen /day, 4-6 codeine and almost every day 1-2 Diazepam (Valium). None of which actually touch the pain! What does help me much more to be honest is the knowledge that since no-one else is going to change my life for me, I have the chance to take control of this deck of cards I’ve been dealt and make the best of a bad situation. No one has a miracle cure and further surgery may even put me in a wheelchair for life! I now have the chance to go out when I want to, sit at the computer when I want to, make phone calls when I want to, drop or collect catalogues when I want to. As you may know, your back/nerve pain often dictates what you can or can’t physically do. But with Kleeneze, You have choices! Trust me, this opportunity offers you an awful lot more than just the chance to make money. The personal development that I have undergone in the last 20 months alone has made it worth it for me. Do not hesitate about doing this! You will regain confidence. Have some pride that you’re not just sitting back watching other people get on with their lives and you will develop mental strength that you didn’t know you had. If I can do this even while using a walking stick 3-4 days /week, plus help run a household with 3 teenage step-kids, then you can certainly do it.