Before you ink....try to think

Lonan ditcher is 32 years old. An intelligent fun loving young man who has suffered ill health on and off for several years, fighting Aplastic Anaemia. AA is a life threatening condition requiring extensive therapy such as AGT plus Cyclosporine or bone marrow transplant. However it is treated it is a long and gruelling journey. Lonan has been forever optimistic in the face of this monster. He is a father, a son, a brother a friend. I wish him a long and happy life but know there is a chance I might not get that wish. Something happened a week or so back to really shatter Lonan's peace. Just a comment on Facebook regarding government back to work plans for the sick and disabled. These measures have been widely attacked for the devastating effect they have had on the most vulnerable people in society. Suicides are being reported by people desperately afraid they cannot cope with work, people with mental illness. Reports suggest those with terminal cancer will be made to work if they have more than six months to live and already bosses are being inconvenienced with employees who were too sick to be back in work. What does this mean for Lonan?....nothing, he works right now so this is not an issue for him personally but he knows he needs measures in place for if he cannot work. Lonan mentioned on the Daily Mail Facebook page that he thought disabled and sick people needed their rights protecting and the scapegoating had to stop. He was subject to abuse that I would equal in it's unpleasant nature to the Francis Muamba race abuse tweets. Lonan was told he was a mother fucking troll who if he was well enough to be online he was well enough to work, he was called left wing scum,then suffered abuse from another poster who only backed away when another commentator produced articles to back up Lonan's concerns. But for the night the damage was done and Lonan went into melt down, no doubt the afternoon's events had been the emotional tipping point for a man worried often that he will not see his son reach his fifth birthday. Lonan was actually in a more favourable position than he had been at previous checks. I pray next checks will yield better results. But Lonan who has studied culture across the Himalayas told me he was packing up and going to the place he had been happiest, Bhutan. As lovely as that country is, with it's soaring altitude it is no place for a man who's anaemi has also weakened his heart. So I was very scared. I am good with written words but not face to face. Lonan told me he was sick of the hate. Sick of always fighting someone's hate. He is of part Khmer part Irish Traveller heritage. He has experienced his share of prejudice and that night it was too much. I asked him what he would do in Bhutan and he told me he would probably die happy ...in the land of gross national happiness. All reason for a few hours was out of the window. I wonder had he gone to the airport would have he sulked petulantly before calming down and coming home. What if he had got a flight some place? He seemed intent on being anywhere but here. Morning came...he felt better but frightened me saying he had worked himself into chest pains. They passed and I made sure he was checked over. He was upset to ever think he could have left all his loved ones behind. I told him men have said and done much worse in the heat of the moment. He is a composed and calm man. He has had to be. But the lesson of the night is still fresh in my mind. As I said the comments were equally as cruel as the race hate tweets sent by Liam Stacey regarding the heart attack of Muamba. Unlike Stacey who got 56 days in prison, there is nothing done About those who use disability and illness as a thing to hate people for. At least I do not think there is as I live in the UK and yet to see those who mock the sick, taken to task. If they have been I would love to know. I am angry at the blatant contempt the British government shows the sick and disabled and disappointed at how some in society happily mock the sick. But this is only one reason to write this post. As much as I love social media and know too well we do not live in an age of tepid innocence, I do think it is time for respect online. I have written this post because I think people should see how their comments react upon people they will never see behind the screen. That person who is easy to mock may be going through hell. If you do not like their comments you can respectfully offer an alternate view. If you only wish to hurt someone, think twice. You may never know what being a Prijk can do to someone.