I think my husband saw an advertisement in a local newspaper looking for volunteers to take part in a trial for hay fever, specifically looking for people who were allergic to grass pollen. He was very keen on this because he suffers quite badly from hay fever, and he suggested I get involved as well. I’m not quite as bad as him but it still has quite an effect every summer. So we contacted the hospital and went along for an interview.

 

One of the benefits of doing the trial was they provided us with hay fever drugs. This obviously saved us a lot of money. [laughs] We had pills, like Clarityn or whatever it was, and eyedrops and nasal inhalers as well. And so we just monitored whenever we felt we needed to use them to help alleviate the symptoms. The main reason I think we both got into it - we realised it was quite a big time commitment - was just the impact that having hay fever has. And the first thing is you think of yourself and you think, “Well, you know, if this thing does work, it’ll make my life a little bit easier for the next three summers.” And then the next thing you think of is of course if it’s proven to be effective and they release it widely, it could bring respite from the summer torture of hay fever for a lot of people. So that was the main reason for getting involved.