Helen Barrett Bright Ideas Awards: Jimmy’s story

My CF journey is probably a little bit different to a lot of people with CF. My CF got missed at birth, so when I started getting chest symptoms around the age of five or six, the GP diagnosed it as asthma, prescribed me an inhaler, and sent me and my mum on our merry way. Obviously that had no impact on my symptoms at all, so we spent a couple of years going back and forth to the GP. 

We went on a family holiday to Poland, to visit my mum's side of the family, and my aunt and uncle, who are both doctors told my mum to push for a chest X-ray. By this time, I was getting so out of breath and coughing so much on the way to school that I would be sick. So finally I got referred to Leicester Royal Infirmary and had a chest X-ray and this led to a sweat test. I was eight years old when it was finally confirmed. At that point, my younger brother was also diagnosed with the condition. He was about five. It was a complete shock.

I remember one of the first times a CF nurse came out to our house to do lung function tests and talk through physio and nebulisers at our home, my mum was having a private chat with her in the other room about our prospects and our life expectancy. I overheard it and I was worried I was going to die. I just spiralled. It was a really difficult time for all of us.

Leaving home

I wanted to be as independent as possible. I really resented being mollycoddled and being told I couldn’t do certain things. So when I got the opportunity to go to university, I didn’t apply to any universities in my local area. I wanted to break out and have that independence.

After university I wanted to become a graphic designer. My first graphic design job was an entry-level position at a local studio, checking all of the artwork before it was sent to print. I was the only person in that role, so I struggled with getting my managers to allow time off. They would tell me I couldn’t have the morning off to go to clinic. I had to tell them that this wasn’t like a dentist’s appointment – I didn’t have the luxury of being able to decide when to go. Within a short space of time after that I was let go from that position, and it really shattered my ambitions in the creative field. It had a real impact on my mental health, which resulted in not being able to work for the next three years.

Then I decided to approach the Prince’s Trust and launch myself as a freelancer through their enterprise programme. I worked as a designer for five years until I got the opportunity to go back and work for the Prince’s Trust helping other young people as a Youth Development Lead.

From tiny acorns

Then I started developing this idea of doing online retail. It started off as a hobby first, and then I started taking it more seriously in the last few years. I would pick up things like video games or vintage stuff and sell it on eBay as a bit of a sideline. I quickly found out that I had a bit of a knack for spotting things and knowing if they would be worth something to someone. 

Once I decided to take it a bit more seriously, I decided to set up my own eBay store, Retrograde Arcade, and gradually expanded what the store offered. For a while the focus was video games, but over the course of the pandemic, the main emphasis has shifted to trading cards, building a focus around older out of print cards from the 90s. Now I’ve got customers based in North America, throughout the EU, Australia and a small group of customers in South America as well.

I found out about the Helen Barrett Bright Ideas Awards on the Trust’s Instagram page and I thought it would be so useful for taking the business to the next stage. I thought, the worst that’s going to happen is they say no.

Thanks to the award, I’ve ran a marketing campaign in Australia to grow my customer base there. It helped to cover the cost to take out an advert in an event programme at the London Card Show earlier this year and I am now in the process of building my own website for the business. I’m now confident I can continue the momentum I’ve created, really increase my international sales and establish it as a small but worldwide brand. I was really overjoyed that I was considered, and I’m excited to crack on and put the money to good use!

My long-term ambition is to get to the point where I can be full-time with the business. I’d like to be fully independent and grow the business to a point where I can provide employment opportunities to others who have faced adversity. It’ll be a tricky task and it’ll take some time, but I would love to get to that point. It’s really inspiring to build something from scratch and to see it grow from a tiny acorn into something that can support myself and others.

A life unlimited

When I was a kid, I wanted to be an archeologist, but because of CF I was told I couldn’t work outdoors, because if I was in the rain and the cold I’d get ill. With new treatments like Kaftrio and other medicines in development, it’s giving people with CF the opportunity to break free of those shackles and having the freedom to do whatever they want, whether that’s going travelling or following career paths that might have been closed off previously. A life unlimited to me is the opportunity and the freedom to go on and explore every avenue in life you want to, without CF holding you back.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic condition which causes sticky mucus to build up in the lungs and digestive system. It affects more than 10,800 people in the UK. One in 25 of us carries the faulty gene that causes it, usually without knowing. 

The Helen Barrett Bright Ideas Awards are available for anyone with CF over the age of 18 to help support your dream career or hobby. Whatever you need to make your lightbulb moment a reality, a Helen Barrett Bright Ideas Award can help you on your way.

Kickstart your dream career