National Conference 2023: A report by Hannah Martin


…It felt like my two worlds collided."

We have had lots of positive feedback from delegates who attended our recent Fifth Sense National Conference at Sheffield Hallam University.
Fifth Sense member, Hannah Martin, has written this superb conference report based on her personal reflections, and those of her parents who attended with her.
We’re delighted that the conference made such a difference to Hannah and her family. Hannah has captured the flavour of the event, why Fifth Sense exists, and why she and her family are getting involved to support Fifth Sense.
We’d like to thank Hannah, Migsy and Neil, on behalf of everyone in the Fifth Sense community, for championing our cause!
Hannah's Family Shows Support
Since joining Fifth Sense back in 2021, I have only ever joined online events as I didn’t feel I had the confidence in myself and my anosmia to talk about it openly.
That all changed one year later when I was asked by Fifth Sense to write my story (following an online event discussion where I discovered that there were 80 other people who understood how I felt), this enabled me to confront how I truly felt about losing my smell and taste 11 years earlier. I realised I had found a community of people who could offer support, guidance and understanding, alongside the frustrations of having no options for treatment.
Move ahead another year and I’m writing this after returning from my first live event, the Fifth Sense National Conference. I felt like I was home, among my people. It was fantastic and heartwarming to meet face to face, give hugs and thanks to some of the people for the invaluable support they’d offered virtually. I was able to meet the Fifth Sense team; Mags, Sarah, Helen and Duncan who have all been instrumental in me being comfortable with who I am and reminding me that I am not my condition.
The conference gave me a fantastic opportunity to invite some of my family, to give them a better understanding of the impact of smell and taste disorders. They immediately said yes.
My mum, Migsy, my dad, Neil, and I took some time after the conference to reflect on three questions:
What did you gain from attending your first Fifth Sense conference?
- Migsy: I left the conference with more knowledge, an insight into the support and community that has welcomed my daughter Hannah and given her some confidence back. You are a fabulous bunch of people!! Moving forward to ensure that this fabulous charity can continue its mission, it needs to find financial backing from big business or royal patronage or celebrity endorsement to really secure its future rather than lots of little incomes. I am happy to try and fundraise at the same time ££.
- Neil: I came to the conference with a little knowledge of anosmia and left with a great deal more. Hearing stories from the patients was inspiring; to see how they have adapted to deal with this condition and how dangerous it can be.
- Hannah: I gained more confidence, learning how desperately Fifth Sense and its beneficiaries are fighting all the time to get recognition and understanding across to anybody not impacted by smell and taste disorders. Being able to network with people face to face and express my thanks for the hard work and challenges faced daily by the team was inspiring.
How was the day for you?
- Migsy: I wanted to attend the conference to learn more about smell and taste disorders, I liked the fact that the speakers all had different perspectives on the subject and different personal, medical, scientific backgrounds. Yet they all have one common goal: to raise awareness for smell and taste disorders that have been too long ignored and we have Covid to thank for bringing them into the public limelight.
- Neil: I was shocked how little the NHS and healthcare professionals know and do to help a group of patients that is probably larger than the total number of deaf and blind combined! The work this charity is doing to change this is amazing. A small charity that is growing in all the right ways.
I find it concerning that so few companies are working to help these patients, but it was good to see that one (Rhino Therapeutics) is getting the right backing to start moving forward with their work.
I look forward to the NHS taking on the test for this (but I’m not holding my breath). I like the idea of being able to get a smell test, like getting your eyes and hearing tested.
- Hannah: The lunch prepared by the chef was so thoughtfully put together and was thoroughly enjoyed. I felt exhausted after the whole gambit of emotions I experienced on the day: anxious, excited, sad, inspired, shocked to name a few but really loved getting to spend time with some truly amazing people. It felt like my two worlds collided, bringing my family with me but in a good way as I know they’ve all gained so much from the event.
Did you find any of the presentations particularly helpful / inspiring?
- Migsy: My favourite speaker was Rachel Herz as her talk was very visual, especially the stats of “who would rather give up their sense of smell than a commodity” although at the same time this was quite disturbing to me how little people regard their sense of smell as important and would toss it away so easily.
- Neil: All presentations were well given and at the right level (from some speakers) with a great knowledge and passion for the subject. They were easy to listen to, and more than willing to answer questions.
- Hannah: For me Graham Wynne’s talk on behalf of Rhino Therapeutics was the most inspiring, I thanked him afterwards. Not only are they actively looking at how they can potentially offer treatment options to the likes of myself, they are also paving the way to make it easier for others to follow in their footsteps.