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9th February 2008
I have
had a busy few weeks. Channel M contacted me and asked
if they could come and interview me for WellChild and
talk about my condition and Charity Ball that I am
having. Beverley Walkden came to interview me, she was
really nice and great fun to talk too, my camera man was
called Mark, he was really cool too. I was on Channel M
on Monday
4th February. Beverley and Mark are both coming my Ball
next week so if you can get Channel M look out for some
clips of my Ball on the News.
I was also asked to do a live TV interview for Channel 5
on Thursday 7th February, both mum and I went down to
London to do the interview for Channel 5 News.
I am
also in the running for the Champion Children's Award
with the News of The World (see my
press clipping
link for more details). I will let you know when I have
any news about the awards. |
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14th
February 2008
Getting very excited now my Charity Ball is on
Saturday, Keith, Pat and Alex from the
Copy Shop,
Cheadle have helped me so much to make this Ball a
success I can't begin to find the words to thank
them all.
I
have been asked to do a live TV interview on Monday
morning 18th February 2008 for channel M, where I
will talk about how my Ball went. I will be on the
breakfast show.
The
Manchester Evening News will be covering the story
too and coming along on the night to take pictures. |
18th February 2008
My
charity Ball went really well, I had over 200
guest including Julie (Haley from Corrie'), Ian
Kershaw (actor/writer), the boys from Eton Road,
Rowetta from X- factor, The Mersey Beetles and
Vince Miller. Guest travelled from as far away
as Holland, Scotland and London. some of my
doctor's and nurse's also attended. Lot's
of money was raised and I will let you know the
full amount when I have collected it all in.
Keith, Pat and Alex Oldfield from the
Copy Shop
, Cheadle, were great and worked really hard to
make night a success. See some pictures below.
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James and Me |
Ian Kershaw, Me and
Julie Hesmondhalgh |
To see some more of my pictures of the night
please click on my
picture
page, you can also read some press write up's
about the Ball by clicking on my
press
cuttings link.
14th March 2008
I
am really pleased to say
my Valentine Ball raised a whopping £23,000,00
and I presented the cheque to Carole from
the wish team on Thursday 13th March along Eton
Road (David, Marcus, Danny and James), Keith and
Pat Oldfield who are my sponsors and just
amazing people.
Please take a look on my
fundraising link for more information.
8th April 2008
I had a great Birthday even thou I did
not pass my driving test, lets face it I
can always take it again so I was not
going to let it ruin my big day.
I had so many Birthday cards from all
over the Globe (36 cards in total),
people who had read my story on Post Pal
sent me gifts too, the team from wish
upon a star sent me a lovely bottle of
Champagne, a teddy and a box of
Chocolates, my friends from the Copy
Shop Pat, Keith and Alex sent me a large
bunch of red rose's, my friend Emily
sent me a teddy, Susanna my friend in
the USA sent me a box of teddies and
lots of other gifts, I also received
lots of money from family members, as
well as gifts from Mrs Ball, Becky and
gifts from some people who I don't even
know, everyone as been so kind and I
would like to say a big thank you to you
all for making my Birthday so special.
I told Mr. Oxborrow (my spinal doctor)
about the book I am writing and he said
he would make a contribution to my book
by writing peace for it too, which I am
really pleased about.
I have also spoken to my ambulance
drivers who have been taking my mum and
me to the hospital every week for the
last three years and they would also
like to make a comment in my book too.
It's taken a long time to write but I
can soon start looking for a publisher
who will publish my book for me. I will
let you all know when I have some luck
with the book. |
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11th April 2008
The
postman knocked on our door this morning and handed me a
large box that contained three balloons wishing me an
happy Birthday and a bag of mini eggs, when I read the
tag it was from Kate Dee, Kate is one of my friends from
Post Pal "thank you" Kate for thinking of me, I love
them.
Manchester
Hero Award
Someone
has nominated me for the Manchester Hero Award, I don't
know who it was, but all I have been told is that
a few people have put my name forward for the award. I
was in the Manchester Evening News on Wednesday, I was
in hospital and one of the doctors came up to me and
said "we have a celebrity on the ward" and I asked him
who it was? and he said "you", he had just read about me
in the paper lol... I really thought we had a celebrity
on the ward too. I was also on the Channel M, TV, News
over the award. I was a little embarrassed because I did
not know why I had been nominated really. I find out in
June if I have won, so I will let you know then.
25th April 2008
My book is
coming along ok and I have had lots of good feed back
from people, all my doctors are
going to write in it too, so it will be interesting to
read there point of view too.
I have
just found out that I am also in the final for the
Huggable Bear Hero Award, which is run by the bear
factory. I find out in May if I am one of the two
winners from the UK to win the award and if I do mum and
me are off to Washington DC for four days in July, I
also win money for my charity and a scholarship for
University, which would be brilliant.
My
1940's night was towards my target to send 30 poorly
children and there families to Centre Parc's for five
day's in July next year. If anyone can help to raise
money for this project please e-mail me, these children
are very poorly and need this holiday.
7th June
2008
I have
just found out that I am one of the 25 winners of the
Manchester Evening News Hero Award, I will be going to a
big award ceremony on Thursday next week and will tell
you all about it next weekend. Each of the winners will
receive a £1,000 reward, which they will be presented
with at a special ceremony on June 12. I am going to use
my money towards getting my book published so that it
can start helping others with NF and Scoliosis. Click on
the picture of me to watch a clip of me that was on the
TV when I was told I had been nominated for the award.
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12th June
2008
This
evening mum and I went to the Manchester Hero Awards,
which was sponsored by Barclays and M.E.N as it prepares
to open it’s flagship branch on Market St. The awards
honoured some exceptional people from across Greater
Manchester. The 25 winners came from all walks of life,
from have a go hero’s to another young boy who raise’s
money for charity. I felt honoured to be part of the
celebration. Kym Ryder presented the awards; we each
received £1000, 00 and a framed certificate.
I would
like to say "Thank you" to the Manchester Evening News,
Barclays Bank and to all the people who nominated me for
the award.
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13th June
2008
They say
Friday the 13th unlucky for some, well, this was not an
unlucky day for me.
Mum said
we were going to the Trafford Centre to get my grans
teddy from the Build a Bear work shop, when I got there
I was busy looking round when the next thing I knew
Helen (the manager) came up to me holding a beautiful
bunch of flowers and a teddy and told me that I had won
the huggable bear hero award for the UK and would be
flying out to Washington DC in July to receive my award,
which is money for my charity and a scholarship to
University, I was total shock and could not believe it.
Channel M filmed it all and later interviewed me, which
was on TV this evening. Click on picture below to watch
interview.
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Helen and Me |
Bearemy, Me and Helen |
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24th June
2008
I have
some great news to tell you, I have passed my driving
test. I am now going to take my pass plus driving test,
by taking the pass plus test I will be able to get
cheaper car insurance and I'll be an even
better driver lol.....
26th June 2008
Passed my
Pass Plus driving test to day and tomorrow is my last
day in college until September.
I have
still got the City Pennant that is signed by Colin Bell,
Francis Lee and Mike Summerbee and comes with a
Certificate of Authenticity. The latest bid on it is
£100,00
so if anyone wants to offer me more please get in touch.
All the money raised from this item will go towards my
next £60,000. target to send 30 very poorly children and
their families on a five day holiday to Centre Parc's
next year.
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4th July
2008
I am off
to Washington DC on Tuesday morning with
my mum and I will tell you all about my visit when I get
back.
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8th July 2008
Mum and I
are off to Washington, DC this morning for the Huggable
Bear Hero Awards so it was up at 5.30am for us both as
we have to be at the airport for 7am. Dad arrived home
early from his night shift so that he could take us.
I had been
told that one of the Build a Bear Associates was going
along too and that his name was Chris, he was traveling
from the same airport as me so I knew he would be on the
same flight, I had been told what he looked like and
when I arrived at the airport both mum and I saw this
young man stood with an older guy we looked at each
other and both said “Chris”. Me being cheeky went up to
him in my wheelchair and asked him if he was called
Chris to which he replied “Yes” looking at me in
amazement, I then said from Build a Bear and he said
“Yes”. So I introduced myself and my mum and we stayed
together for the rest of the journey.
The flight
over to New York was really good the food was nice too.
But we had a four hour delay with our connecting plane.
So we were all very tired after just having a seven hour
plane journey. When we eventually boarded the plane in
NY it was really small and I got out of my wheelchair to
board the plane, mum was told to leave the wheelchair at
the side and that they would fold it up and make sure it
was put on the plane, unfortunately they had problems
trying to fold it and a member of the crew had to get
mum to do it. As mum got up she bumped her head on the
over head baggage compartment (shows you how small the
plane was), I know shouldn’t of but I went in to the fit
of giggles along with half the plane, “Poor mum”. Mum
folded the chair and we were on our way finally getting
to our hotel at 10.30pm Washington, DC time, so it was
like 3.30am for us and we had been up almost 24 hours.
We were
picked up in a limo’ and taken to the hotel where we
were met in reception by a very nice lady from Build a
Bear, she asked us to order a meal and drink and that
she would see us in the morning. When I went up to our
room there waiting for me on the table was this basket
of goodies from Maxine Clark. We were really tired and
managed to get a great nights sleep, the beds were so
comfy.
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My Gift Basket |
Our Room |
9th July
2008
We were up
early as we had to be at breakfast for 7am due to the
busy day that we had ahead of us. After mum and I had
finished breakfast I just had time to head back to our
room and get showered before it was time for my photo
shoot. I was told I would feel like a star for the day,
which I did. I had my hair and make-up done before
heading over to the stylist who had a selection of
clothing and trainers for me to try on. I chose this
really cool multi coloured jacket, a green top, pink
trainers and a pair of sweat jeans (the jeans cost over
£100.00). A few weeks earlier I had picked and dressed
two teddies, one that represented me (I put a blond wig
on it, holding an i-pod) and one other teddy just for
fun. I was photographed holding one of the teddies.
While I was busy doing my photo shoot mum was being
interviewed in this other room about my charity work and
about me (I hope she said some nice things lol..). After
the photo shoot I was told that I could keep all the
clothes that I had chosen apart from the jeans as they
had only borrowed the jeans for the shoot and they had
to give them back, they were really comfy too. Photo
shoot and time for me to do a quick interview.
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My make-up and hair is done |
Photo Shoot |
By now it
was getting on for 11.30am and almost time for lunch, we
were all to meet in the Capital Room C in the hotel as
we were having a Lunch N’ Learn as a Group. We had the
opportunity to meet and learn from some of the beary
special partners with whom Build-A-Bear Workshop works.
I also got to meet all the other 2008 Huggable Hero’s,
who were:
Anna – Colorado, Austin – Arizona, Aymeric -
France, Christina – New York, Dallas – Washington, Emma
– Nova Scotia, Jack – Oakville, Michala – Kentucky,
Rocco - New Jersey, Jasmine – California, there were
also two Associate Huggable Heroes who were:
Christopher, Warrington and Laura, Wisconsin. There was
one other winner Malka – London but Malka was unable to
attend the awards. Each one above names have done
something good for there community, which is why they
have been honored in this way.
After
lunch I attended a Leadership Symposium with some of the
other Huggable Hero’s, we all participated in a special
leadership symposium with a lady called Kathy Cramer. We
got into two groups and worked together as a group. The
Leadership Symposium lasted about two hours.
By now it was 4.30pm and mum and I were free to relax
for two hour. We went for a little walk around
Washington DC but not knowing the area we did not want
to go to far and both being on crutches we could not go
far anyway. We did attempt to find the White House but
went the wrong way.
We all had to meet in the hotel reception for 6.15pm as
we were going to the Hard Rock Café for tea. By now all
the previous five year Huggable Hero Winners had arrived
to mark the fifth year of the awards. Lots of hugs were
being passed around, which was nice to see.
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Outside the Hard Rock Cafe |
Mum and Me inside the Hard Rock Cafe |
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The Hard
Rock Café had stained-glass windows and honors the
rock-and-roll greatest stars. It was really busy and we
waited a while for our food to arrive. We got back to
the hotel about 10.30pm and all decided to meet up in
the hotel swimming pool where we stayed until midnight,
mum and Debbie sat in the hot tub by the pool.
|
We all sit and chat at the pool side |
Rachael and Me in the hot tub |
10th July
2008
Breakfast was not as early this morning so we got a
little to lie in until 7am and down for breakfast at
8.00 am. At Breakfast we were joined by Millicent
Williams Executive Director of Service DC.
After
breakfast all Huggable Heroes from this year and the
previous four years departed to do some community
service activity. We all got a turn at painting a beary
special mural at Lackie Elementary. For lunch we all sat
in a big group having a picnic lunch. Leaving our mark
in Washington, DC felt really good.
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Painting the Mural
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All the Huggable Hero's from the last five
years
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We got
back on the bus for a special sightseeing tour of the
Washington, DC area. We saw the White House, the Lincoln
Memorial and Washington Monument and other classic
sights.
Getting
back to our hotel for about 4.00pm, which gave us two
hour to relax and get changed before heading off for the
Huggable Bear Hero Awards. The awards took place at the
Top of the Hill with Chief Executive Maxine Clark and
Olympic Gold Medal Gymnast, Dominique Dawes, who served
as the evening’s emcee and Michelle Rhee, Chancellor of
the DC Public School system who was one of the keynote
speakers.
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Racchael, Will and Me before the Awards |
.JPG)
The Awards |
The room
was done out beautifully and each table had two teddies
on it. The meal was chicken and tasted really yummy.
After everyone had finished their meal each one of this
years Huggable Heroes were called up to receive their
award from Maxine Clark. I was first up and while I was
going up for the award Dominique Dawes spoken about what
I had done to receive the award as she did for each of
the heroes. The evening was very interesting and
memorable.
We got
back to the hotel about 11.00pm and after having a chat
in the hotel reception we decided we would all meet back
down in the hotel pool for one last splash about. We
went back to our rooms at about 12.30am.
11th July
2008
we were up
early for breakfast I had a quick chat with some of the
new friends that I had made and then went to get some
gifts to take back home while mum went to do packing. I
was given four new teddies, a set of clothes, a book
(which Maxine had written) and lots of other nice things
so mum had a bit of job fitting everything in the case.
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We were
picked up at 12pm to take us back to the airport in the
biggest Limo’ I have ever seen, there was fifteen of us
in including our entire luggage and my wheelchair, so
that will give you an idea of how big it was.
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Inside the Limo' on the way back to the
airport |
2008 Huggable Bear Hero's |
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Chris and
his dad, Nigel were on the same flight as us so we
stayed together. We got back to Manchester just after
7am Saturday morning.
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View form
the Plane. |
On the
Plane with one of my new teddies. |
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The last
few days have been amazing; everyone involved went out
of their way to make it memorable. Both mum and I met
and made friends with some pretty amazing people from
all over the Globe who we now intend keeping in contact
with.
I would
like to say a big Thank You to the following people:
Maxine
Clark, Katie Zeidman, Samantha Fisher, Harriet
Blickenstaff, Jacob Blickenstaff, Jill Saunders, Kristen
Hanneke, Jay Beauvais, Jackie Bauer, Teresa Kroll and
Nicole Spiegel, I have got a feeling I may of missed one
of the guys out and I’m sorry if I have, but you were
all wonderful and I hope that mum and I get the pleasure
of meeting you all again some day.
I can’t
wait to see the Build a Bear calendar when it comes out
later this year. |
29th
July 2008
This evening my Mum and I were
invited to the Didsbury and District Rotary Club meeting where I was
presented with the Charles Austin Volcational Service Award. The
award is named after the late, long serving and much respected,
honourable member of the Rotary Club.
I was nominated for this award by members of
the Rotary Club, which made even more special. The evening started
with us having a three course meal followed by coffee. Linda made a
speech about why I was being given the award (which I have included
in my book) and presented me with a Certificate, £200,00 for my
charity, a portable
DVD
player and a bunch of flowers. Linda then passed over to Phil, Phil
said a few words and then presented me with another Certificate and
a cheque for £100,00 for me to take my family out for a meal.
The evening
was very interesting and both my mum and I were made very welcome.
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Phil and Me
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Linda, Me and Phil
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1st
August 2008
I have got a lot of exciting
things happening over the next few months so please keep visiting my
web page where you will be able to continue to follow my life with
Neurofibromatosis, Scoliosis and all the fun things I get up to.
8th August 2008
I am just waiting for my doctor to send me
their input to my book
and then I am ready to send it off to my
first publisher. I will keep you all informed on how it is going. I
know a lot of you have e-mailed me to ask when will the book be
published but I will let you all know when I have any more news, I
think I will scream it from the top of the world.
15th August 2008
My picture (head and shoulder) is to be
transformed into a 1960’s pop art style image. The design called
localHeads will use photographic portraits and put them up in lights
in a 60s pop-art style, which
will then go on display as part of a
quarter mile long archway of faces which will take pride of place
along Blackpool’s promenade throughout the Illuminations season.
I am one of
six chosen by Granada Reports. I will take pictures as soon as I can
for you all to see.
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19th September 2008:
I have just returned from my two
week trip to Disney World Florida with my Mum and Dad, there
is so much that people take for granted when taking a
holiday, which can be a huge hassle for us.
For example before I was even allowed
out of the country I have to be insured and documents need
to be signed by my Doctor so that I can take my medication
out of the country, then I have to make sure I have got leg
room on the plane because I can’t bend my legs with the
braces on. But everything went well and I had the time
of my life. Disney world was fantastic and we had so much
fun. With the incredibly
infectious songs that play again and again throughout the
Disney parks.
We got to meet Mickey Mouse, Pluto, Goofy, Mini Mouse and
lots of other Disney characters.
We also met up with some good friends of
ours, Andy, Melissa, Amie and Louie, it was great to see
them as we had not seen them for a while. We also met with
Melissa's mum who was over visiting the family. Andy,
introduced us to some of his friends (Ryan and Mike) who I
will tell you more about as I tell you about my holidays.
After having tea and cakes with Andy, Melissa and the
children, Andy introduced us to Mike who owns a Segway
business in Celebration and after giving mum, dad and I a
course on how to ride a Segway Mike kindly took us all out
on a one and half hour ride round Celebration and on to a
nature trail. I was surprised at how well my mum did on it,
dad on the other hand needed the most training. But like all
men he kept making excuses..lol. For more information about
Mike and his Segway's please visit my
Favourite's
page and click on the link for Segaway.
Me riding the Segway
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Dad, Mum and Mike
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We visited Epcot. Ryan (Andy’s friend) from Dream
Tours took us round the Epcot park and got us on all
the rides with his fast pass.
Epcot is one of my favourite Disney parks. It
allows you to travel round the world to China,
Japan, Germany, Great Britain, and other countries
without leaving the USA or the need for a passport.
We went on lots of rides and my mum even went on
Test track(a fast ride for my mum). I will not be
going on Mission Space again... I don't like getting
motion sickness, dad felt really ill when he came
off this ride and so did Robert a friend of Ryan’s
who came with us too, mum had already decided she
was not going to ride it and sat and had a coffee
with Ryan while they waited for us to finish the
ride. For more information about Ryan and his Dream
Tours, please visit my
favourites page and click on Dream Tours.
Mum, Pluto and
Me
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Mum, Me, Mickey
and Dad |
Mum, Dad, Me and Rob |
Mum, Rob, Me
and the ChipMonks |
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Magic Kingdom
has gone from my second favourite park to my
favourite park (just in front of Epcot).
Magic Kingdom is situated on
its own Island, so to get there, you will have to
travel by monorail, or the Mississippi steam boat.
We used the monorail.
There were characters all over the park in
designated spots, and the queues were well managed.
I managed to get the autographs of some of the
characters, and then had photos taken. As you stand
at one end of Main Street, and look towards the
centre of the park, Cinderella’s Castle is the first
thing to strike you. We all went on the Splash
Mountain ride and as I wanted to sit at the front
with my mum we both got really wet. It is a log
flume style ride which starts inside through a
character village with cartoon type alligator, and
then heads outside for the ride. Prepare to get very
wet. I went on Thunder Mountain Railroad, which is
like a runaway mine train. Mum and Dad would not
come on this ride.
Then we went on the Haunted Mansion ride.
You
sit in a car, and it takes you round the mansion,
and out into the garden. At one point, you come
across a mirror, and there is a ghost sat in the car
with you, certainly good for freaking out young
children.
We went on lots of different rides and had a
brilliant day. Towards the evening we lined up to
watch the Parade, which was great fun and lovely to
watch the colourful fibrotic floats, the many Disney
characters and beautiful music that they had
playing. We then watched the fireworks, which looked
over the colour changing Castle.
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Me having some
Funnel cake |
Disney
Parade
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Pluto came over to give me a hug |
Mum and Dad |
Mum, Me and Dad
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Me with the High School Musical
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Typhoon
Lagoon,
which is a water Park and an amazing park, we had an awesome
time here! The rides were crazy, mum enjoyed the Lazy River,
it was a perfect way to relax.
We also decided to go to
Blizzard Beach
to ride the water slides and play in the pool. Our
first stop was to find a place to “camp” – a term that means
to have a place to return to when we want to rest.
Our
first ride was the Double Tube slide. It was great. The walk
up the mountain to get to the entrance of the slides was a
bit too much for my mum and me. Mum and I were looking for
the oxygen relief at the first set of stairs! However, the
slide was well worth it!
Next it was onto the Toboggan Racer Slide
with my dad. This was incredible! You lie down
on your belly and use the more traditional water slide mats
– except these have handles, which you need to hold on to
and you literally fly down the slopes. Eight lanes of
racers launch each time down straight lanes that drop at
different intervals. We were exhausted. Each
night before we went to bed we said we were getting up early
the next day, but each morning, we did not get up until at
least 9a.m.
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Blizzard Beach |
Dad and Me |
Dad and Me |
Lazy Pool |
Taking pictures under water
|
.JPG)
Fish |
We went on a ghost hunting tour of
Kissimmee and managed to get some really cool pictures.
I really did have a great holiday. but I missed my brother. |
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2nd October 2008:
I am fundraiser of the month on Justgiving.com. I was
nominated by my mum (thank you very much mum for nominating
me), and the guys at Justgiving’ donated £25 on my
Justgiving page for my When You Wish Upon a Star Appeal. You
can read what they wrote about me by visiting:
Fundraiser of the month, September 2008.
Thank you to the
guys
at justgiving for picking me as
their
fundraiser of the month and for the £25.00 donation.
I
would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone
who has kindly made donations on my justgiving page, you
really are helping to make a poorly child's dream come true.
"Thank You".
|
This is the picture of me, which has been
transformed into a 1960’s pop art style image and
is part of Blackpool lights, which
is
placed
along Blackpool’s promenade throughout the Illuminations season.
The guy on the top left of me is one of the other winners and the
pictures at the bottom are of Tony Morris and Lucy Meacock who both
present Granada Reports News.
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27th
October 2008
I was asked by the Build a Bear work
shop if I would go and help with children in Need fund
raising event they were having at the Trafford Centre on
Wednesday. The morning went really well and the young
children had a great time playing games and dancing about. I
had my face painted to look like Pudsey Bear.
can you
tell which is me in the picture? |
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27th
November 2008:
I have
been nominated for the Manchester Community Award and have just
found out that I am in the finals and will be attending a
presentation evening on the 10th December when I will
find out if I am one of the winners.
On the 11th December I am in a performance at college, which I will
be marked on for my grades, I should of been in a performance on the
10th December too, but my tutor "Pete" kindly allowed me to have the
evening off so that I can attend the awards evening. "Thank You
Pete". I will let you know how the evening went.
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10th December 2008:
I attended
the Manchester Community Awards this evening with my mum,
Brad and good friend, Lesley. I was in the final three to be
named The Young Citizen of the Year.
The finalists were honored at a glitzy
Town Hall ceremony, hosted by the Lord Mayor of Manchester
and Gordon Burns off BBC North West Tonight.
The event was made possible by generous
sponsorship support from a number of Manchester businesses
which provide services to the communities of Manchester and
have a commitment to improving the quality of life for
residents.
A special champagne reception for all the
guests attending the glamorous ceremony was hosted by Xerox,
in the Lord Mayor's Parlour.
I was
shocked when my name was called out as the winner. I
received a large glass trophy with my name engraved on it
and £300. My award was sponsored by Northwards Housing.
Martin Joyce, Managing Director of
Enterprise Manchester, who sponsored the Pride of Manchester
Award said: "Enterprise Manchester are very proud to award
Gloria Barnwell the Pride of Manchester in recognition of
her invaluable contribution to Manchester's communities. He
also referred to the unprecedented decision they made to
award an extra "runner up" in the category, adding: "We are
also very pleased to make a special commendation to Kirsty
Ashton in the Pride of Manchester category, for her
remarkable achievements in the face of adversity." For this
I received a further £250.00, a framed certificate and a
£500.00 donation to my charity. I would like to say a big
thank you to everyone involved in the awards the night was
most enjoyable and well done to all the winner’s: Anne
Tucker from Rusholme won the Contribution to the Environment
Award, Gina Hall won the award for Creativity in the
Community, Karen Harris and Gwen Davies, who run the
Manchester Stingers Women's Football Club, Connie
Strongitharm from Longsight won the Lifetime Achievement
award, Gordon Binns The Good Neighbour Award and Gloria
Barnwell, who won two of the award categories: Citizen of
the Year and Contribution to the Community. I would like to
say well done to all the runners up too. It was great being
in room full of wonderful people.
The entertainer for the night was "The Crooner", if you
have been following my blog you will know that Tony, The
Crooner attended my first charity Ball, he is such a great
guy with a fantastic voice. It was lovely to see him again.
Below are some picture's from the evening,
I will try and get some more up for you soon.
11th December 2008:
Tonight was my college performance, why is it you always get
a cold when you have perform in front of people. Lol…..
Never mind, it went well and everyone enjoyed the evening.
See some of the picture's from the
play below.
It’s been a mad few days, my gran was
also taken into hospital with a chest infection, but pleased
to say she is much better and came out of hospital on
Friday. She's still got a bad chest infection but at
least her temp' his down now.
|
|
17th December 2008:
Yesterday I was given the biggest surprise of my life,
I went to
college like any normal day, dressed like a scaly, I had
this nagging cold, so did not really feel like lessons.
Peter (my tutor) asked me to lead the lesson, I was doing my
work when Calvin Valentine (Ricky Whittle) entered the room
with a camera crew and said I’m looking for Kirsty Ashton, I
was like eer, eer, Hi! He said “do you know why I’m here”? I
said “no”, he said “well come over here and give me a
cuddle”. He said I had done so much for other poorly
children, that they had decided to do something for me and
that he was going to take me to Liverpool to look round the
Hollyoaks set and that I would meet the cast, I was buzzing.
I went in Calvin’s car to Liverpool (some cool car that he’s
got I can tell you).
Ricky showed me round the Hollyoaks set, which was being
filmed the whole time, he then said I hear you like Andy who
plays Rhys, I was like erm, no comment, I think you are all
fit lol…
Calvin introduced me to Newt (Nico Mirallergo), then Rhys
spoke to me and I was all googly eyed .
We had some pictures taken before going for dinner. After
dinner I went and watched Calvin do his scene. Calvin then
surprised me and told me that I have been given a part in
the pub scene with Rhys and Gilly, I was like WOW, I was
given my script and asked to learn my lines ect while I was
in make-up. I had to flirt with Rhys (not a difficult job),
Rhys rubbed it in because he knew I liked him, when we went
off set the cameraman asked for picture of us both, Rhys was
going in for the kiss and then he fell and the camera man
went we might have one of it looking like your going to kiss
lol. Then there like, keep in contact ect' and hopefully see
you back here one day.
I spoke to the director, he said he was impressed and that I
was easy to work with ect' so you never know I could be a
regular one day lol..
After my scene we ended it off with a bit of me
waiting in the pub and then the lovely sexy Calvin came in
the pub in his uniform, it was an image to die for, I was
like OMG, OMG I am going to faint, he looked sooo fit, but I
love them all, they are all brilliant. Hopefully we will
stay mates and stuff and i'll see them on set again some
day. I have heard from Andrew (Rhys), Anthony (Gilly) and
Sonny (Josh) since I have been back.
I cannot tell you all what happens you will just have to
watch Hollyoaks, I will let you know when it goes out on TV.
I really did have the best day of my life and I would like
to say a big thank you to everyone involved in making my
wish come true (you can see some more pic’s from the day on
my picture link).
To act in Hollyoaks was on my wish list in my book. I can
now tick that one off. But I would love to do more acting on
Hollyoaks, I loved it so much.
I met some of the nicest people, I cannot remember all your
names so thank you to everyone, Paul Young, jay Morris,
Ricky, Andrew, Nicole, the camera crew, and all on Hollyoaks
for giving me a brill' day.
|
Filming outside college with Ricky
Whittle |
Ricky and Me |
Ricky and Me |
Andrew Moss and Me |
|
I hope you all have a great Christmas
and New Year, I’m sure Santa will be good to you all and
remember if you have a spare penny or two and would like to
make a donation please click on my
Just giving link, which is
a safe and secure way to make a donation. I would also like
to say a really big thank you to everyone who has kindly
made a donation to my next £65,000 target to send 30/40
poorly but very brave children on a five day holiday to
Centre Parc’s with their families. Some of these children
will never of had an holiday like this so it’s really
important that I achieve this for them.
I am pleased to say that 100 poorly
children and a parent have just had a magical trip to
Lapland to see the real Santa with the last £65,000 that I
raised. Please help to keep the smiles on some of the
bravest children in the UK. Maybe you can give me some ideas
for fundraising, any ideas you have please just email me.
6th January 2009:
I am still buzzing from my
trip to Liverpool and don't think I'll believe I have been
on the Hollyoak's set until I have watched it on TV. Not got
the date for when it is on yet but I will be sure to let you
know. I am also just waiting on confirmation on the date
that I am going to be on Noel's HQ (can't wait to meet
Noel), mum loves him too and watches him every night on Deal
or No Deal, we both applied to go on it some months back,
but not heard anything yet lol.. Anyway the dates I have
been given for Noel's HQ is Saturday 17th January '09 or
Saturday 24th January '09, Noel's HQ is on Sky, again keep
an eye out for the date.
13th January 2009:
I
am on Noel’s HQ on Saturday night the 17th
January at 7.30pm, you can watch Noel’s HQ on Sky 1 virgin
121, Sky 106 and HD 170. I am really looking forward to
meeting Noel and being on the show. I am also in the Sun
News paper one day this week and I think the Daily Express
on Saturday 17th January.
A lady came and did my make-up
this morning before I had some pictures taken for the Sun
news paper, so I know I’m going to look ok on them lol…
|
Me having my make-up touched up |
All done and feeling good |
|
18th January 2009:
I had a fantastic time on Noels HQ on
Saturday.
When we arrived at our Hotel we had a bit of bother with the
room as it only had one bed in it, but they soon changed our
room for us and they apologized for what had happened.
After getting a good night sleep, I
wanted to visit the National Portrait Gallery as I am doing
my A level’s in photography and came away with some good
idea’s to help me when taking pictures.
When I got back to our hotel I had a
little rest before going for a quick shower and change of
clothes. Mum got a call to say our car would be with us in 5
min’s. When we arrived at the studio’s our car was met by
Paul Young and Jay Morris, people had already started to
queue to come in and watch the show and the show was not for
another two hours.
I felt like a star as both Paul and Jay
kissed me on the cheek and took me inside. You can imagine
my surprise when I was shown my own dressing room with my
name above the door. The room was huge and had a TV, video,
fridge, toilet, shower, fridge (which was filled to the top
with drinks), the room was huge as you can see by the
photo’s, Noel was in the next room to mine, I so much wanted
to knock and ask him who the Banker was lol…
Paul, Jay, Nicole, Ross and lots of other
people kept coming in to make sure we were all ok and asking
if we wanted anything. I was then taken to make-up; I had to
look glam before going on TV.
We were then seated in the studio ready
for the show to start, I began to feel nervous and my hands
were shaking. Was first on so I was then taken back stage
ready for Noel to call me on, I will let you watch the clip
from here, just click on the picture of Ricky and Me and sit
back and enjoy.
Keith Chadwin, Me and Noel
Edmonds |
Ricky and Me
Click picture to watch video. |
Me with Neil Fox |
Jay Morris, Me and Paul Young
two great guys who looked after my family and me
really well. |
Me in my dressing room. |
Me having a quick 40 winks
before going on Noel's HQ. |
After the Noel’s HQ had finished everyone
on who had been on the show including the stares and crew
all went back stage for drinks and food. Neil Fox came
chatting to me and congratulated me on raising so much
money. I got lots more hugs of Ricky (I am now in love). I
could not believe it when Noel said Ricky was here too as
you will have seen by my face. Ricky is such a nice guy and
gives nice hugs too. I chatted with Keith Chegwin and Noel,
mum asked Noel who the Bankers was and he said “sorry, can’t
tell you, not even for you” lol. Was a great night and
everyone was really nice. I had something money just cannot
buy, a part on Hollyoaks and I would like to thank Noel
Edmonds and Ricky Whittle and everyone involved in making my
dream come true. And Ricky Whittle, “I love you”. Lol
I have had lots of feed back from people
saying how I have now inspired them to do something for
charity, if everyone did a little something the world would
be a much better place.
20th February 2009:
Yesterday mum and me went to London where I did a fashion
shoot for the Daily Mirror,
my hair and make-up was done by CB
(Claire) and I was styled by Oriella Paganuzzi, I had a
brill'. My pictures were taken by Emma Cattell who made me
feel so relaxed when taken my photo's. All three were really
nice and made both my mum and me very welcoming to the
studio.
They even made us butties and kept us drinks.
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|
27th February 2009:
What a busy day I have had today. My day started with me
doing a radio interview with BBC 1 Radio Manchester, I was
on 7.30am breakfast show with Eamonn O’Neal and Dianne
Oxberry. I spoke about the book I have written, my
appearance on Hollyoaks and about the fundraising that I
have done for When You Wish upon a Star. Off air we had a
little private chat (see pic’s below).
|
Dianne Oxberry and Me |
Eamonn O'Neal and Me |
In the studio with Eamonn and Dianne |
|
Then my brother took me to London as I had an audition at
1.30pm and another audition at 2.45pm. it was a good job my
brother was off work and able to be my taxi for the day, I
would not of been able to do both without his help. “Thank
You, Chris” you are a great brother.
Checkout what I have coming up to raise
money over the next few months on my
events link and if
you have time come a long and join in the fun.
17th March 2009:
Today I was in the Daily Mirror, I was given a full centre
page spread. The Mirror had arranged for me to do a photo
shoot to help me with my modelling and TV work. I was
contacted by a number of magazines who also want to cover my
story after reading about me in the Mirror. I am talking to
them at the moment and will let you know more when I can.
27th April 2009:
Now for some good news! On Friday I went to Edinburgh as I
was nominated by Linda and Phil from the Didsbury Rotary
Club, for a Rotary Young Citizen Award and was one of the
five winners to receive the award.
It was really nice to get away for a few days. It was a long
drive but we stopped at the service station for food and
drinks, we didn’t arrive in Edinburgh until after 4pm,
On the evening we arrived I went to see McFly in concert
with one of the other winners (Leanne), Leanne’s parents and
my mum. I had to be at the Corn Exchange for 6.45pm. When I
arrived at the venue I was given the surprising news that I
was to meet the boys from McFly. Both Leanne, her parents,
my mum and me were taken round the back of the venue and
introduced to the boys, they were great and after giving us
a big hug they chatted about why we had been given the
award, they were shocked when they were told how much I had
raised. We then had some picture taken before going to watch
the boys on stage with all the other girls screaming in
excitement. I was surprised when McFly mentioned me on stage
and everyone clapped and cheered me when McFly had finished
talking about me.
On the Saturday morning we had to be at the Corn Exchange
for 10.15am so that I could have a quick interview with
Konnie Huq who was presenting the awards live on the BBC
News 24. Konnie was a presenter on Blue Peter for ten years
before leaving the show last year. We arrived at the Corn
Exchange just in time thanks to Linda’s good driving and my
good navigation system around Edinburgh, which was a
nightmare to drive round due to all the road works they have
going on at the moment.
I met with the other winners before being sat on stage ready
for the awards to go out live on the BBC News at
11.30am.There were over 2000, Rotary members from all over
the world in the audience, I was a bit nervous as I had just
been sick before going on stage and was worried in case it
started again while I was on stage. I was the last winner to
go up and Konnie asked me a few questions and showed a short
film about me as Eve had been to film me in hospital the
week before and had also filmed the girls from Wish Upon a
Star and one my doctors, Mr. Neil Oxborrow. I managed to
make the audience laugh a couple of times with my answers,
which is always a good thing. I received a lovely glass
trophy and a certificate and I am told I have also got
£500.00 to come to me for my charity, which will go towards
my target. After the ceremony we had lunch and some more
pictures taken on stage. Lots of people kept coming up to me
and congratulating me on my award and some gave me money
towards my next target, all in all I was given £80.00 for my
charity. One man even gave me his business card and said he
may be able to help get my book published, I have emailed
him today so we will see. I would like to say a big
thank you to: Mike, Sue, Ann and the other lady who gave me
money for my charity.
Then mum and I went into Edinburgh to do some shopping while
Linda and Phil went back into the afternoon Rotary event.
While mum and I was out I saw the Top Gear presenters,
Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson and James May, mum asked if
I could have my picture taken with Richard but this woman
said “No” but I still took some of Richard and Clarkson.
Linda than rang my mum to say she was on her way to pick us
up so that we could all go for tea before heading back to
the Corn Exchange to watch a concert. It was a Scottish
Variety Performance. I had arranged to meet Leanne (one of
the other winners) at the concert and we all sat together. I
must say we really enjoyed it. The show finished about 11pm,
I was shattered by the time we got back to the guest house.
I kept ringing my dad to find out how my 1940’s event back
home was going as I had left dad in charge of the raffle for
me. Dad rang me when I got back to the guest house to say
the raffle had raised £390.00 with money still to come in.
Thanks for doing the raffle for me dad.
Before going home on the Sunday we went to the morning
Rotary Conference, which was really interesting. The RT Hon
Michael Portillo did a speech and told some really good
jokes.
Then it was time for the long journey back home. A massive
thank you to Linda for all the driving she did and Phil and
Linda for looking after us so well over the weekend and of
course for nominating me in the first place.
23rd May 2009:
Last
Saturday, mum, dad, and me went to the Chester football club
to watch the Hollyoaks lads playing football against other
soap stars. The Hollyoaks team included my man Ricky Whittle
(Calvin), Nick Pickard (Tony), James Lomas (Warren) and lots
of other cast from Hollyoaks. They played against some of
the cast from Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Shameless,
Casualty and the Bill. They were playing to raise money for
two charities.
We all had a great day even if it did
rain. All the guys came round and chatted with us after the
game and I got a big hug off Ricky when he saw me.
I am trying
to arrange to do a Spookathon, which would mean me staying
in a haunted house over night. I have got some of my
ambulance drivers and some other medical people who are
involved in my care willing to do it for me so if I can pull
it off we should raise lots of money. Keep an on my
events for charity
link for more information.
12th July 2009:
Since I last up dated this page I have
been back to see Mcfly in concert in Nottingham with my
friend Leanne, we both had a brilliant time, I stayed over
at Leanne's for the weekend as she lives in Nottingham.
Thanks to Leanne's parents for making me so welcome.
I am doing my spookathon in November
and hope to raise lots of money for my charity, if you would
like to sponsor me, you can by donating on my
Just giving link. "Thank You".
I have passed my exams and I have been
excepted into Chester University to study TV/Radio Media,
mum and dad said they are very proud of me as I am the only
one in the family to ever have gone to University,
which made me feel really happy.
Next week I am going to our local
Rotary club, where I have been asked if I will do a speech
about my condition and the charity that I raise money for,
which should be interesting.
8th October 2009:
Since my last update I have been over to Florida with my mum
and dad, we had a great time. We met up with our good
friends Andy, Melissa and children, Amie and Louie, we had
not seen the children for year and it was great to see them
Amie was so big and Louie was chatting away. Melissa came
ghost hunting with us, which was great fun, dad got us lost
and we could not find the car.
Visiting one of the water parks dad went swimming with the car
keys and lost them, luckily someone found them and handed
them in. but when we tried to start the car it was having no
go and we had to sit in a car park for over an hour until we
had another brought to us, we could not go back in the water
park as it was getting ready to close so we baked in the sun
for over an hour.
You will never guess what my mum did, she forgot to pack my
Gabapentin tablets, which I have three times a day for the
pain in my back. We tried to buy some but was told they
could only be got on prescription, my brother, Chris, was
going to post them out using the day delivery service. When
he inquired how much it would be the post office said it
would £100.00 to send a package next day delivery, but when
he told them what was in it he was told he could not post
them, he even contacted the Embassy to explain things to
them but the person he spoke too was unsure if they could be
posted to the USA. In the end I had to use my Ketamine,
which makes me feel dizzy if I have it in the day, I
normally try and only have my ketamine when I have gone to
bed.
Then mum had an accident, we were attempting to play crazy
golf, I had my go and so had my friend, then it was mums
turn and as she picked the golf ball up her knee gave way
and she fell back smacking the back of her head on a
concrete path (she was seeing stars), we heard the bump and
dad just came over and said “look I got an hole in one” ,
and I said “and your wife as just smacked the back of her
head”. It did look funny seeing mum lay with her legs in the
air and I am sorry for laughing mum. My friend went and got
an ice pack from the people who owned the golf course. Mum
had a big lump on the back of her head for the rest of the
holiday.
We still had a great holiday and no harm done in the end.
9th November 2009:
Uni' is going ok, hard work
but good fun too. Well, what do you think of being on a
billboard with my gran (see pic' below), now you can see
where I get my good looks from, my gran is lovely.
This is me stood by a billboard that is on
one of the bus stops on Altrincham Road, Manchester.
Cadbury’s Wispa Gold asked people to write in and tell them
about some one they love and they would pick so many of the
entries and put them on billboards around the UK. As you can
see mine was chosen. The picture is of my Ronnie Gran and Me
and the words above picture read as follows’:
Instead of me whispering
I will shout that my gran is the best,
better than all the rest,
She is sweet as chocolate and
she will sell you out of business
as she’s my world.
But you are the gold.
I have got three billboards up, one on
Altrincham Road, Manchester, one on Folly Lane, Salford and
one on Chester Road, Trafford.
My gran could not believe it when I showed
her and gave me a big hug.
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|
17th
November 2009
Remember back in April when I told
you that mum and I went to Edinburgh
as I had won the Rotary Young
Citizen Award after I had been
nominated by Linda and Phil from the
Didsbury Rotary Club. Well, if you
click on the picture below you can
now watch the video clips of the
other four winners and I that were
on the news.
I have got some
more news to tell you but have got
to keep it under my hat until next
week, so if you call back next week
you read some more of my great news.
|
2nd December 2009:
I was invited
to 11 Downing St in London to meet
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt
Hon Alistair Darling MP. received
the Diana Gold Award along with nine
other young people who had all won
the Diana Award over the past ten
years and the gold award was to mark
the tenth anniversary of the Diana
awards. Over the last ten years the
Diana trust has awarded 27.000
awards to young people.
We had drinks and food with some
other guests, including the
Chancellor’s wife, Maggie Darling,
and Bee Gee Robin Gibb, who is an
ambassador for the Diana award.
I was the seventh person to go up
for the award, I was given a framed
certificate and a lovely glass
trophy. I also gave a small speech
and lots of pictures were taken for
the press.
Click on the
picture below to watch my TV
interview about the award and my
spook night.
Receiving
my
award
|
Me
outside
No
10
Downing
St |
The
spook night was really good, It’s
hard to believe but lots did happen
and when the channel M guy (Ben) was
filming a fire extinguisher came
flying off the wall but they could
not show it as a couple of people
swore in shock, one guy got
scratched on the back of his head,
which must be 4ins + in length, we
had some pebbles slung towards us
and other people experienced some
things too.
I
had my spook night at Hyde Town Hall
and would like to say a big thank
you to
the Manchester Paranormal Team,
Darren,
Peter and David
Sarsfield, Lloyd Pennington, Chris
Body and Ian Landregan plus Phil,
Ernie and Dan for giving up your
time to help my spook night a
success. I would also like to say a
big thank you to Darren Sarsfield ,
Ernie Warburton and Ian Landregan
who took part in a sponsored walk to
raise the money needed to rent the
Town Hall for the night. Other
people I would also like to thank
are Danny Morris, Paul (Danny’s
agent), Channel M’s camera man
Ben Bangbala, Claire Mitchell also
from Chaneel M, Eamonn O’Neal and
all my friends who came along on the
spook night to support me. I would
also like to a special mention to
Paul who agreed to do a lone vigil
in the strong room for half an hour
and raised £100.00 by doing it.
The night raised
lots of money for When You Wish upon
a Star and I would do it again. I
will let you know how much money
when I get all the sponsor money in.
Some pictures
below from the night plus click on
the picture to watch a clip from
Channel M.
|
Danny, Me, Alex
and Tom |
Danny Morris |
Danny and Me |
Hope you enjoyed watching the video clips. If
you would like to sponsor the event you can still donate by gong on
my just giving link "thank you".
15TH
January 2010:
I had a great Christmas with my family and it was nice to spend some
more time with my Gran (my mum’s mum). Gran got herself this dog
called “Biscuit” (see pic’s below), I love it and so does my gran,
you ask it to sit and give you it’s paw, it will, ask it lie down
and it will, it also barks and whimpers, it really is very cute. My
gran is so funny with it and keeps telling me that it is keeping her
awake at night with its barking.
We all know that we have had lots of snow and on our first down fall
of snow I made this big snowball, which you can see me sat on.
I have also been a member of Post Pal for many years and I received
lots of nice gifts from people who had read my story, one lady
(Wendy) saw that I was on crutches and she bought me some really
cool blue crutches for Christmas, they are so much nicer than the
ones I had.
We also went to the annual quiz night that our friends Keith and Pat
have every year for all their friends at Christmas (Keith and Pat
have helped me lot over the years by organising the charity Balls
that I have had.
They own a
printing business
and do all my printing) it was great to see Keith and Pat as I have
not seen them for a while and Andy and Melissa had come over from
the USA with the children (Andy is Keith’s and Pat son), Andy always
does the quiz and very good at it he is too. Alex, is their other
son and I have not seen him for a while so it really is nice to get
together with everyone and one of their friends makes the nicest
hotpot ever.
I took my mum and friend Lesley to watch Jeremy Kyle being filmed
last week, which was good fun and next week I am going to watch the
TV awards in London, which I am looking forward too.
I still don’t have any news on my book, but I am still keeping my
fingers crossed that I can find a publisher so I can get my book on
to the selves so people can read about Neurofibromatosis (NF) and
Scoliosis. I know I have NF in a bad way internally, but life goes
on and I want people to read my story and understand what I have
been through and still am going through. I may have NF, but I am not
going to let NF have me. One day I will get my book published and if
my book can just help one person it will be worth all the hard work
that was involved in writing my book.
14th April 2010:
I had a really nice Birthday and received so many cards
gifts, a lot of my cards came from Post Pal who send gifts and cards
out to poorly children.
I have found a publisher for my book and fingers crossed it
should go on sale in July, so keep popping back for news when my
book will go on sale.
I have been short listed
in the category of Gill Astarita Fundraiser of the Year
award and will be going to the awards in July. Click on the
logo below to read more about this award and to read more about the
other fundraisers who have worked hard to raise money for charity
too:
Gill Astarita Fundraiser of the Year award is for the
fundraiser, who, in the view of their peers, has shown consistent
excellence and best practice in achieving high-quality fundraising
through either their own efforts or their vision and strategy.
I have met a new man in my life, David Camps, David is a really nice
guy and my family really like him too. David is coming to my 1940's
charity event next week and I'm sure you will get to read lots more
of my news with David over the coming months.
29th April 2010:
My 1940's charity night went really well and I wont to say
a big thank you to Alan and Lesley Bates who helped me with the
event. The raffle items that I got managed to raise £805.20p so
another big thank you goes to everyone who attended the event, it
was really nice to see so many people dressed in the 1940's outfits.
Thank you to David for taking over from me in my costume (Titch),
Titch was a great hit with the both the children and the adults and
I'm sure we will be seeing a lot more of Titch at my events (see
some pic's of Titch below).
I have got my exams at the moment
and looking at what my next event will be, I have also got some
mobile phones that I need to send off.
I am still waiting on news of when my book will go on sale, but as
soon as I know anything I will let you all know.
Keep looking on this page to see the updates about my book.
13th May 2010:
When I got home from hospital this afternoon I had a letter that had
come for me from Buckingham Palace, when I opened it, inside was an
invite to the Queens Garden Party on the 22nd June for
both my mum and me. The letter states that we must wear a dress and
a hat and unfortunately we cannot take any pictures as they will not
let you take your camera in to the grounds of the Palace. But I will
tell you all about it on my return. I have had tea with Prince
William and Harry and I now get to meet the Queen, how cool is
that...
This is our
invite,
but not the tickets. |
28th May 2010:
I have been out and bought my outfit for the Queens Garden
party, I even got my hat. The hat that I bought when I was out with
my friends last week my mum said it would not do and that it looked
like I had a butchers hat on, mum said, it just looks like the one
that Graham wears in Corrie'. I could see what my mum meant, my mum
took it back for me and got me a different one. Well, I don't wears
hats and it's not every day that you get invited to the Queens
Garden party.
Just working on how we are going to get there at the moment as my
dad is working and can't take time off work. Looks like it will be
the train, just worried about the sickness on the way, if I am in
the car and start being sick it's not so bad, but it's not nice if I
start being sick in front of other people and it comes on so quick
that I can't just get up and run to the toilet so I have to keep a
bowl at the side of me. Only other thing I can do is not to have
anything to eat or drink and I will be ok.
23rd June 2010:
Yesterday I went to the Queens Garden Party with my mum, which was a
great experience.
When I woke up and I was really
excited I never slept well all night. When I got up I tried on like
6 dresses as I had bought so many and 5mins before the photographer
came I got changed again.
I was then happy
with my choice. When the Bentley and David (my Chauffeur) arrived, I
was so excited and when I seen how beautiful the Bentley was, I was
made up, I was so happy and felt privileged that someone
had organised this ride for me. I loved the smooth ride there and
back, and it was really comfy I think I might invest in a Bentley
haha. When I got to the garden party I was made known and taken
through, after several pictures where taken by the press. I went
through Buckingham Palace gates and into the garden and had some
lemon juice, and lined up for some butties and cakes. The food was
lovely and the cakes where lovely too. I enjoyed the iced coffee as
well. I then lined up and waited to see the Queen and the Duke go
past, it was really hot but it was deferentially worth the wait,
even though I never got to say “hallow” to the Queen or Duke, just
being there and seeing them both walk past was amazing.
Two bands were playing through out the day and that was awesome and
so relaxing. I sat back in the sun catching a sun tan near the lake
eating a lovely ice cream. My day was amazing and I am so happy I
was invited. David my Chauffeur was such a nice guy and very
friendly and he helped to make my day special too.
The time table for the day ran as follows.
At 3.00pm the royal gates opened, 3.30pm tea was served in the main
tents, which were cucumber sandwiches and ham sandwiches along with
some very fancy cakes and iced coffee, tea or juice.
Around 4.00pm the National Anthem was played to announce the arrival
of Her Majesty the Queen and members of the Royal family.
The guest to the garden party formed two lanes to allow the Queen
and members of the Royal family to move through the guest. While the
Queen was taking tea in the Royal tent my mum and me went and sat by
the lake eating an ice cream. At about 5.50pm The Queen and members
of the Royal family departed and the National Anthem was played.
After everyone clapped the Royal family we went back to the lake, it
was a lovely day and one that both my mum and I will remember for a
very long time.
I am really grateful to the Manchester Evening News for arranging
for me to travel by a Bentley and to Bentley for agreeing to take
me.
I am still waiting to hear when my book will go on sale, I have not
heard from my publisher for a while so my mum said she will contact
him and find out what is happening.
10th July 2010:
I had a great time in London at the fundraising awards and
met some lovely people, I was not one of the big winners but it was
an achievement getting to the final three.
I went to watch the X-Factor auditions today with my mum and
one of my friends, Emma, it was a very long day and my mum got
to see Simon Cowell, we were only about ten rows back from the front
so we were sat in a good place. I won't tell you about any of the
acts you will have to watch the x-factor when it comes on TV, but I
can tell you we saw some great acts and some that were really funny.
I am going again on Sunday as I managed to get some more tickets.
I have not got much else on
this next two weeks as I have got a few hospital appointments
that involve me having to spend the full day in hospital having
test.
Still no news on the date for my book yet, my mum did try to
contact them but the Kevin, the guy who my mum has been talking to
is off ill at the moment so mum said she will try again next week.
so please keep coming back to find out when my book comes out,
"Thank You".
9th July 2010:
I went to the MEN arena to day to
watch the Real Radio Big 15th Birthday Bash. When I got
there I was greeted by my true friends from When You Wish upon a
Star. It is always great to see the girls I love them to bits. We
went to McDonalds for some Lunch, burgers and drinks. After this we
were invited back stage and was greeted by a few artist who were
performing on stage. I was really excited to meet Scouting for
Girls, as I really do like them and think the lead singer is amazing
(Roy) they where all down to earth and lovely. I loved every moment;
I also loved meeting the X-factor runner ups and Winners, to see how
far they have come was great. The singers that I met had photos
taken with me and signed my autograph book plus they signed a poster
for me that I am going to have framed and auction off for When You
Wish upon a Star. When we went through to the concert it was awesome
I could see so much and I loved every moment, I was singing along to
all the songs, and on the boy bands I was up dancing away and taking
lots of pictures. I loved every moment and I want to thank everyone
that participated into this, all the money that was raised on the
evening was being split between four charities including When You
Wish upon a Star. Thank you so much for allowing my mum and me to
go, it was a lovely opportunity for us both.
you can see some of the pictures from my great
night on my picture link
20th
July 2010:
Hi everyone, for the past few months I have been seeing my
boyfriend, David, who I met back in March. I am still with him, and
everything is going perfect. We go out, every now and then to
different places. We went Blackpool with his friends we saw the
lights and went to the arcade.
I also went to
bingo and should of won£20.00 but I never shouted.
30th August 2010:
Whilst I have been off
university I have been able to see a lot more of my friends and over
the summer I became a God Mother to a beautiful little boy called
“William”. I am sure you all remember Leanne who I met in Edinburgh
when we both won the Rotary Young Citizen of the year award. Well,
Leanne has just had a baby boy and Leanne asked if I would be baby
Williams God Mother.
1st
September – 17th September 2010:
I went on holiday
to America with my family, and it was a great holiday, we went down
to Miami for a couple of days and while we were there, there was a
mini hurricane, which I thought was kind of cool. I was happy it was
not disruptive and that it did not cause any damage, we just had
difficulty standing up in it as it was blowing us off our feet.
While we were
in Florida we went magic kingdom and typhoon lagoon. When I was in
typhoon lagoon, I went to swim with sharks and I sank as I chocked
on the water I was saved by a life guard.
On the way home from holiday and only two hours
in to the journey I took really poorly and was in a lot of pain, I
was put on oxygen for the remaining
six hours of the flight home, the flight crew kept coming up
to me and asking if I was ok, the pilot was going to divert the
flight so that I could be taken of the flight but I was ok to carry
on to Manchester airport. I was
taken into hospital the minute I landed. After spending the rest of
the day in hospital I was allowed home.
My boyfriend
David was in Turkey while I was in Florida so it was very expensive
to stay in contact with him, but he was well worth it.
19th
September 2010:
Today is my boyfriends birthday and when I was in America I bought
him a ring that tells him how much
I love him he seemed
to have a great birthday even though
Liverpool lost against United.
4th
October 2010:
I have
enrolled on a cache course at the local college where I am applying
to be a teaching assistant, it is a one year course, and I now have
a placement at my old high school, so hopefully I will pass the
course and become a teaching assistant.
I am busy getting ready for my charity spook night now, which
is on the 6th November, if you would like to support this event you
can make a donation on my just giving link, thank you.
Craig Gazey (Graham Proctor in
Corrie’)
12th November 2010:
My spookathon went really well and I would like to thank the
following people for supporting the event:
Craig Gazey (Graham from Corrie’), my ambulance drivers, friends and
family,
The Manchester Paranormal Team, Paul (09
Management), Will Hayes (Candidate23)
and the M.E.N readers for supporting my event.
I am not sure how much the event rose at the moment but when I get
all the sponsor money I will let you all know.
I would also like to thank the person who very kindly sent me
£200.00 for the charity. I would have liked to have dropped you a
line but you did not include your name or contact details but I am
truly grateful to you “Thank You”.
I have just found out that I am the regional winner for The Spirit
Award for all round commitment to volunteering and will no go
forward to be named the overall winner next year.
I have also received an invitation to the Lord Mayor’s Annual
Reception on the 25th November; this is a very special
event on the civic calendar and something that I am now looking
forward too.
Work starts on my book on the 17th November and I am
still keeping fingers crossed that it will on sale in time for
Christmas.
I will post some more news when I have received all the sponsor
money in.
16th December 2010:
Candidtae23 are a 5-piece Indie Rock band. From the North West of
England, their music has a unique and impressive sound. They are
currently playing to audience across the country.
Their first single “One for You” was released on the 24th
November 2010 and I was very honoured to be part of the launce
party. I also did collection for my charity “When You Wish upon a
Star” at
the event and raised £69.73p “thank you” to all who donated.
Will and his agent Paul Chadd also recently supported me at my
spookathon. You may remember Shaun from when he was on the X
Factor, Shaun was also at the launce party.
My Spookaton raised
£1593.50p
with some more money still to come in, which was really good.
My book is almost ready to go on sale and I am just waiting on the
date so I can let you all know.
I was at the When You Wish upon a Star
office yesterday as I had to take all the money that I had raised
and I was also doing some filming for “The Spirit Award”, I have now
got to attend an award ceremony in March when I will find out if I
am the overall winner.
The Lord Mayor's annual reception on the 25th
November that I was invited too was really
good and I was given the opportunity to meet so many other people
who help out in their community.
I will get back to you all in the New Year
unless I have anymore news on the date for my book going on sale. In
the meantime I hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year and
remember I am here for you anytime you want to chat, please don't
feel as you are alone, if I can help you I will.
7th February 2011:
"Great News", My book is now live, please go
to my "Items
for Sale" link for more info
on you can buy a copy of the book "Thank You". I have not seen a
copy of it, but my publisher is going to send me a copy, which I am
really looking forward too.
I have just found out that I am the one of the National Finalist for
The Spirit Award for all round commitment to volunteering and will
no go forward to be named the overall winner next year, I am off to
London in March with my mum. click on the
following link to read more about it :
http://vinspired.com/rewards/spirit-award
. I will let you all know how it goes.
28th October 20011:
I have been very busy over the last few months, not only
with hospital visits but with Uni', fundraising, doing radio
interviews about my book, which is still selling really well.
I won the Spirit award and was given my award by Leigh Francis,
in London. Leigh was really funny and such a nice guy. I met so many
other young adults who had done amazing things for their community
and everyone in the room was winner to me.
I recovered well from my last surgery but after my next charity
event in December I have got to go back in for more surgery, Mr
Christopher Duff is going to do my surgery, he is a really nice guy
and very understanding.
I went on holiday to Tenerife for my 21st Birthday and had a great
time. I have also been away to the USA with my family for two weeks.
I am now busy working on my charity spook night, I am staying in
Hyde Town Hall again to raise money for when you wish upon a star.
if it is anything like last time we are all in for great night. we
had so much ghostly activity last time. The event also raised over
£1000.00 for my charity so I'm hoping we raise more than that this
time.
I was also in the finals for the Red Cross award at the beginning of
this month, and I had to go to London I was aloud to take two guest
along with me so a couple of my friends came with me, my mum and dad
could not come as they were at an NF meeting in Manchester. I was
meant to be doing a speech at the NF meeting but due to the awards I
could not attend the meeting but I have promised that I will do my
speech at the next the meeting they have. I did not win the Red
Cross award but again it was nice opportunity to meet so many other
young people who do nice thing for others.
I am going to do a write up about my holiday so if you want to know
how my holiday in Florida went pleas bob back.
17th November 2011:
I have been asked to explain what winning the V Inspired
National Award last year meant to me, so here goes: "Being a winner
at the V Inspired National Awards last year was a really big honour.
and going to the awards in London was an absolutely amazing
experience. There's such a negative attitude towards young people,
so it was brilliant to be part of an event that shows all the good
things we have to offer. If you know a really inspiring young
volunteer please nominate them now. I'd love to see another
volunteer from Manchester get to the finals!" The V Inspired
National Awards are now open. Do you know a young volunteer doing
great things in their community? Someone who is always helping
others or working tirelessly to change things for the better? If you
do - nominate them now. Apply here:
www.vinspired.com/nationalawards and good luck.
My book is still selling well both in the UK
and the US. My book sold out in WHSmiths in the Trafford Centre in
Manchester and they ordered more copies, which was great news as all
the Royalties are going towards me sending 30/40 poorly children on
a five day holiday to Centre Parc's with the charity "When You Wish
upon a Star". I have been to Centre Parc's with the wish team so I
really do know what a great time the children will have and it great
that all the family will get to spend some quality time together.
If you want more information on how you can buy
your copy of my book please go to my items for sale link, you can
also find lots of other items you can buy, which will help the
charity.
8th December 2011:
I have had a busy month at Uni' and will be glad to take a
rest over Christmas. I have also been busy getting things ready for
my charity spook night, which I had last Saturday, over 30 people
took part and everyone had a great night, a lot of people asked if I
could arrange to have a ghost night in a castle so I am going to
look at arranging that next year.
My book is still selling well and I have had
some really great feed back from people who have read it.
I have got some really exciting news to tell
you all in the New Year but I have got to bite my tongue till then.
I hope you are all looking forward to Christmas
and I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy
New Year. I will update with my news in the New Year.
22nd January 2012:
On
Saturday the 31st December 2011, it was announced
publicly in the Queens New Year Honours list that I am to receive
the M.B.E.
Being chosen to receive an M.B.E for the work that means so much to
me is very exciting and I feel very honoured.
The vast majority of people recognised in the New
Years Honours list include those supporting the Big Society by
making a real difference to their local community through
volunteering, fund-raising, social action and philanthropy.
I was one of three people receiving
an Honour on the New Years Honours list that was invited down to
London to meet with the press. The two other people being, Dr M
Philippou, who was also to receive an M.B.E who is focused on
helping young people move away from gang related crime by giving
them an incentive to be 'STARs' (Social, Trustworthy and
Responsible) and Christopher Preddie, who receives an O.B.E .
Christopher had devoted his life to youth work and trying reduce
crime. He uses his own personal experience to talk to youth groups
and prisoners about crime and the huge impact that it can have on
your life.
My dad took us down
the night before as we had to meet with the press really early. Can
you believe it when I say we were able to drive into Downing St',
loads of people were stud outside the gates watching as we drove in
and parked up while the police searched our car to make sure we were
who we said we were. It was all very exciting, we were then showed
where to park our car at the back of 10 Downing St.
We were then showed in
to this large room (Chambers) and given drinks and congratulated by
members of staff in the room.
My mum and dad sat
behind me and I was told to sit in the middle at the head of this
large table with the other two people who had also been invited told
to sit at the side of me. The door opened and about 30 people from
the press came in and sat round the table, they were each given
notes as to why we had been given the honours and we were told to
say a little bit about the work that we do and at the end they were
allowed to ask questions. I was asked to go first, I spoke for about
10 minutes just telling them about the charity and why I felt it was
important to me, then it was Dr M Philippou turn, Dr Philippou was
one of the old school teachers and took us back to when she was a
young girl at school, after 35 minutes of her talking they had to
ask her to finish, but she said she still had a lot more to say and
carried on for further 15 minutes, in the end they had to explain
that they were running out of time and that Christopher still needed
to say why he had received an honour. At this point she did pass
over to Christopher who then spoke for about 10 minutes.
The press asked if I
was the youngest person to receive the M.B.E and they were told that
I was the youngest person this year. After 15 minutes of answering
questions we were each interviewed separately. When I got home I did
loads of TV and Radio interviews, I was on the ITV main news, locale
BBC North West News, Granada News, ITV Main News and a few radio
interviews as well as being in the Press, I even made front page
news of the Manchester Evening News.
I hope by receiving
the M.B.E it will help my charity work as the children that I help
really deserve their wishes to be granted, they each spend a lot of
time in hospital having painful treatment. I have been one of them
children to spend months in hospital and knowing my wish was going
to be granted really helped me. I still attend hospital frequently,
I still have to have painful treatment and the older I get it does
not get any easer for me, but knowing I can help other poorly
children helps me forget about my hospital treatment.
I have not got the
date for when I am to receive my M.B.E yet but have been told I will
be given six weeks notice. I am really excited about but I really
don’t know what I am going to wear.
I have received so
many cards of Congratulations from people who read my story in the
Manchester Evening News along with some kind donations and I would
like to thank you all.
Click on this link to
hear One of
my radio Interviews and One of the
ITV News Clips
My book is still
selling well and I hope to have it on kindle soon, I am just having
problems working out how to do it, my publisher would do it for me
but they charge and I am selling the book to raise more money for
charity so don't really want to go giving it the publisher more
money. I am also hoping to start some more work on my second book
soon as lots of people have asked if I will do a follow up to what
they have read so far.
I will update with
some more news very soon.
NF is a life-long condition, and you must learn
to live your life, and not let the disorder rule your life. The more
you understand the more you will be in control, so be sure to ask
questions of your medical professionals. Find someone you trust, and
share your feelings, fears and frustrations. The challenges posed by
having NF are hard, but they can be overcome and you are not alone.
They say a problem shared is a problem halved. You can always email
my mum or me and we will both do what we can to help.
I hope one day we can say 'We have found a cure for NF'.
"Neurofibromatosis is now history."
If I can offer support to anyone, please contact me. We are all here
to help each other. That is a gift we can give each other. Thank you
for reading my story.
Thank you to all my
doctors, nurses, family and friends for getting me through some of
my difficult times.
Take care
Love Kirsty x
x
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