MASSIVE Sunday Smile Sermon! - 31st August

So, let me just stress how happy I am today! I am so so glad that my nan talked me out of doing a post last week. A post that I had written slagging off the NHS for cancelling on me constantly. The fact that my life was on hold, due to their actions, pissed me off so much that I just wanted to get it all down and share it publicly with everyone through my blog & social media. My nan comforted me and talked me out of it. I am very grateful for her doing that. I am relieved that I didn't. As soon as I calmed down, everything started to fall into place. All my worries and concerns have now gone!
My operation has not only finally been booked, but it has be booked in with the man Colonel Jeffrys, who was looking after me from the very start of all this. This has miraculously turned out even better than I had originally anticipated.
The big man up stairs has seriously helped me out! I am so grateful for that!

So the main thing I am focusing on at the moment is the charity LimbPower.

Limb Power is an amazing charity, that I luckily stumbled across at my local mobility centre in Wolverhampton. I went to an event they held in May, which was the week I lost my leg last year. I met so many incredible people and made some really good friends for life there.

I am trying to help them spread the word so that other amputees all over the UK, are aware of the charity and what it does.

They started a Facebook page called 'Leg Up For LimbPower' - it shows people spreading the word and getting involved with the task to take a picture of them holding their leg or hand and balancing on just the one leg.

I want to help this charity so much. I would love to see my friends all getting involved! It really helped me mentally and physically and I am aiming to get the charity notified around the country, so that other amputees are aware of it and don't miss the events they have.

I woke up this morning to a lovely picture of some of my girls all holding their legs up, it made me smile a lot! Thank you so much to this wonderful bunch! 


ALS, a horrible disease. I know one family who had to deal with it and it was heart breaking to see. This disease would have remained unknown of, to so many people. It is truly AMAZING how much the support has spread around the entrire world! With the Ice Bucket challenges.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUvZlZ4_RQo&feature=youtu.be

The idea is brilliant, people are seeing the funny side to it and it has helped them spread it around to people, with all of the various nominations. It is an amazing marketing technique, fair play to them!

I would love to help a the charity LimbPower to have a similar craze with the Leg Up For LimbPower. It can really be spread around if people start doing it and start nominating other to. I hope people reading this will see my request and start doing some nominations!

I have popped the request onto my Facebook and Twitter account, fingers crossed you'll all help me with this aim and spread the craze around with pictures and nominations!

My girls have already done this, so have my nan and grandad and my beautiful sis. I hope you can help me with this too.

I nominate, all of you readers to take a picture of themselves, in various, funny, positions .

And/Or donate £3 to LimbPower by texting LIMB88 to 70070

Please help me with this mission! Get your...

Leg Up For LimbPower

I also had a lovely chat with a young girl, a girl my age who had lost her leg last year too. Sian has the exact same attitude to me and is looking to start her own charity. I am going to do my absolute best to help her with this as much as I can. It is such a good idea! I'm very excited to push this out to other amputees. I'll keep you all posted with the movement of this! Watch this space people! 

Sunday Smile Sermon - 17th August

CONGRATULATIONS SHIV & MARK!!! 

Well, I had an amazing time last night, at my good friend Siobhan and her Fiancé Mark's Engagement party! It was great seeing all the girls and a lot of friendly faces, some people who I haven't seen in years too, like some of the lads from Archbishop Illsley, who I haven't seen for so long! It was a really good night. And there was a constant flow of Prosecco :) I thought I would be sensible and try and have just a couple and then just a few Guinness's, pregnant women can drink Guinness, so it must be relatively ok for me to drink with all the meds that I'm on. BAD idea!!!! Prosecco and Guinness together, is a very bad, stomach curdling, mistake! I do have a bit of a dodgy head and stomach today! It was well worth it though. Great night!

So, I digress, the things that have made me smile the most since my last sermon, my trip to Ireland was lovely! It was great seeing all the family over there, more importantly my mom! It was a lovely trip over on the ferry with my Nan and Granddad and then back with my brother Dan, Grace, James and Isabelle. Thank you all for such a lovely little holiday for me. Thinking I had to come home a week earlier to have my pre op. As my operation was suppose to be 21st of August, with a pre Op on the 14th. But no, that was cancelled. I'm not going into that now though, it was a serious time of stress and no smiles. Grrr   It's not like I was really looking forward to it. Like I'm so excited about having an operation, I just want these things to be sorted out as soon as possible. I want to look as good as new with no more pressure garments and masks. I can not wait for this to all be sorted for me. It's a good job I've got short term memory loss, otherwise these things would be so irritating. Although, last week does feel like last year to me too, so it feels like I've been waiting for this operation for years!!! That alone is annoying.

I did have an appointment at the QE last week though, where I saw Faye, she looks after me and my scars. She gave me lots of little samples of various other scar treatments to use, I also had a little moan about the mask, the whole face covering mask that she had made for me to wear 23 hours a day! With a little moan about this mask, she gave me a little pressure garment that I could wear around my face to bed, so I could have a good sleep! And I have! My sleeps are great these days. Faye also gave me the contact details of the 2 surgeons secretaries. I'll be giving them a week to do there thing, then POW I'll be on them day and night to try and get a date down for this Op!

I have been writing a fair bit too, I'd say the first 3 or 4 chapters of this book of mine are all done and good. I've sent copies to both of my aunties, Theresa and Eve. I can get a good feedback from these two. Once I've heard both of their comments/feedback, I'll crack on with the next few chapters. In no time, it will be complete and on the shelf at Waterstones. I'm picturing a book signing day and all sorts, like I'm some sort of celeb!

I've been pretty good with my healthy eating and exercise, apart from today, where I just HAD to have Nutella on toasted crumpets. It just needed to be something yummy and stodgy today! I have been swimming with Anna a few times a week though, so that's good. I'm aiming on getting a running blade soon too. It will be so good to go for a jog with one of those! I'm far more confident on walking around without a stick now too, my balance and confidence has really improved the last few weeks. I only use a stick if I'm going to be walking a lot or if I'm walking in a crowded area, like last night for example, I had my stick with me because it was crowded and I was drinking. I was dancing around no problem though! :)

  I also booked and paid for a course of Advanced Creative Writing with WEA college. It will be good to get back into an academic flow of work. It will be good to improve my writing too, if I'm going to become an author! It's only a 10 week course. 10am every Friday for 10 weeks. Eeeek I'm excited already! I think once that one is done and dusted, I'll move onto another course, something like psychology. I've got to get this brain of mine fit and ready for a Masters! A 2:1 Theology Degree at the UofB was a piece of cake for me. But now, a Masters in something, is a bit further away from me, with all of the chaos going on with my spaghetti brain.   It will be fine though, I'm working on it all. In no time at all I will be back to myself, physically (minus the leg) and mentally.

Watch this space people!

And a BIG thank you to my lovely Sister in Law, Grace, who signed me in a slate during her adventure  on a Zip-line day out. She signed my website there and left it in a place where lots of people would see it when they are doing the Zip-line adventure day out too.

 This week, I also decided to learn a little bit of Spanish, it's a language I've always wanted to learn, and have never gotten around to it. So, after reading a book called, Brain Injury Survival Kit, it was mentioned that learning something new and fresh to the brain, is a good way of training it to get fit and back to it's normal capacity. So with my Advanced Creative Writing course at the end of the year and a few Spanish words here and there, I'll be back in game!

The sentences I have written down to remember (and which I can remember right now) is;

Mi hermana Alex es tan hermoso

Well, I couldn't remember how to spell it, but I got the pronunciation spot on!

To end it on a quote, "I am not what happened to me. I am what I chose to become." Carl Jung

Until next Sunday, BYE!!!

Don't 'Diss' My Ability!

 Dear public,

I'm a proud AMPUTEE. I absolutely do not like being classed as 'disabled'. It's a negative category. It is a negative name for a category of people. A category of people who can differ so so much in their ability! The fact that this is not considered alone, is a joke!

You all know the joke, an English man, an Irish man and a Scottish man. Well this could be, there was an amputated man, a blind man and a deaf man. They are all classed as disabled people, yet their ability is so different to one another. The English Man, the Irish man and the Scottish man, they all speak the same language. They don't need a translator to assist their conversation. Yet the Amputee man, the deaf man and the Blind man all need different aids in life. Whether that be aiding a conversation between them all, or to move from one side of the room to the next.

To 'dis' something is always negative, DISapprove DISbelief, DISagree, DISappoint,  DISaster, DISgrace, DIShonest, DISrespect, DISrupt, DISturb, DIStress, DISsatisfaction.

It could go on and on, but I won't, you get the point. Disabled, is a negative label.

Therefore, it is quite apparent as to why I so passionately DISlike being labeled with this term of a negative ability. Yes it is very negative at the minute, as I can't jump up and run to the door when someone rings the bell. I can't at this very minute. But I will be able to eventually. In fact, I will be able to run faster than ever before as soon as I get a running blade. I may be able to run and jump over the person ringing the door bell.…
I will have an enhanced ability! They'll be nothing 'DIS' about it. :)

I know, this is an area of smiles and happy thoughts and energy, but I'm raging up toward this label of 'disabled' and it's best to let things out and get rid of them, so I'm letting it all out on here so you can all see it, take it in, do what you want with it. Just do not, ever, ever call me disabled.

I know other amputees don't mind being labelled as a disabled, and I know that some have a far bigger challenge than I have. So by using the facilities like the disabled toilets is an absolute necessary, but they are just different toilets. Because the people who need them can't cram themselves into tiny cubicles with their wheelchairs. Im very lucky in the fact I can still use the 'normal' toilets and at the end of they day, they are all still toilets,

A negative view. I'm not saying people are negative towards amputees and other 'disabled people', not at all. It is all done with a considerate heart. They are putting consideration into their customers so that people with various disabilities are greeted with special adapted services. It is all done in a considerate matter. I do appreciate that. However, I don't want to let that control me or label me though.

I personally do not want to be treated any differently then I was before, I don't need special care or help in my public life. Thank you for the consideration, but I decline the kind gesture. The kind gestures that I personally, do not need, just because I have a prosthetic leg.

So, now thats all done and dusted. I appreciate your help, but I choose not to accept it.

Thank you.

Rant over, now SMILE! :)