#SSS Sunday Smile Sermon, staring @MotabilityPress @KPFoundation @QEHBCharity @OfficialLeanne @KelCartwright89

Motability

I've ordered my new car!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't wait for it to be made especially for me. I'm getting a Fiat 500c, Light green, cream interior, cream soft roof and cream vintage tyre caps. This is what I originally ordered anyway.

Ordered a few weeks ago but forgot to mention it in my last blog post! I'm SO EXCITED FOR IT!!!!!

So I told my nan about it straight away and she was like "you cant! Don't order it in mint green, green cars are really unlucky!!" And I had my heart set on this!
But I did have a mint green car before I passed my test. A mint green ford KA and it got written off before I'd even passed my test! A car went into it when it was parked outside my nans on Foxhollies road and a car went straight into the side of it! It was only a cheap little car for me to practise in (illegally) before passing my test.
So with the worry of me even driving again, I thought I best not cause any further worry! So I called the garage back and asked for the baby blue version. To be fair, I was stuck between these two colours to start with anyway. They said that was fine, but for me to wait for this one to be made, I wouldn't get the car until October. The quickest turn around they could do for me was with a white car with a black soft roof. So I've gone for that one now. Finally offer!

Ironically my nan is much happier with this colour scheme, even though the car I crashed was white/cream with a black soft roof! I don't really care too much about the colour anyway, I just can't wait to get back to normal and have my independence again.

I'll have it by late september anyway eeeeeek! New reg plate too ;) If I could say how lucky I am, you'd be here all day. So I won't.

The Katie Piper Foundation

Camouflage make up!

Makeup came on Monday for my scars. Covermark cream and Veil powder.
I'll start putting it on and getting used to it each day now.

It will be like applying my old mac foundation in no time. I think it's a good protection for the scars too, covers them up so that other things can't irritate it. Like too much sun, air pollution etc. I'm very happy with it anyway.

I'm so so glad I went to a weekend retreat with the Katie Piper Foundation and met the lovely lady Kerrie, who is a camouflage practitioner. She's a star and I'm very pleased to have her as a friend.

Thank you Kerrie! xx

QEHB 

I went to the QE hospital on Wednesday to see lovely Sally. The young woman who is giving me a few shots of Botox on my good eyebrow side.
 I say good side, both of them are good, but the left one still doesn't move because of the nerve damage. So she's trying Botox on me to see if it can help with the nerve development.
It's not doing anything at the moment though, so she thinks I may have an "anti-body" or something, which rejects the Botox. So it's a bit of a waste of time for both of us if I go back to her. It was worth a shot anyway.
I personally think, they could whip a nerve out from somewhere else and put that in, surely? I'm always thinking of new ways they could do things and I am a very impatient young woman, so it's frustrating at time. They're doing their best for me anyway, so I'm very grateful for all their help and time.

The QE is a major part of my life these days. I spent like 3/4 months in there after my accident.
1 month in ICU and about 2/3 months on the Burns Ward. So I've made good relationships with people there, surgeons, nurses, therapist, janitors the lot! I'm still going back and forth to see them for things they can do to repair the damage to my face from the crash. The surgeons are giving me a few months break from it all though, as I've spent the last two years in and out there.

So I was absolutely delighted when a young woman contacted me about a fundraising event that was going on in September!
A charity abseil on Sunday 6th September. It will be so cool to try out something like this with my leg anyway! So I'm excited to be giving it a go and at the same time to be raising awareness and valuable funds for the charities that have helped me the most since my accident.

The fundraising page is click here  with a target of £500 .The majority of the money raised will be going to the two departments that helped me the most during my time at the QE. The ICU and the Burns Ward.

Then on top of that, with the extra funds kindly raised by you lovely people, the money will be going to the two charities that have helped me the most since my accident. The Katie Piper Foundation and LimbPower.

Charity abseil on Sunday 6^th September 2015.

Location: Hampton by Hilton Hotel, Broad Street, Birmingham

Time: 1pm-5pm 

Deposit required to book your place: £35 (paid)

Minimum sponsorship required to take part: £125 

So please do help me out with a big thank you to these wonderful people!

If you'd like to donate a £5 click here  and please then share with others to kindly donate too. The more it's shared the better! I need to get it to £500 by September. So lets get pestering for pennies!

Fingers crossed I'll get to my target of £500 before 6th September!

 I'll be reminding you all on every post I do from now until then. Then I'll share with you lots of videos and pictures of me actually doing it!  Hanging from a roof top with my metal rod

Obviously I was a little dubious about it, how I'd actually get down with or without my prosthetic on, so I youtubed it to check out some other people doing it and I found this lovely lady Leanne.

And seeing her doing it has made me even more excited to give it a go! 

I can't wait. Roll on September 6th!!! 

Fitness

So fitness wise, I haven't done too much lately. I'm going to see the lovely Physio lady Louise at the Maltings next week, to show off my running attempts with my old trusty leg, Leonard. I've given it another go in the garden today at my Nanny Js. Hopefully it will be good enough for them to put my name down for a blade! To buy a blade it's bloody expensive! Puts the saying "costs an arm and a leg" into reality!!
 Hopefully if I can show how eagerly I want a blade to run with, they'll put my name down and I'll kindly be able to get one through the NHS. Which would be AMAZING!!! Fingers crossed people!!!

I need to buy a bike too. I'm geared up with the lot! A seat cover, trainers, cleats, cycling clothes, the lot! I just need to get a bike and a helmet now! If anyone fancies taking me bike shopping this week, give me a call.

I'll have my blade and my bike in no time! Then I'll be a triathlon trooper!

Girl Crush!

I have a MASSIVE girl crush on the beautiful Australian Paralympian, Kelly Cartwright!

She is beautiful and powerful and I really look up to her as an amazing role model!
She has the exact same amputation as me, right leg above the knee and she is an athlete, has a cute boyfriend who she's pregnant with and she's dancing on the Australian Dancing With The Stars.

She is seriously unstoppable! An amazing young lady who I admire so much! To follow her journey click here

As you can see, she's wearing a cool running blade. I can't wait until I get one myself!!!!!!!! Fingers crossed I'll get my hands on one before the year is out.

Anyway, until next time.
Bye xxx

#SSS 5th July with @LimbPower @whynotppl @jameelajamil @Swain_1990 @Arctic_ONE @ChoochooGB

Happy Sunday everyone! 

Ok so it's Sunday, I'm a little hungover and I'm back to hating Olives, I'm 100% back to normal now! 

(Apart from the odd scar and missing body parts) 

I've had an amazing couple of weeks! Manic busy, but with lots of great things taking up my time and energy! Well worth the mini bits of stress and panic though! My god did I cause stress and worry with my family on Wednesday!!! (I'll go into that later in the blog) 

Florence Bella Hilton!

It started off wonderful, with my dear friend Charlotte giving birth to her gorgeous baby daughter on Monday 22nd! Happy very first birth day to this little beauty!

"Its with immense pride that Charlotte Hilton and I can announce that at 3:26pm today, weighing in at 9lb and 9oz, our little princess, Florence Bella Hilton arrived into this world after being delivered by an emergency c section. Mum is recovering well and little Florence is being cared for by the neonatal specialists and is getting all the support she needs. We'll update you all as soon as we have anything else to report but in the meantime, here's a picture of our beautiful little angel. Xxx" 

Osseointegration 

I went to Milton Keynes with my Nanny J,  to meet a lovely surgeon from Sydney, Munjed Al Marids.  It was very interesting to hear more about this cool alternative to a general prosthetic leg.

I've made a few friends who have had the surgery and they are so happy with it. It's not a necessity for me, just a cool alternative.

Currently I don't struggle too much with my general NHS leg, it does the job! I want to feel totally free from any type of pain or nuisance though. It can be annoying if I go on a long walk and it get's uncomfortable. And I do want to get more and more active, so that's going to get more and more annoying and painful.

I think it's a great option to have this surgery and not have to worry about the relationship you have with your leg attachments.

To read more about it and Munjed Al Marids, click here

I want to have this operation!!! It's not on the NHS though, so I think I'll wait until I'm back at work before getting it done, I don't want to use my current money on an operation and flights to Australia, when I'm currently unemployed! That would be reckless, I'm trying to work on my reckless spending at the moment, so I won't sign up for this operation just yet! 

But they can certainly put me on their waiting list for it!!

I met a lovely chap called Michael Swain, who did a little talk at the conference as well as Munjed. It was great to meet him, as we had spoken briefly on Facebook. He's doing so well with his Osseointergration and seeing how well he is walking, really makes me want to have it done! 

I know a young lady called Viktorija too who had this operation a couple of years ago and she's loving it! I met her at the weekend at the LimbPower event. I'll hopefully meet up with this lovely lady again soon. 

Arctic One

Unfortunately I missed an event I was interested in going to on the Sunday after the conference. The Arctic One para-tri, an event at Dorney Lake. As I said above, I want to get more and more active, stronger and capable with my leg, so I really want to do this Triathlon! I wanted to check out the venue for the event Arctic One run, and I also wanted to meet some of the lovely people I've met online with the organisation. 

It's a shame I missed this one, but I'll hopefully make the next event they do, which is the 'Aquathon' in August. Click here to see the event.

I'm well up for this, I go swimming a lot with Anna, 2 or 3 times a week, so I'm trying to edge her into doing it with me! It would be fun to give it a go. Although I normally do a casual brest stroke in the swimming baths, so I'm not sure how this would go down in a lake! It's definitely worth a go anyway!  So COME ON ANNA!!

Why Not People 

So I went to the first Why Not People event on Wednesday 1st July.
I won a competition too apparently, some sort of RT on Twitter or something . So I got to go backstage and chat with Jameela Jamil. That was cool. I didn't really know what to say or ask though as I had completely forgotten about it. So it was more of a friendly chat really. 

She told me that she got her friend, who has a disability and was a virgin at 28, laid through the whole Why Not People craze! I was like, you should set up a dating site called "Why Not Date me?" for Why Not members to go on dates together. I'd definitely download it onto my phone and flirt with everyone! 

OH MY GOD! IT WAS AMAZING!!!

I met some lovely people! A young lad in the cue called David, who had also come on his own. Then I was sitting with two lovely ladies Karen and her daughter Shannon. These two were great fun and I can't wait to meet them again at the next WNP event. 

Those of you who know how much I love my music, will know that if a song really touches my heart, I get emotional! If it resonates with a particular event, person or meaning it can even make me cry! I'm not a big cryer, but an emotional song can really tug at my heart strings and occasionally, I drop a tear! 

So ... I'm just going to say it.... Tinie did that to me! He made me cry!! 

Now this was a happy tear of course! I think it was just the whole meaning of the event and how important it was for me. It is so incredibly important for people to be able to go and enjoy gigs, regardless of their abilities or disabilities. 

No one should be segregated into a "safe" corner on the side. Why can't they just be assisted in whatever way they need, in the middle of all the fun! They should not be plonked into a side section of an event, just because they are sitting in a wheel chair, the event should be considerate to these people, and get others to not stand and jump around in front of them. 

Glastonbury does have a cool stand for people in wheelchairs to sit up on, which is safe for them to see the acts playing, of course drunk people at Glastonbury aren't going to calm down for people in wheelchairs.  They might even lift the chair up and start crowd surfing the person, which is what my friends would probably do! 

So this was the time at Glastonbury when I cried to Stevie Wonder.

Now I'm not saying this is the same way as me crying at the Why Not People launch, because I was probably in a very different mind set and state at this time. God knows what was in my blood stream. But the feeling of  the crowd was just so amazing and overwhelming that I got all teary!

Happy tears of course, but then also a bit of sad tears, because I was totally amazed by how incredible it looked there in that moment, with a HUGE crowd of happy people and poor Stevie couldn't see it! 

I literally thought, I would love to give him my eyes just to take this amazing sight in! (Not that my sight is any good,  but I seriously wanted him to be able to see the crowd and the way he was making us all so happy!) 

I'm a sensitive soul at times. Especially with a few beers in me! 

LimbPower - Manic Marafun 

So, this weekend, Anna and I went down to Stoke Mandeville for an event with LimbPower. The Manic Marafun. Lots of lovely amputees, families and supporters all got involved to have a great time and raise a bit of money for Limbpower,

Anna and I set up 2 just giving pages, with a target of £200 each for donations to LimbPower. 

With more money and support they can do even more then they are right now. And what they do throughout the year is just amazing! 

My Just Giving page states;

 "26 amputees will be doing a 1 mile walk/hop/wheel/dance/run/slide/cartwheel/rollypolly around the stadium field. All dressed up in silly costumes! Anna and I are dressing up as the tortoise & the hare! 

LimbPower support many amputees in the UK, they hold events throughout the year for fun activities and get togethers for old friends! It's a great way to meet people going through similar struggles and just supporting one another."

They are an incredibly important foundation to me and I want to help them out in any way  I can throughout the year! 

 

Anna had great support too and was able to reach £245 click here to see these lovely people too!

Gosh, look how white my leg was! you can hardly see where my shorts stop and leg starts! haha

I raised a whopping £370 for LimbPower! To see there kind donations click here.


My favourite part of the event was at the end when we all did a big conga around the track! 

We got home yesterday evening and were both tired from the activities and travelling. But my mate Adam from my old job at One Black Bear came round to visit me. It was lovely to catch up with him, I hadn't seen him since my accident so we had loads and loads of things to catch up on. 

Especially when the little shit hadn't even been reading my blogs! EVER! He'll probably read this one today, so Ad I'll be testing you to see what you do and don't know ;) You better start the beginning! 

As you can see I caught a bit of sun while at Stoke Mandeville. I stupidly didn't put any sun cream on and my poor leg got a little burnt! With scars down my leg from skin grafts taken, you'd think I'd be extra careful in the sun! Stupid of me not to be! 

I need to go shopping this week for a nice sari for my cousin Martina's wedding this September and the Bollywood Ball with Limbpower in November and saris are pretty expensive, so i need to find a nice one soon! 

So this week I'm going to be swimming my little ass off to try and get fit enough to complete the Arctic One event in August. That will be a cool achievement. I'll keep you posted on it all anyway. 

Chao for now x 

#SSS June 21st - @Action_Jack @raemorrismusic @BCNA2013 @LimbPower

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!!!!!

Just to start off, I'm sitting out in the garden at my nanny Js, getting a bit of sunshine on my pale white skin! While dad is away in Las Vegas sunshine! I'm not a bit jealous! Honest....

But Happy Fathers Day to all the lovely dads and granddads out there! I'm sure you've all received lots of love today!

Ok so where do I start. Well, back to Monday two weeks ago, I had my fitness head on! So I went and swam 50 lengths with Anna. I'm hopping to get it higher and keep it up weekly. She's been away over the last week or so with Dad and Mark in Vegas, but when she's back, I'll be going 2 or 3 times a week with her.  If I want to do this Triathlon, I better keep the fitness levels up!

I bought Rae Morris tickets!! I saw her with Roisin supporting Lianne La Havas in 2013 and she was so cool. Now she's got her own album out and is touring I just had to get tickets to see her! I love her album and would love to hear it live! She's back at the Birmingham Institute where I first saw her, on October 11th, so I asked my dear friend Josh if he wanted to come, as it's his birthday on the 20th, he said he would, so it will be fun, I'm really looking forward to it :) 

I also bought tickets to see Purity Ring at The Roundhouse, London on Thursday 29th October, I would love to see them after listening to their new album, Eternity. My friend Ross said he'd like to see them too, so he'll come with me. I'll look forward to that too.

On Tuesday I went for a lovely little meal with  Dad, Anna, Dan, Grace, James & Isabelle. As dad and Anna were heading to Vegas for a couple of weeks, it was nice to all get together for a pre birthday meal for Izzy. It was lovely seeing them all and having a nice chat. After the meal we headed to Nanny Js for a cuppa and catch up, so dad could pick up his mail before leaving for Vegas the following day. 

They left for Vegas on the Thursday, to be there for a few weeks. Dad, doing his thing and Anna visiting her sister and family over in Buffalo. Anna's mom, Camilla was moving in with me, to keep both me and Sally (the dog) company! I also needed her help with transport to appointments etc. So it was very nice of her being around to help me out.

That weekend I headed back down to Birmingham to stay with the family down there. I also had a date on Saturday, so it was nice to be down there, up and ready for it Saturday morning. That was a lovely little meet up, my favourite part being the delicious elderflower mojito we had at Bank restaurant!

Then Sunday, my dear friend Roisin came round to visit me at my nanny Js. It was so nice to catch up with her while she's back in Birmingham. She's living and working in London, so her time back home here in Birmingham is very precious! Especially for the people who miss her and don't get to go down and visit her! That night my nanny J and her lovely friend Mairead brought me back home to Tettenhall. 

Then on Monday afternoon I had an appointment to see my prosthetist Tim Howard, he was taking my leg in to sort the socket out! So I brought my old trusty Leonard with me to wear home. The lovely phsyio lady, Louise, told me to practise running with this leg, so I tried it in the garden a couple of times! I'm not confident enough to do it in a park where people can see and laugh! Maybe not visible laughter but it would be hard not to laugh a little bit inside when you saw how ridiculous my movement is when I run! I need to keep working on it really. So I'm going to practice my ass off this summer! Hopefully I'll get a blade to run with by autumn. 

Then Tuesday 16th was my darling niece Isabelle's 2nd birthday! I didn't get a chance to see her but I heard she had a lovely day!
I went to see my Neurologist at West Park hospital, and he basically signed me off! He said if I ever felt the need to, I was always welcome back. I'm basically as good as it's going to get though, in his eyes. There's always room for improvement though, so I'll keep at it anyway.
 I may find things a bit over whelming when the work load and life in general gets a bit more hectic. But it wont come to me as an unknown shock. I know I have to be extra careful about overloading my brain and tiring it out. I will always have to be more diligent with my notes and detailing things in my dairy. It's nothing too difficult anyway.
I think when I get back into work, the added stress of that on a day to day basis might make me a little more worn out by Friday, but I'll just have to rest well over the weekend, instead of going out and partying! But that was all over ratted anyway!

Confession time - on Wednesday I took Sally to the park, on my own :)
She was good, didn't pull too much. Understandably the family are a little nervous about me doing that, as she's a strong dog and does get over excited when she sees other dogs. I think they have a sixth sense though! She must have picked up on the fact that I was a little nervous and so was very (out of character) calm and obedient with me. She didn't pull and go mental when she saw other dogs, she didn't go crazy at the park and run into the pool like she normally does with my dad. It was actually a lovely, calm walk around the park!  Just what I needed really for the night before my presentation!  

So on Thursday 18th, at the Wolverhampton football ground, the  Black Country Neurological Alliance had their roadshow. There roadshows are for people of the black country to get together and see what help and guidance there is for those living with a neurological condition - In my case a mild brain injury.
 So my presentation went well! It was only a short 10 minute talk about my injury, my blog and my support networks. It was really well received! Great roadshow all round in a nice venue. So I''m looking forward to the next one. The lovely people from West Part came too, which was nice to see them. There's a lovely lady there working on my CV for me, so I'll get that back from her this week and then start emailing it out to people! I'm hoping to be working by September. I'll be getting my car then so I'll no doubt need extra money for petrol and starburst. (Everyone needs a pack of starburst in their car!) 

Friday came and I thought I had a meeting at the Maltings, to collect my leg, but I had changed it to Monday! So I had to keep my old leg for this weekend. A bit annoying, but my fault for unnecessarily rescheduling!

  

On the 4th July at Stoke Mandeville Stadium, 26 amputees will be doing a 1 mile walk/hop/wheel/dance/run/slide/cartwheel/roly-poly around the stadium field. All dressed up in silly costumes! Anna and I are dressing up as the tortoise & the hare! 

LimbPower support many amputees in the UK, they hold event throughout the year for fun activities and get togethers with old friends!

 It's a great way to meet people going through similar struggles and just supporting one another. 

So I set up Just Giving pages for both Anna and I for our Manic Marafun event!

• To see Anna's page and donate click here 

• To see mine and donate please click here - As you can see, I'm currently 30% of the way to my target of £200.00 So if you are feeling generous, do pop a penny in for me please. 

The money will be going to this amazing charity,  who hold many events for people all over the UK, who are amputees or limb impaired. It's amazing what they do and I want to thank them for all of the opportunities they have given me, but raising a bit of awareness and funds through the Manic Marafun event. Keep your eyes peeled for the ridiculous photos that will be up on here soon after the event on 4th July!

More exciting news from last week, Alex passed her driving test & bought her car!!! 
She'll be out of the roads next week, spinning around in her new Peugeot 108! She will be my personal assistant until I get my own set of wheels in September. ;)

I've been a massive let down this weekend! I had a couple of dates lined up, but I had a stinking headache so had to reschedule them both! Instead of going to a Caribbean festival on Saturday, which would have made my headache even worse, I went out with nanny D and Alex for a nice relaxing pub lunch and then stayed at my nanny Js that night.
My head was still a bit sore this morning too, so I stayed in and relaxed at hers. Helen popped in for a cup of coffee and a chat and then later Martina came for dinner. It was lovely catching up with them both.

I'm having an early night tonight and hoping I wake up headache free! Being on this laptop probably isn't helping! I'll wrap it up now.

Until next time,
Peace xxx

#MondayMotivation - 8th June @BBCRadio4 @fifiglover @MaggsA @sianDgreen @KPFoundation @BCNA2013 @Altlimpro 🙌

So I spend a few hours typing up my blog post last night, I was being very thorough with it detailing how amazing my last two weeks have been! And especially talking about the KPFoundation weekend I had just got home from! It was a really good post and then as I tried to post it, it crashed! I lost the whole bloody thing! I was too exhausted to rewrite it so I decided to just go to bed and come back to it this morning!
So instead of my usual #SSS Sunday Smile Sermon, I'm writing my #MM Monday Motivation! I guess it's more apt for this post anyway, seeing as I left a venue with lots of lovely people with the KPFoundation feeling massively inspired!

So what's been going on since my last post. Well the mini me turned  21 Alex! I posted a little video I made for her last weekend. I was going to show the video at her surprise party, but I'm glad I didn't now, as it made a lot of people cry! So it could have been even worse at her party with a few drinks down you! It was a great little party anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did, and Alex of course.
On her actual birthday, the Sunday after the party, we went to the cinema for a chilled out afternoon watching Pitch perfect 2.

I received a lovely card from Sian that week, when I got home from my weekend in Birmingham, I had a really sweet card, celebrating my 2 year "ampuversary". Very kind of thoughtful from Sian! Thank you sweetie!
 
It was lovely meeting up with Sian face to face at Bristol for a chat with Fi Golver, in her radio programme called 'Shared Experiences'. I was contacted by the lovely Maggie Ayre at the BBC, and when she invited me to join her and Fi Glover, she asked if I knew any other people who may be interested, I asked Sian and she was well up for it! So we did the recording together and had a really nice meeting, the two of us and a lovely man called David who was paralysed from the neck down from a diving accident in Australia!
It was aired last week on BBC Radio 4,  click here to listen.  I sound so Brummie!

Early last week I went to my mobility centre to speak to my prosthetist, I really really REALLY want a running blade!  I want to start running better and faster!! Then I would love to do fundraising runs to help raise valuable funds for the two charities that have really helped me on my journey of recovery! LimbPower and the KatiePiperFoundation.

If anyone is feeling charitable this summer and wants to do a bit of fundraising, please do consider supporting these two organisation. They help so many people in the UK  who may be feeling sad and alone in their situation, so to have the peer support of others who have gone through similar bad things to you, is truly invaluable! ... And as soon as I get myself a running blade, put your hands in pockets for that fundraising! Hopefully I have one to start practising in by Autumn.

LimbPower are doing an event called Manic Marafun, in July, so I have my costume ready for that! Anna and I are going as the tortoise & the hare, I'm the hare as I'm the manic fast person who has no patience what so ever. Anna's the tortoise as she is very slow paced and chilled! It will be a fun event, I'm really looking forward to it! I'll set up a fundraising page this week to help raise a bit of money for the mile each walk/run/cycle we do! So I'll be pestering you all for donations! :) 

On Tuesday last week, I went to view Wolverhampton football ground. The organisation I'm helping Black Country Neurological Alliance, are holding their next roadshow there, on the 18th June.
I will be doing a little presentation there so I wanted to get a feel for the room size. It's quite a big room so I'm a little bit nervous! Well I was REALLY nervous at first, as my public speaking skills have never been great. But doing a little talk at the weekend for the KPF was really good practise for me! I'm feeling good about doing my talk at the roadshow now :)  

I've been going to the gym 2 or 3 times a week, to help get fitter and stronger.  Go hard or go home! On Wednesday I tried some more gym machines, it was good, obviously I need to do things a little differently because of my leg, but it's not that much of a change.
 I really want to try rock climbing! I saw a little girl doing it with a prosthetic leg, on a post on Facebook, I was like wow! I need to try this! Click here to see where I am going to try this week! Eeeek! I'll let you know how I get on anyway, hopefully I won't have too many falls! 

I've decided I really need to go and see a Chiropractor too, so I'm going to see one this week and see if he can help me release some of the tension I have in my back! I'm always having to click my back to help it! Hopefully he/she can give it a good click which will sort me out for a few weeks!

So this weekend I went to Reading with my sister Alex, for a KPFoundation weekend away in Reading. It was a lovely little retreat for many burn survivors to get together and try new things and meet new people.

Burns can be an isolating thing to deal with, so for a good get together, sharing experiences and just relaxing together, really is like a lovely relaxing weekend holiday! It was great!!! I met some really cool people, who I'll hopefully stay in touch with and meet again at another event organised by the charity.

We got picked up from Reading train station by a lovely lady called Karen, who I met briefly at an event the foundation did at the Birmingham QE hospital. She took me, Alex and a lady from Bradford who was at the station too, to the venue. A gorgeous De Barns hotel.
It was a beautiful hotel, lots of gorgeous land, nice rooms and nice balcony next to the room where we all gathered for food.

When we all arrived we relaxed in the rooms where we were staying and  then headed to a room where we all sat to listen to an introduction talk from Katie, who then introduced me for my talk. I didn't wan't to go into detail of my injuries and my operations or anything like that, so I just talked about my blog and how I focus on the things that make me smile. How your inner happiness is paramount to your recovery. The fact that I couldn't smile the way I used to, because of my scars and nerve damage, is sad. It's what upset me the most with all of the injuries I had. Literally, even more than my leg!
I wanted to be happy inside and out so I focused on that and shared my journey with others in this blog. And to this day still do, because the support and encouragement I've had since sharing my life, has been amazing! A trouble shared is a trouble halved!

After my talk, we did some pilates, led by the lovely Tulsi at the Foundation. She did a great job! It was quite tiring in fact, so after this little work out, I went to a crafts room where Beth was leading a little crafts session, decorating things with Papier-mâché . I decorated a nice heart ornament to give to Anna when I got home.  :) 

After this, I had a 1 to 1 session with a gorgeous lady from Blackpool called Kerrie, a skin camouflage practitioner. She tried out various colours on me until we found a match! Then this cream was placed on my scars on my face and neck. The scar on my neck is still quite red and sore looking, but with this cream and then the powder to cover the shine was placed over it, it magically covered it all! It was like there was nothing there! AMAZING!!!!! I can also get these things on the NHS, so the products used with Kerrie have been written down on a piece of paper that I need to take to my doctor and get ordered! It's amazing that this can be ordered from the NHS too, it's such a nice idea to have something like this as a base, which I can then put normal make up over the top. Yay!!!! I'll have to order some in before going on any future dates ;)

We all then went back to our rooms and got ready for our meal together. I did bring a nice dress with me to wear on the evening, but I hadn't shaved my leg, so I just stayed in the trousers I was wearing that day. You'd think with the chore of leg shaving being halved for me, I'd actually be doing it regularly! Somethings never change aye!

 So we all then met up in the restaurant room are, where we chilled out on the balcony with a glass of champagne. Then we sat down for a lovely 3 course meal, a nice smoked salmon starter, delicious chicken main, and, my favourite, profiteroles for dessert! It was all so yummy! There was plenty of wine on the tables too, so it was  a lovely relaxing meal together with the cool cats we'd all met during the day events. After our meal, we all sang happy birthday to the lovely lady Zinny, who is the charity services manager. We had been signing a card for her throughout the day and gave this to her with a lovely bunch of flowers as a big happy birthday and thank you, for organising such an amazing event with the charity. I hope she had a lovely birthday! She is such an incredibly generous lady and definitely deserved to be spoilt rotten, so I hope her friends and family did so when she got home!
Then more cards and flowers were handed out to all the people who helped to run the event. They also gave one to me for my presentation, which was so sweet of them, I will definitely cherish it!

We all then went back to our rooms for well needed sleep! On Sunday, we all met up for breakfast together. It was a glorious sunny day and we started off with a relaxing mediation time, outside on the lawn, led by Tulsi. After this, Katie did a little talk with some strong affirmations, reflecting on what we all had done over the weekend! A lovely end to day!
We then got a taxi back to Reading train station with a group of people who were making a journey from there at the same time. We all said our goodbyes and I left feeling amazing! I hope the friends I made there are genuinely friends who I'll stay in touch with and meet again at another KPFoundation event!

I briefly spoke to a cool young lady who was helping the foundation, in the space of someone who was on maternity leave. My blog, stating how I wanted to get into Music Festival Management before my accident, interested her and she said we should chat about the idea of having an event like this for the foundation! It would be an amazing idea!!!! I hope to get in touch with her again soon and share our ideas/plans and then start organising it! Ive forgotten this lady's name, so if anyone is reading this who knows, please do remind me so I can get in touch with her.

Alternative limb project

 Kiera Roche had a beautiful leg made by them, which you can find if you click here. I'm seriously thinking about getting one. Maybe not a full leg cover like this, but I need a foot shell that will squeeze into a nice pair of shoes! I need a natural arch in the foot, so it sits well in nice shoes! I just  can't live a flat footed life! No way!
So I really need this foot shell from ALP - I'm def going to look into this now! I need a nice pair of high wedges for Alice's wedding!!! I'm happy to go flat footed for Dans', that's coming up soon and I don't want to put too much pressure on myself with that! So Alice's wedding next year! That's when I need my new foot shell for. 
I'll let you know how I get on anyway. Stay tuned ;) 

Until next time,
x

#SSS - 24th May - @LimbPower @kieraroche @BCNA2013

LimbPower Games

Where do I begin!!???

The weekend away last week, to Stoke Mandeville Stadium, was absolutely AMAZING!! Even better than last year! I mean, last year was pretty cool, as I hadn't really been out much at all since my release from hospital!
But this year, getting involved with a lot more activities, having the craic with my old friends from last year, and making new friends, it was just the best weekend I've had in years!!! I'm so so grateful to LimbPower's Kiera Roche for creating such a empowering foundation!! Thank you Kiera!

The friends you make there are seriously friends for life! The comradery and banter was on fire! The support and encourgament was really what helped to push you to do things you didn't think you could do! It's pretty amazing how just a bit of friendship and support from your peers can change a 'can't' into a 'can'!

I didn't think I would be able to run without a running blade. I just didn't trust the knee joint to take such a strain and to hold me up as I power it down.
But having people around you, cheering you on, and offering their advice and support, changes everything! I did it!!!!
It wasn't at all fast, and of course it looked a bit odd, but who cares, I was running!!!!!! I can't even put into words how amazing this achievement felt. It was the best feeling in the world!

I'm so lucky to have such good friends through LimbPower, supporting me and my progress. If it wasn't for this event, I would have carried on, assuming I couldn't do it.

It certainly changes your confidence and your outlook on your 'dis'ability! Thank you LimbPower!

 

 I was in the Black team this year, with Gemma and Ollie as the two mentors. I will list off the events and how it all went on...

On Saturday, we started off with breakfast, registration and a welcome. The first event was in Archery! I did love this one last year (because I had a good shot!) but this year I wasn't as good, so I'm admitting it was probably just a lucky shot on my first attempt!

Then we played wheelchair basketball! I loved that! I was totally rubbish at it, but it was such good fun! There was a lot of energy in this game, and the coach for it (I've forgotten his name) was hilarious! A feisty scotch man!

We then all had a refreshment break, and the next game for us Blacks was Table Tennis followed by Badminton and Golf, I skipped these ones and went to a shooting hut and also did some time on the rowing machine.
I was pretty good at the rifle shooting actually! It's all about relaxing your body and breathing out at a certain time before pulling the trigger, so there is a lot more to it then I had anticipated. Now my target card was pretty impressive and I was very pleased, however I thought I wouldn't sign up to a Paralympian shooting team so quickly! I decided to sleep on that one and go back to it the following day! ;)

We then had a lunch break, relaxing in the canteen with everyone before jumping back into the next sport. Now I don't know what was in that tuna sandwich, but it didn't half give me some beans! I went to the 'track athletics' and I RAN!!!!!!!!! 
 I'm still buzzing off this when I think about it actually, it was that much of a relief/achievement. I wish someone had taken a video of it for me to keep and look back on!

I think, as I was getting used to a new socket whilst there, the high impact and humidity caused a bit of a sore rash at the end of my little leg. So it was quite sore by the end of the day! We were all at the bar area relaxing Saturday evening, it was nice having a good chat and a drink with them all! Then as the bar closed we headed back to our rooms and I even copped a lift in Steven Blairs wheelchair! ;)

So for the Sunday, I wasn't wearing my leg as it was still sore at the bottom of my thigh (aka stump - but I hate that name/term for your residual limb! It's horrible! So if you're reading this take note! It's my thigh!)

We started off with a game of sitting Volley Ball, which was a nice start. I find I need something less vigorous to start off with, especially after having some of Derek's Brandy the night before! 

Then we had Archery/Track Athletics. This was followed by Badminton, but Anna and I skipped this to go shooting again! I just had to have a go on the hand pistol, I also wanted to see if I was as equally good as I was the day before. I think the rifle is more for me, the hand pistol just didn't work as well with me. I think a lot of it is physiological though, which is very interesting. After our my second visit to this shooting hut, I put my email address down to be contacted with places in my area to go to, to try out again. I think I might just do that! Being good with a gun is pretty cool! 

We then went to the tennis courts. Tennis, in a wheelchair! It was fun. It was a nice sunny day too, so it was nice to be outside doing something before lunch. 

After lunch, we headed to 'Field Athletics', the spot where the magic happened the day before, with my running attempt! :) 

Here, I was trying a bike ride! Without my prosthetic on. It was a bit unnerving at first! I had a clip at the bottom of a trainer, which attached to the peddle. This allowed me to push down and pull back up, which is needed if you don't have a prosthetic on.
It was a bit scary! I thought, shit, if I fall to the left my left foot is attached to the peddle so I can't quickly put my foot down, and if I fall to the right, I have nothing to put down! I was told by the lovely Wyn to turn my toes in to the right to loosen the clasp, but really, the fear of falling was clouding his words of encouragement!

I was the last girl in my class to ride a bike without stabilisers! I've alway been a bit of a wimp when it comes to my balance and safety! But I trusted Wyn, this lovely chap wasn't going to let me fall and hurt myself! He was going to be cycling with me. Just that little bit of support and guidance really helped me get into the right mind set to do it! 

Obviously the fact that a 5x Paralympian Gold Medalist was beside me on the journey around the track for support, also helped with the added confidence. So thank you to Jody Cundy for that!
It was actually very tiring! More so then I had anticipated. But I did, and the feeling of achievement smothered the tiredness. It was great!!! 

I seriously felt unstoppable! I was like, sign me up for a triathlon! I'm doing it! I can run, I can ride a bike and I can swim. I will be putting all of these factors into my general health and fitness and get myself built up and strong enough to complete a Triathlon! 

It's very early days yet, but I'm not the type of person who waits around for something to happen. Once I've got my eyes on the prize you can't stop me! And completing a Triathlon next year, before attending the next LimbPower games, would be absolutely AMAZING!!!!
 I hope I can do it in that time!!! If anyone hears or sees me being lazy, just say Triathlon!!!!! And I'll jump back into it! I know I'm feeling pumped with energy and excitement now, which may dip after a few weeks of wearing out. But I must keep at it! I really really really want to achieve this and theres no reason why I can't! 

I've been home for a week now and I've already signed up for a para-thriathlon! I've been going to the gym on a daily basis and have been giving it a good 20 mins on the bike, 20 mins on the treadmill (Just walking fast, I'm not confident enough to attempt running on the treadmill, not when there are loads of other people at the gym! I'll try it one day when I'm up there on my own, that way if/when I fall, it won't be as embarrassing!)

I've set up a meeting with a Personal Trainer at my gym, so maybe that will help me a bit. We'll see how my first session with him goes, when we meet up tomorrow evening. I'll keep you all posted!... (I hope I get the fit guy I saw there last week!!!!)

The next excitement within LimbPower is the Snowdon walk this June. I would love to this walk, but I'm not sure I will be able to with the annoying discomfort I'm having with my leg socket. I'm seeing my prosthetist next week, so hopefully I will be switched onto a different socket that will be more comfortable and will allow me to do the walk in June. With the slow pace of the NHS though, I doubt I'll get it sorted in time!  

Here is a video of the Run Clinic LimbPower held a few months ago, hopefully there will be another one, I'd like to go to that! 

It would be so cool if LimbPower did a Winter Games. It would be cool to try out skiing! Maybe that will happen in the years to come.

So, I have an appointment next week with Tim, I'm going to tell him my plans to do a triathlon and maybe he can sort me out with a decent leg socket and MAYBE even a running blade! I would feel much more confident running with one of them. I'll see what he says anyway. Wish me luck!!!

I have a meeting this week with BCNA, so it will be cool to catch up with everyone and hear plans for the next roadshow. Their next roadshow is going to be on Thursday 18th.

The presentations will be focusing more so on the younger generation, effected by a neurological condition.
Therefor they have asked me to do a little presentation on my mild brain injury and the ways I've adapted my lifestyle to make things easier for myself; like having reminders in my phone and diary.
I put a list of things to do each day and a little box next to them so I can tick them off when they're done. It's a good incentive to do them and will help me stay on track and complete what I want to each day.

Anyway, if you don't go to this roadshow I'll let you know how it went on here anyway.

Until next time, bye bye  xx