My Diary – February 2009
Thursday
19th February 2009
Oh what a week! First of all the boring stuff - I went to
Kent & Canterbury Hospital on Friday the 6th to see the skin specialist
about my foot. It turns out it isn’t a
mole hole on my heel after all, it’s an ulcer or a pressure sore. It could be from the splints I wear. I had the ulcer cleaned and it’s now healing
well - pardon the pun!
On Monday the 9th I entered my
twenties! It wasn’t as scary as I
thought it would be! I had a nice day
with a friend and some family over in the morning, then in the afternoon I had
my eyebrows waxed and my nails done with a French manicure. When I came home from having that done, I
blew the candles out on my cake. Mum had
secretly baked it while I’d been out, so it was a nice surprise to come home
to! I got lots of lovely presents,
including having some posh chocolates delivered and a pink mini rose bush. The rose bush arrived after 4pm, so that was
a nice surprise too because I didn’t think parcels were delivered at that
time! I was going to go out for drinks
with the girls that night, but thought it was best not to, considering where I
was going the next day…
Last Tuesday morning I had an interview
with Meridian news about the Diana award I’ve won, in memory of Princess
Diana. The award ceremony was held at 11
Downing Street that night. I went with
Mum, my guide communicator Nikki, and my brother Lee, whose 23rd birthday it
was that day. I wore a dress! Yes, I said a dress! I don’t normally do dresses, but then I don’t
normally do Downing Street either! We
arrived just after 5pm, and were allowed to park our car outside Number
10. We had drinks with some other
guests, including the Chancellor’s wife, Maggie Darling, and Bee Gee Robin
Gibb, who has just become the first celebrity ambassador for the Diana award. Maggie found out it was our birthdays, so got
everyone to sing happy birthday to us - including Robin Gibb!
We then went for the award ceremony,
where a group of primary school children were presented with an award, then I
received mine. I was given a framed
certificate and badge, and also got a lovely glass trophy as a special award
because I was the 25,000 winner since the award was set up ten years ago. I gave a speech and was then surprised with a
lovely letter from Prince Harry. He
wrote it to tell me he was so delighted that I was receiving a Diana award. It
made the night even more brilliant.
Robin
Gibb, Nikki, Mum, Lee and Me
On Wednesday I did a phone interview
with BBC Radio Kent. It was my first
live radio interview, and it went quite well I think. That morning I was also on BBC Breakfast News
about winning the Diana award, and over the next couple of days I had over
£1,000 donated on my Justgiving page for Nicole’s Fund, so I was really
happy. Thank you if that was you.
So as you know, last weekend my
documentary ‘Our world - Nicole’s Story’ was shown six times on the BBC News
channel. It can still be seen by
visiting the link in my previous diary entry, but only until tomorrow. It’s had an amazing response, and I’ve had so
many emails and guestbook messages since, plus lots more donations for my
fund. Sunday was two years since my
chemo finished, so I’ve now been in remission for two whole years! Woohoo!
I can’t believe it’s been that long, but it’s a good feeling to get this
far. Naturally I had some Archers and
fresh orange to celebrate!
Then this week it was back to normal
life…on Tuesday I went to my friend Pam’s house. She has a mini zoo there -
it’s brilliant! There are cats, dogs, baby guinea pigs, rabbits and goats! I held the two week old guinea pigs which
were the size of hamsters, then I held a rabbit which was the most well behaved
rabbit I’ve ever met. I cuddled it for
about twenty minutes and loved just stroking its ears. My favourite part of the
‘zoo’ though was feeding the goats. I
love those little fellas! This little
goat was one year old and called Bobby, and it was so sweet. I wanted to bring him home, but for some
strange reason, Mum said no. I think I
will have to keep working on her…
Thank you so, so much to everyone who
has donated on my Justgiving page this past week. I’ve had over 40 donations, and I can’t thank
you enough. I’ve had over £3,000 donated
in the last week, and it’s made a real difference, so thank you.
Love Nicole xxx
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Sunday
15th February 2009
I’ve been in remission for two years
today!! Woohoo!
Just in case any of you have missed my
documentary this weekend: ‘Our World - Nicole’s Story’, here is a link to
it. It’s only valid for six days though,
so watch it while you can! Nicole's
Story
Thank you so, so, so much to everyone
who has donated to Nicole’s Fund via my Justgiving page since seeing my story
on the news. There has been almost £2,000 donated today alone, and it’s the
best thing I could have ever have asked for on the anniversary of my chemo
finishing. What a way to celebrate! I’ve been overwhelmed with people’s
generosity, and it means so much, so thank you.
I’m very, very busy at the moment, but
I’ll update my diary later in the week with my news.
Love Nicole xxx
*****************************************
Thursday
12th February 2009
Just a quick reminder that my
documentary ‘Nicole’s Story’ will be on the BBC News channel on Saturday at
5.30am and 2.30pm, and Sunday at 3.30am, 10.30am, 2.30pm and 11.30pm. It’s just under half an hour long and I hope
you enjoy it!
Here’s a clip of me on BBC Breakfast
News yesterday: BBC Breakfast
News/Nicole
Love Nicole xxx
*****************************************
Thursday
5th February 2009
I can’t believe it’s February already!
On Tuesday 20th January I went to the
gym for an hour, and then I did an hour of hydro in the afternoon, so I was
pretty chuffed with myself and felt great afterwards.
Last Monday (26th) I went to King’s
College Hospital in London to take part in a photoshoot. The hospital is
currently re-designing the walls and the artist is using portraits of staff,
members of the public and supporters of the hospital and, because I’m an
ambassador for King’s, I was invited along.
The shoot was filmed by the BBC who are filming a documentary about
me. They started filming last April, and
it will be on BBC News 24 (freeview and satellite channels) on Valentine’s Day,
as long as no other big stories happen on the day, and it will be shown around
seven times, so you can’t miss it! While
I was at King’s College Hospital I also went through the designs for ‘Nicole’s
Sweet’, the neuro-rehabilatation room, I’ve been fundraising for. I’m not going to say yet what it’ll be like,
but it’s going to be great! Nicole’s
Sweet will be officially opened in the next couple of months and I can’t wait!
Last Tuesday I had to visit my GP as I
had a sore foot. I have a little hole in
my heel and we didn’t know what it was, and it was starting to freak me out a
bit, so we visited my doctor who said it looks like a damaged mole, so
basically it’s a mole hole! I’m going to
see a skin specialist this week about it, so hopefully I can get it sorted
soon. Luckily I don’t have to walk much
on it, but it can be sore when I stand, so I want to get it sorted. I couldn’t go to the gym or hydro that day
because of it, so I wasn’t too happy.
It’ll take more than a mole hole though to keep me off my feet!
Last Thursday I went to the University
College Hospital in London to visit their Teenage Cancer Trust unit. The unit had such a nice atmosphere, and we
met some of the teenagers having treatment.
Some had only been diagnosed a few days earlier which really brought
home to me the fact that everyday in the UK six teenagers and young adults are
diagnosed with cancer. It’s the reason
why I’m so passionate about fundraising for Teenage Cancer Trust. The visit was filmed by the BBC, so you’ll
get to see it too if you watch my documentary.
In other news… I received the best thing
in the post last week. For anyone who
knows me well, they’ll know I have an addiction to Tetley tea. Not very cool
for a nineteen year old I know. Well, Helen, who is the regional appeals
manager and the main person who I work with at Teenage Cancer Trust, contacted
Tetley and told them about me, and they sent me a certificate awarding me the
‘Tetley Tea Drinker of the Year’, plus a bag of 1540 teabags, so that should
last me until about April! It made my
week! Oh, I should get out more!
After just saying I’m nineteen, I won’t
be for much longer as I’m now in my last few days of being a teenager. On Monday I turn twenty! I feel so old!
Thank you to John and Marguerite Dodd
for recently donating on my Justgiving page.
Love Nicole xxx
