My Diary – July 2008

Friday 25th July 2008

What a fortnight!

On Monday 7th, my whole body ached. I hadn’t realised how much hard work the abseil had been until I felt the effects the next day. I had a really sore bruise on my knee from where I kept hitting the wall when I was trying to bend my leg to kneel down. It was ok though, because I then jetted off to New York for nine days!

We arrived at Heathrow airport at about 11.30am, where I was filmed by the BBC. It was then time for my anti-clotting injection. I felt it go in, but I was very good about it! Our flights had been donated by British Airways, and we flew business class which was very posh! We were allowed to relax in the first class area before our flight which was good. I lay on a couch and fell asleep! Honestly, you can’t take me anywhere! Our flight was a bit delayed taking off due to bad weather, so we didn’t leave until 4.30pm. The flight was about seven hours long, but it wasn’t too bad because we were in really comfy seats that reclined so that you could go to sleep. That really helped my back as I wouldn’t have been able to sit for seven hours without being in a lot of pain. It was quite confusing when we arrived in New York, because to us it was then 1am Tuesday, but in America it was 8pm Monday! The security at the airport was very, very tight. I even had my fingerprints taken! We were met by Taylor, a Rotarian who organised our days out while we were there. We were then taken to our hotel which was in Times Square in Manhattan. Here is a link to it so you can see how nice it was!

www.thetimeNY.com

Mum and I shared a room, and Lee got his own which even had a living room! These had also been donated, so a massive thank you to The Time hotel. We went straight to bed when we got to the hotel as it was now 3.30am to us, and we had been up for almost 24 hours.

On Tuesday we went to Taylor’s Rotary Club for lunch, where I also gave a small speech. It gave me a chance to thank everyone there who had helped organise my trip. Then we went to the Bronx Zoo which was amazing! I was allowed to feed and hold a lot of the animals. I first of all fed some goats which slobbered all over my hands, but nothing compared to the sheep! I had lots of food poured into my hand and they just gobbled it up. My hand was covered in slime, and poor Mum had to touch it to sign on my hand. It was quite funny though, even if she didn’t think so! I then fed another animal, which I didn’t know what it was at first because I couldn’t hear Mum, but I soon found out it was a cow, which I was very impressed with! It was a little Frisian cow with horns and was very cute, and after that I fed a llama! I then sat on a haystack and held a chicken and a guinea pig, then went to another room which was the best part. I touched a sloth, which was very strange. She was called Frankie and hangs upside down all the time, and once a week she comes down to go to the toilet, then hangs upside down again! She had short hair on her stomach, and quite long hair on her back, plus very long nails! After that I held an armadillo. Yes, an actual armadillo! It was curled up quite small in a ball and was quite hard. Then I held a gorgeous big eared fox, a tiny tortoise which fitted in my hand (and nearly my pocket!) and a snake! I held the snake for about five minutes which I loved. It was a very friendly snake and gave my hand a kiss! The BBC filmed this trip and it was my favourite day out while we were in New York.

On Wednesday we went to the Statue of Liberty. Security was really tight and we were checked going on and off the ferry and again on the island before we got anywhere near the statue. I got to feel her giant nose and toes!

We got the ferry again on Thursday to Staten Island to have lunch at Staten Island Rotary Club. Time again for a small speech, thank you and question and answer session, which mostly start with ‘what is your Mother doing on your hand’. It was the deafblind sign language!

On Friday we went to the New York Botanical Gardens. We travelled round the gardens on a golf buggy, stopping at a few Henry Moore sculptures, and I was allowed to feel them, something which is a very big thing to be allowed to do. Then we went for a walk around the children’s garden which was lovely because the sun was really hot, and I was starting to get a proper tan! We picked some of the things from the garden like lettuce and chives, which at the end of our walk they made into a salad for us! We came back to the hotel after that and that’s when we finally found the shops! It turns out we had been going the wrong way for four days and that’s why we couldn’t find the good shops! I bought a few things, and once I had the bag in my hands, that was when I was able officially to tick another goal off my list - to go shopping in New York, and it was great!

On Saturday and Sunday I did some major shopping. It was great because the shops were near to our hotel, so every couple of hours we went back for me to lie down for a while and drop off the bags, then go out to do more shopping! The shops were open until really late at night which was brilliant because we could go out during the day and visit places, then do the shopping at night! I mainly got clothes, but I also got some pearly pink crocs and some lovely beige suede Ugg boots. Only problem is that it’s too hot to wear the boots at the moment!

We went to Fraunces Tavern museum on Monday. It was built in 1719 and has a lot of history attached to it. George Washington had lunch there and so did we! We then had a tour of the museum where I was allowed to touch some of the things, including a sword that belonged to General George Clinton (ancestor of President Clinton).

On Tuesday we went to the Metropolitan Museum where I was again allowed to go behind the scenes and feel some of the artefacts, which had been arranged by the local congressman. We visited the section on the Egyptians, and I felt a 3,000 year old coffin. Some of the things were so big that I actually had to stand up to be able to feel them properly. Do you know what? They even stopped building work on a temple for half an hour so that I was able to hear! The BBC filmed this too, and afterwards we walked to Central Park, which was nearby, for me to do a final interview. It was lovely in the park as the grass had just been cut so it smelt nice, and the sun was really hot, so it was a perfect end to our holiday. I got a hard slush puppy, which was basically a big ice lolly but it was frozen slush puppy. It was lovely apart from the fact that it made my mouth blue for the interview! That night was our last night out. That was one of my favourite parts of the holiday, going out for breakfast to a café that did lovely pancakes and maple syrup, and to a restaurant that did the best pizza ever. I don’t know what it was about New York, but it made me obsessed about food! I normally eat hardly anything, and get full up really easily, but I just wanted to keep eating while we were in NY!

Wednesday 16th was our last day in New York. Sob! Our flight wasn’t until 7.30pm, so we had most of the day to do the last minute bit of shopping. I had to have another anti-clotting injection before the flight, but I didn’t actually feel that one go in which was good. We flew business class again, and we got hot chocolate and cookies on the flight, then early breakfast, and landed at Heathrow at 7am on Thursday.

It was great to get home and see Molly and Daizy. I had over 600 emails to read through! Mum unfortunately had a migraine, so spent the next three days in bed, and it also took me a while to get over the jet lag! I had an absolutely brilliant time in New York, and would love to go back one day. It was so great to get away for a while and the atmosphere in America was lovely. It felt really relaxing and the weather was lovely and hot, although in the nineties, sometimes it was too hot. I’d definitely recommend going though!

A massive thank you to Tony Betts for organising it, Taylor and everyone in New York who helped us while we were there, British Airways, The Time hotel, and the lady in the shop who gave me a free bandana because I was beautiful!

It was back to reality this week. On Tuesday we went to Linda's, as Lesley, Stephen and the kids are down from Scotland at the moment. We had lunch and caught up with our holiday stories, oh and I also held a baby turkey. You know, as you do! He was very cute and fell asleep on me. My cousin, Toby, has him as a pet at the moment. Well, it's original isn't it!

Thank you to Rounds, Heather Gilmour and Denise for donating on my Justgiving page this fortnight. My fundraising for Teenage Cancer Trust is going really well, and I’ve already raised £722. Not bad seeing as I only set my target a month ago!

I forgot to mention in my last update that I am fundraiser of the month on Justgiving.com. I was nominated by Claire (thank you very much), and the ‘folk at Justgiving’ donated £25 on my Justgiving page for The Silver Lining Appeal. You can read what they wrote about me by visiting:

http://justgiving.typepad.com/

Well that’s about it for this fortnight!

Love Nicole xxx

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Sunday 20th July 2008

The story about me winning Britain's Most Inspiring Fundraiser last month will appear in the Sun newspaper tomorrow, so please buy a copy if you'd like to read it!

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Saturday 19th July 2008

My abseil and trip to New York will be shown today on BBC News 24 throughout the day, so please keep an eye out for it.

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Sunday 7th July 2008 - Abseil Day!!

I just had to do my diary to let you know about my abseil… and that I’m still in one piece!

On Saturday 29th June I went to Evelyn’s house to meet her friend, Tracey, Tracey’s daughter, Charlotte, and Tracey’s Mum, Dawn. Tracey did a bootfair a few weeks ago for The Silver Lining Appeal which raised £125, so I met her at Evelyn’s house where she presented me with the cheque. I was also given another cheque for £150 from Dawn from the donations at her husband’s funeral. He had been helped by King’s, so she wanted to donate it to my target which I was really touched by.

I went to Demelza from Wednesday until Friday so that Mum could fly to Scotland for Grandad’s funeral on Thursday. I had a relaxing day on Wednesday, and on Thursday I went to Bluewater and got some things for my holiday to New York.

I came home from Demelza at lunchtime on Friday and had a few hours to prepare for the Try Angle Awards that night. I gave the opening and closing speeches, which seemed to go ok. The award ceremony lasted a few hours, and one of the best parts was the chocolate fountain! That was the first suggestion I’d had at the meeting to organise this year’s award ceremony, and luckily everyone else thought it was a good idea too. Nikki, my guide-communicator, came with me and Mum. The prizes were given out to all the winners, then we had an interval when we had dinner (great curly chips!) and of course the chocolate fountain, while there were different acts on stage singing and dancing. Then the prizes were given out to the category winners and overall winners.

On Saturday afternoon I was filmed by BBC News 24 about how excited I am to be going to New York, which isn’t that far away now. They’re also going to film me while I’m in New York, and I can’t wait! We’ve got lots of things planned, including a visit to the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty and the Bronx zoo, not forgetting the shopping - I’m so excited!

And today was the day of my 100ft abseil, and it was amazingly scary!

We arrived at King’s College Hospital just before 12pm, which was an hour and a half before my abseiling time, but it gave me time to prepare. I hadn’t actually been nervous about it before we arrived, but I started to get a bit scared once we were at the hospital and I knew it was finally going to happen! But after talking through what I had to do with Matt, who was the man helping me abseil, I relaxed again and was really excited about it. I had a safety harness fitted that went round my waist and thighs, and I also had a hard hat put on, which wasn’t the most attractive of outfits I have to say. And once that was all sorted, we then headed up to the roof!

When on the roof, I had to sit on the ledge with my legs dangling over the edge. Then I stood up with help from Mum and Spike, the other man from the abseiling company, to get onto a ledge on the outside of the building. I then had to turn around and kneel down, which was really difficult. I couldn’t bend my leg back, and I kept hitting my knee on the brick wall in front of me. I panicked a bit, and it was really hurting my legs because I had put my splits on as I thought they’d help, but they just dug in. Then I managed to kneel down, so that I was on my stomach with my legs dangling down. (Remember, this is at the top of a building in the middle of London!) I was still holding onto the edge and refused to let go at first, then I just went for it and that’s when the fun began!

Going over the edge was petrifying, and I had to put a lot of trust into Mum, Matt and Spike, but once I’d let go, I loved it. I had a safety rope on my right side which I had to hold onto at all times, and thread my hands through it. I had my left hand on the rope in front of me, and my legs dangled down the whole time. Matt was behind me and lowered the rope. He tapped me on the back each time I had to thread my hand through the safety rope. The best bits were the parts when we went down really fast, but most of the time it was done slowly. I had it filmed by BBC News 24, and Pilgrim Productions, who are filming me do the things on my list. Matt had a camera on his hat, and I had a mic attached to me. The only words I kept saying on the way down were “Oh my god” and “Aw”. It hurt my back quite a bit because I was only supported by the tight harness round my waist, and holding onto the ropes was hard work too, but apart from that it was great! It took about two minutes to abseil down the building once I had got over the edge, and I was so relieved when I landed safely on the ground! I had an audience of about 100 people, who hadn’t been there just before, but turned up for my abseil and left again once I’d done it. Lee came with us, and he did the abseil too. He wasn’t meant to, but once he saw what it was like, he really wanted to do it too, and they let him. My friend, Dan, also did it, along with Spencer, who I’ve met through the hospital because they’ve also saved his life.

My nanny and a couple of friends came to see me do it which was nice. Max, who I’ve met through Thomas Cook, came along with her daughter Emily, and brought me a bottle of pink champagne and some haribos, which was a brilliant way to celebrate, so thank you Max!

The abseil officially ends my fundraising for King’s College Hospital, and launches my new £50,000 target for the Teenage Cancer Trust. If you don’t already know about my new target, then please read the diary entry below.

Thank you to Alison, Margaret Bowes, the folks at Justgiving, Claire, Penny (you know how brill the Marsden is), Manny and Rachel, for donating on my Justgiving page this week.

Love Nicole - the abseiling pro… xxx