My Diary – June 2008
Monday
30th June 2008
********
my new target!! ********
It’s now time to reveal my new
fundraising target. Can I get a drum roll please?
I have set up ‘Nicole’s fund’ with the
Teenage Cancer Trust, and my target is to raise £50,000 for them.
Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT) is a charity
dedicated to improving the lives of teenagers and young adults with cancer.
They build special wards in hospitals for teenagers and young adults having
treatment for cancer, as often you will get a 16 year old on a children’s ward
full of babies, or a 16 year old on an adult ward full of 70 year olds. But,
the TCT units are specifically for teenagers and young adults, so that they can
be in an environment surrounded by people in the same situation as themselves.
TCT are now building one of these units at The Royal Marsden Hospital in Surrey
where, as you know, I’ve had all my cancer treatment since I was 11 years old.
Nicole’s fund has been set up to raise £50,000 to help support this fantastic
cause. If you would like to make a
donation towards my new target, then please visit my brand spanking new
Justgiving page at:
www.justgiving.com/nicolesfund
or send a cheque payable to Teenage
Cancer Trust, and post it to:
Teenage Cancer Trust, Nicole’s Fund, PO Box 702, East Grinstead
RH19 3WX
Thank you so much, and I’m hoping to
plan lots of exciting events to raise money, so I’ll keep you posted! For more
details about Teenage Cancer Trust, please visit:
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Saturday
28th June 2008
I had the best thing ever in the post on
Tuesday 17th - a bottle of Archers!! It was sent to me by my lovely publishing
company as a congratulations present for winning Britain’s Most Inspiring
Fundraiser (still in shock about that!). It was a lovely, lovely surprise and I
was so impressed! It came in a big box, and inside was another big box with the
bottle in, covered with shredded paper, and with champagne bottle and wine
glass-shaped confetti all over it!! It made me smile for ages, so thank you so
much everyone at Hodder. You know I like my drink!
On Monday I went to France! Evelyn and
David organised the day out for us, and we got the Eurostar to Lille shopping
centre. We were in first class on the Eurostar, and it was very posh! It was
lovely, and we even got breakfast on the way there and dinner on the way back!
I got a couple of nice dresses to wear in New York, and I also tried on loads
of flip flops, but I still couldn’t find any to fit properly, so I didn’t get
any, but I still had a lovely day anyway, and the French do great chips, so
thank you so much Evelyn and David!
On Tuesday, Helen, from the new charity
I’m going to be fundraising for, came to our house to talk about my new target.
There are still a few things to sort out before I can reveal anything though,
but keep checking my diary because I’ll reveal it soon!
On Thursday my hair grew half way down
my back in just four hours! Impressive huh?! I had my hair extensions put in by
Sarah at Infusion in Herne Bay. I had my hair washed, then Sarah started to put
the extensions in just before 12pm. There were 275 extensions to put in, so she
didn’t finish until 4pm! I managed to pass the time though, because Becky, who
owns the salon, brought in her six-week-old kitten for me to hold. It was very
cute and I now want one! While I was having my hair done, Mum was treated to a
back massage, facial and manicure, so it was nice that she got pampered too. My
hair feels so big now! I have lots of little hard bits at the roots of my hair
where the glue is, which is a bit uncomfortable, but worth it. I have special
instructions for the hair. I have to tie it in plaits at night to stop it
getting tangled, and I have a special brush too. As soon as it was done I then
went to Gilly’s house, who organised the whole thing. She spent about half an
hour touching my hair and hugging me - she got a bit emotional! Then she waxed my eyebrows, so it was quite a
pamper-filled day. We finally got home at 8pm, so it was a long day, but nice
because I’d reached another one of my goals - to have long hair down my back.
Unfortunately it was a sad day too, as
in the morning we found out that my Grandad had died of a heart attack during
the night. Most of you will remember that last September I went to Scotland
with a group of my family for my Grandad’s 90th birthday. That was the last
time I saw him, so it’s very sad that he’s now died. I used to print off my
diary and send it to him regularly so that he could keep up to date with my
news, so I’ll miss doing that now.
Rest in peace, Grandad. xxx
On Friday I went to St Thomas’s Hospital
to get my new pink hearing aids. I now have one for both ears, so I’ll let you
know how I get on with them. When I got home I had a big envelope full of
merchandise for the new charity I’m supporting, so I was very excited. I can’t
wait to tell you all about it…but not just yet!
Thank you this fortnight to Tim, Marion,
Ann Bailey, Sarah James and Naomi for donating on my Justgiving page. I really
appreciate it, and, as of tomorrow, I hope to have a new Justgiving page for my
new target, so keep checking my diary.
Love Nicole xxx
*************************
Saturday
14th June 2008
Lots of good, exciting and absolutely
brilliant news this fortnight!!
On Monday 2nd June I got my MRI scan
results, and they were really good. My tumours on my spine are still stable, so
I’ve now been in remission for 16 months!! Which is obviously brilliant news.
I’m now going to have a biopsy of the tumour in my left ear, because we still
don’t actually know what the tumours are, and this is the only way now to find
out. I’ll also have a brain stem implant fitted at the same time which could
help with my hearing.
On Friday I went to a salon in Herne Bay
where I’m getting hair extensions at the end of the month! As most of you will
know if you’ve read my book, I have a list of things I want to achieve. When I
was telling my friend, Gilly, who waxes my eyebrows, about my trip to New York
(more on that in a bit!) and the other things on my list, I said how I’d love
long curly mermaid-like hair down my back because I’ve lost my hair twice
through chemo, and I’d love to have the feeling of long hair down. The next day
she rang to say that her friend had agreed to put in hair extensions for me for
free, but that we had to buy the hair which costs £400. Gilly came up with the
plan to get 40 people to donate £10 each, and the day she told me, she went out
that night and got £200! We now have most of the money, and I’m having the
extensions put in on the 26th June and I can’t wait! I’ll put a photo on here
of my new long locks once it’s done!
Now about New York!! Guess what very
lucky girl is off there for nine days? Yep, it’s me! When I was in Blackpool in
April receiving my Rotary citizenship award, they asked about my ‘list’. I told
them some of the things on it, and one of them was to go shopping in New York.
Someone from the Rotary club then offered to organise a trip to New York for
me, so Mum, Lee and I are off there soon! I can’t wait and I have a major
shopping spree planned! There is a slight downside to the trip, and that’s that
I have to start the anti-clotting injections again for the DVT in my leg, but
it’s only for the flight out there, and again for the flight back, so I’m sure
I’ll be able to cope with that - I’ll just think of the shops! It’s been over
three years since we went abroad (which was my first time) so I’m really
looking forward to it. Shop, shop, shooooopppppp!!
On Sunday I went to the swan sanctuary
in Surrey. You may remember I was given two tickets to see the Spice Girls in
concert in December while I was having my radiotherapy on my ear. The tickets
were donated by someone called Jon. He’s a volunteer at the sanctuary and he
offered me a tour of the place. It’s been arranged twice before, but then the
weather was awful, so it was third time lucky this time and the weather was
scorching! I was allowed to hold some of the animals which I loved. I held a
cygnet first of all which had been dropped in the high street by a crow! It was
really cute but kept pecking at me and trying to eat me! Then I held the
smallest baby duck ever, and a very large and heavy tortoise that was 77 years
old! I have had a strange obsession with tortoises ever since I held one at
Demelza four years ago, so I loved holding her. Then we went outside where we
fed some cheeky goats. They were very cute and friendly and also kept trying to
eat me, including my wheelchair! We then had a picnic in a park before coming
home, so it was a lovely day.
Next in my busy fortnight…on Tuesday I
went to the Home Office again to launch this year’s Philip Lawrence Awards. I
won a Philip Lawrence Award in 2005 for helping to design an adolescent room at
Demelza, and I’ve been involved with the awards ever since. The home secretary,
Jacqui Smith, was there, along with Frances Lawrence and the singer, Katie
Melua. I gave them all a copy of my book, and they’re holding it in every photo
they then had, plus their interviews for ITV and Sky News which is great! There
were also some other past winners there and we spoke about the different ways
we are involved with the awards. We spent the morning at the Home Office, then
had lunch there and came home. Nikki, my guide communicator, came with me and
Mum, and also did the horrible task of driving in London, so thank you very
much Nikki!!
Now to Wednesday…OH MY GOD…OH MY GOD…OH
MY GOD!!!
I won Britain’s most inspiring
fundraiser!!!! Oh my god again!!!
Right, I’ll calm down and tell the
story…First of all we arrived in London at 2.30pm, and met with my editor, Margaret.
We went for a cuppa, where I also had the most massive cookie ever, and I mean
it was massive! We had that in Borders, the book shop, which has a cafe. They
sell my book, so I was going to sign their stock but then I didn’t have time
because I had a photoshoot to get to! We went to the office of everyclick.com
(who organised the award) where I was having photos taken by a Sun photographer
because they were going to run the story and advertise it. I had been told that
the other finalists were also having photos taken, but I now know that they
didn’t, and it was just me! I’d also done an email interview with the Sun,
which I thought the other finalists had done too, but it was just me again. It
all kind of seems obvious now, but I honestly didn’t have a clue or twig that I
was the winner, so it made the surprise all the more amazing.
Mum and I then went back to our hotel to
get ready, and headed to Warner Brothers where the award ceremony was taking
place. Paul from The Silver Lining Appeal was there too which was lovely. They
showed footage of each of the ten finalists, then Mike Tomlinson, the husband
of Jane Tomlinson who the award was in memory of, then gave a short speech. Mum
had been signing on my hand all the way through the film and was signing that
he was about to announce the winner, but before she could finish the sentence,
he had announced it was me! Mum kept touching my pinky, which is the letter U
in the deafblind sign language, but I didn’t believe her. Then I realised it
really was me and I was absolutely gobsmacked. I really, really, really wasn’t
expecting to win. I was just so pleased already to have made the top 10, so I
was absolutely over the moon that I won! Mum couldn’t spell on my hand for ages
she was so happy and Paul had a smile on his face for the rest of the night.
Mike Tomlinson then presented me with a
giant cheque. The prize is £20,000 for my chosen charity, so that of course now
means, I’VE REACHED MY TARGET!!! So that was a double celebration for me on the
night, and I still can’t quite believe it! It was lovely too because one of the
other finalists was there for Demelza House, and another for the Riding for the
Disabled Association, which are two charities I’ve also fundraised for, and who
have helped me. The other finalists were all given £500 each for their
charities, so I was really pleased they got something too.
Mum and I then got a taxi back to our
hotel. The driver had a problem trying to get the ramp to work so after 10
minutes we were on our way. Mum was telling him that he had a very important
person in the back and I told him about my new title. At the hotel I couldn’t
get out the side with the ramp as it was on a busy road so they tried to lift
me out by the cab door, which wasn’t wide enough, so Mum asked a ‘young man’
for help! After much manhandling I was out the taxi, and when Mum went to pay
the driver for the journey, he said to put it towards my fundraising which was
lovely. Then when we got to our hotel, guess what? They had Tetley!! Not the normal
crap tea you get, but actual Tetley! And it was the kind on the string that you
dunk in, so it was fun Tetley too! The night couldn’t have got any better!
There is going to be something about in in the Sun newspaper next week (about
the award, not the Tetley!). They have been holding back the article until then
because apparently there’s just too much about Wayne and Coleen’s wedding to
fit it in this weekend!
Thank you so much to Mike Tomlinson and
everyone at www.everyclick.com. I had a
brilliant night, and you’ve helped me reach another of my goals, so thank you.
Thank you too to every single one of you who helped me in reaching my target.
Whether you came to an event, organised one or sponsored me in one, you’ve all
helped in me reaching it, and I can’t thank you enough.
Mum and I came home on Thursday after
staying the night at the hotel. I couldn’t wait to email everyone, and I had
lots of emails to read from people that had heard the brilliant news. The very
annoying thing is that my private email address hasn’t been working since
Thursday so I can’t email from it! I’m still able to use my other email address
though so it’s ok. It’s now very exciting for me in the fundraising department,
and I’m just thinking about my next move now. I’ve pretty much decided what I’m
going to do next, but it needs a bit of sorting, so I’ll keep you posted!
Thank you to the people who have
sponsored me this fortnight for my abseil. It’s only three weeks away now!
Thanks to Anna Clough, Jo Marshgreen, Wendy, Sue Bowler, Joyce Ridgen, Rob,
Graci, Yvonne and Jacqueline Docherty.
Lots of love Nicole - Britain’s most
inspiring fundraiser!!! X x x x x x x x x x
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Thursday
12th June 2008
I have the best news ever for you…
I won Britain’s most inspiring
fundraiser last night!!!!
I still can’t actually believe it. I’m
absolutely over the moon about it, and of course, this now means I’ve reached
my target for The Silver Lining Appeal!!!
I have so many emails to reply to, and
people still to tell, that I won’t have my diary ready for tomorrow, so I’ll
put it up over the weekend, but I just wanted to let you all know the fantastic
news!! I think there will be something about it in the Sun newspaper tomorrow,
so please buy a copy if you want to read more.
Lots of love Nicole - Britain’s most
inspiring fundraiser!!! X x x x x x x x x x Mmmm…
*************************
Sunday
1st June 2008
I’m feeling a bit better now, so thought
I’d do my diary…
Quite a few hospital visits this
fortnight, but only one of them was for treatment. The others were to party!
On Wednesday 21st May I had an MRI scan
of my brain, spine and acoustic nerves (the nerves in your ears). I had a CT
scan first of all which only lasted about fifteen minutes. It was then three
hours before I had my MRI scan. In that time, though, I had to have a cannula
put in, but I have to say I was very well behaved! I didn’t cry, throw a tantrum or even have a
major panic attack! I think the thing
that helped was that I’d taken valium earlier than I normally do because I
wasn’t sure what time I was having the cannula put in. Therefore, it had two
hours to work rather than the normal one hour. I’ll remember that in future!
The scan was about 45 minutes long and I get the results this week.
I went to King’s College Hospital on
Thursday for the opening of the ‘Thomas Cook Children’s Critical Care Centre’ -
try saying that when you’ve had a few too many Archers! Thomas Cook have raised £2.3 million to build
the brand spanking new ward, and it’s lovely. It has a beach and underwater
theme on the walls, which is great because it’s not too childish and will suit
all ages. I just hope that the people who use it respect it, and the hard work
and effort that everyone has put into it.
There were speeches and a tour of the
ward, and it was quite strange because there were big screens playing the DVD I
helped film for Thomas Cook last summer which got sent out to all their staff.
Mum said my hair was so short in it! The best part of the day was the chocolate
éclairs they had. Mmmm…
On Wednesday I was back at King’s
College Hospital for the Silver Lining Appeal celebration party. The Silver
Lining Appeal was launched four years ago, and their aim was to raise £400,000
to update the equipment in the newly refurbished children’s ward. They’ve now
reached that target, raising an amazing £430,000, so the party was to celebrate
that. I was asked to give a speech on the night, and I was unusually really
nervous about it. I think it was because my speech was really long, and I was
panicking I’d forget something. My surgeon, Chris Chandler, introduced me which
was lovely, and my speech went 95% as I wanted it to, but as usual it never
comes out the way I’d planned it in my head. I still managed to make people
laugh though, and I mentioned in my speech about the abseil, and asked if
anyone wanted to join me, and a few people took an application pack which is
great! So hopefully there will be more of us climbing down the side of King’s
College Hospital on the 6th July!
It’s getting scarily close now. Mum and
I arrived early at the hospital, so we had the chance to go and have a look at
the building I’m abseiling from. Mum described it to me, and yup, it sounds
big. It’s only five weeks away now, and I am actually getting quite scared
about it. I am really looking forward to
the abseiling down it bit, it’s just the part of getting on the outside of the
building in the first place that I’m not looking forward to! There’s a bar
which I either need to climb over or under to get on the outside, and I have
absolutely no idea how I’ll be able to do it. There’ll hopefully be lots of fit
men and safety gear involved though!
Thank you so much if you’ve sponsored me
so far. I’ve now had £655 in sponsorship which I’m really pleased with. You can
still sponsor me by visiting my Justgiving page at the top of my diary. Thank
you.
Thanks this week goes to Peter G and
Cathy Warwick for donating on my Justgiving page. I really appreciate it.
On Friday two people from the KAB (Kent
Association for the Blind) came over to see what my Braille skills were like.
It’s been four years since I learnt Braille, so I didn’t think I had any skills
anymore, but I did remember some. It actually took me about two minutes to
learn up to the letter J, but those are the easy ones. I decided not to learn
any more that day because I was feeling awful and my head hurt enough, so I
didn’t want to stress it out anymore. As I’ve said before, I don’t want to
learn Braille again, but if I have to, then I suppose I have to. Just so long
as people don’t expect me to be in a good mood about it!
I think that’s all my main news. See you
again in a fortnight!
Love Nicole xxx
