My Diary – May 2009

Sunday 31st May 2009

May has been a quiet month for me, so there’s not much news to update you on.

I was supposed to go to the House of Lords on the 5th to take part in a charity event, but became ill the night before, so couldn’t go - typical! We think I had a migraine as I had a really bad headache, with pain in my eyes which painkillers didn’t take away, and I was violently sick which are the signs of a migraine as Mum regularly gets them. I still felt bad the next day when we were supposed to go, so didn’t go to the event as I didn’t think the House of Lords was the kind of place you could be publicly sick! Strangely though, I got an email that afternoon to say I’ve won an Anne Frank award, and guess where the award ceremony is? Yep, the House of Lords! It cheered me up to get that news as it means I still get to go there. I’ve also won a special Miep Gies award in honour of Miep‘s 100th birthday, as she was one of the people who helped the Frank family while they were in hiding in the attic. The award ceremony is next month, so I’m looking forward to that.

Last week I had my first committee meeting for Nicole’s Fund. I’ve set it up so that the fund keeps moving forward and I reach my target. It’s a small committee at the moment, there are only eight of us in it, but hopefully it’ll help with my fundraising. At the moment I’m organising a Chocolate Ball for September. I’ve almost finished organising it, so the tickets should soon be on sale. I’m looking for raffle and auction prizes though, and any companies willing to sponsor part of the Ball, so if you can help at all with this then please let me know.

On Friday I took part in the judging for this year’s Try Angle awards. Regular readers of my diary will know I’ve been involved with the awards for several years, but for those that don’t know, the Try Angle awards is an award ceremony in Kent for 11-18 year olds who have achieved in different categories such as bravery, triumph over adversity, fundraising and being a good friend or young carer. The judging process can be quite tough. It lasts several hours and you have to read through over 100 nominations and vote for the ones you think deserve to win most, but we’ve managed to pick this year’s winners, and I’m now looking forward to the award ceremony in July. I’m giving the opening and closing speeches again, so I’m a little bit nervous too!

Good luck to Stephen, my uncle, who is doing a 10km run on Thursday to raise money for my fund - thank you!

This week is very exciting for me - I’m going to tick another thing off my wish list!! But for now, I have to go and get ready because I’m going out with the girls tonight!

Love Nicole xxx

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Friday 1st May 2009

Happy Birthday Daizy! My puppy is the grand old age of five today! I know she’s not actually a puppy anymore, and hasn’t been for years, but she’ll always be one to me!

This Monday I went to St Thomas’ Hospital for the first meeting in preparation for the operation on my ear to remove the tumour. I saw the same man who helped me last year with my hearing aids. We had a long chat about the operation and he gave me an FM box, which I have to practise using to see if it helps with my hearing. It is supposed to block out background noise so I can just concentrate on the person talking to me.

On Tuesday I went to the William Harvey Hospital to see the specialist about my scoliosis. I had x-rays taken which he said looked fine. I’m getting really bad pain in my back again, and painkillers often don’t help, so I’m going to have a horrible thing done to me - an injection into my spine, which might help with the pain. I’m also getting pain in my hip and knee, so it could help with that too.

Apart from that, there’s not much other news. I’ve been working hard on my new book which I finished yesterday, so I’m looking forward to the next stage with that. I’m also focusing a lot on my fundraising for Nicole’s Fund. I’m over the £20,000 mark now! Thank you to all the generous people who have kindly donated on my Justgiving page this fortnight.

Love Nicole xxx