MACMILLAN AND I

My week started with 2 sessions of yoga on the same day, but I am a firm believer that for me and anyone whose bones have been damaged by chemo, yoga helps to keep you flexible and build up the muscles so that you can still live a normal life despite a few aches and pains that you could really do without. It is a matter of working with where you are now instead of wishing you could still do all the things you used to do.

Everytime I go to friend's funeral I think how lucky I am to still be here. A few weeks ago on a wonderfully sunny day I went to the Solihull Friary to the funeral of my friend Val's father Alec.

It has been a few years since I have seen Alec, as Val and Carol now live in Llandudno, but once seen never forgotten. He was a man of great charm and when you had a conversation with him he made you feel that you were the only person in the room - he made you feel special. That is a rare talent, as we always seem too busy to really listen to what people say to us anymore. Alec obviously made everyone he met feel special, because I have never seen so many people of all ages coming to pay their respects. The Friary was standing room only - a true testament to what he gave during his life

The next day I was on my way to Clent to see my friend Yvonne who I worked with at the BBC and who used to sit with me in those long chemo sessions, that's what you call a true friend. Knowing that I have absolutely no sense of direction, John set up the Tom Tom in my car and to my amazement I reached my destination no problems. Before I discovered TomTom, I would be going round the roundabouts two or three times desperately trying to find my exit and making the odd detours knowing that I was hoplessly lost. After a few frantic phone calls I would eventually arrive at my destination stressed out and late. Does this sound familiar ladies?

This will now be a thing of the past, I need never get lost again, the world's my oyster!. For all you ladies out there who have the same problem it's well worth putting TomTom on your birthday list from your partner, more importantly it will help him too. Like John he also never again need fear the dreaded phone call asking "Where am I?. ..

Inbetween all this I am having to make regular visits to my dentist Nigel as I have awful toothache on a bridge that cost me a fortune some months ago. Feeling sorry for myself I moaned "Things always go wrong for me". Then I thought, hang on I teach people to be positive,a fine example I am, this is just a blip on the journey and I have great faith that Nigel will sort it out. Do you know I felt so much better for thinking positively instead of negatively. That night when I went to a wine tasting evening I also discovered it defintely was a far more pleasureable remedy than the pain killers I had been taking!

Macmillan plays such an integral part in my life and amongst all this stress I attended 3 Macmillan events which are always a pleasure to support.The first was at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital which lookes amazing as it undergoes major reconstruction. The Citizens' Advice Bureau have set up advice centres at the Q.E., Heartlands and Good Hope Hospitals and they, in conjunction with Mamcillan are available to offer financial advice for cancer patients which I know will be invaluable.

With the Macmillan Fund raising team and my good friend Steve Dourass we went to The Belfry. A lovely lady called Dawn Stakouris who is a great supporter of Macmillan has opened a very tranquil "Spa and Beauty Salon" at the Belfry. The decor was very exotic and I would loved to have lain on one of those welcoming beds for a massage to take away the stresses of the previous week. The hospitality was great and Jasper Carrott declared it open with his normal dry wit.. Dawn raises donations for Macmillan and I realise that in all walks of life people are working to help raise money for a cause which is so vital to people like me, living with cancer. Perhaps I should book myself a day at the Spa it sounds just what I need!

I was even more convinced that is what I needed after completing the annual Macmillan Fun Run on the 3rd May at Perry Barr Park.On a sunny Sunday morning we were all limbering up in great spirits as Batman and various other fun characters including a man who amazingly completed the 4 miles on stilts - what a feat! Mine was really a leisurely amble round the park with John and a few other people who I knew who I kept meeting. One such friend was Monica who found time to do the walk and run a nutritional stand there. This is inbetween writing the play about the 5 lives of women living with cancer. which she is putting on at the Solihull Arts Theatre in September. Her energy and enthusiasm is amazing and like myself she gets great fun out of giving something to Macmillan. The saying "It is better to give than receive" is so true.and do you know it actually makes you feel better too..
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May has arrived and to walk through the bluebell woods when they have just come out is amazing. The smell is intoxicating and the sea of deep blue is breathtaking. I always used to walk through the bluebell woods with my Father and last year he said "I will never see them again". Sadly he was right and it was very poignant for me this year. He was a wonderful artist, but he always said he could not capture the beauty of the bluebell woods try as he may, but for just a short time they are are there for all to see.