Tag: Christmas cards

111 Mrs Bump

There has been a lot going on over the last couple of weeks so thought I’d come back with an update.

Sheila ran another stall at the Vintage Village on Sunday and raised a very respectable £116.  Alan very kindly sold a few items of clothing through his vintage shop, 20th Century Stores and raised a further £90.

So the vintage sale fundraiser had brought in a grand total of …

Thanks again to Alan and the Vintage Village, but most of all, to my lovely friend Sheila for so much hard work and for all your support ?

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Thank you to family and friends who have decided not to send Christmas cards this year and to make donations to my fund instead.  This has raised a total of £470 …absolutely amazing!  Thank you everyone ?

We had hoped to hit £20,000 by Christmas, but with all these amazing efforts, our grand total now stands at …


I had an appointment with my neurologist on Monday …always a bizarre experience.  Neurology services are obviously over stretched and trying to summarise a year’s worth of symptoms, concerns and questions into a rushed 10 minute appointment isn’t easy.  By the end of the appointment, it was agreed that he will refer me to occupational therapy, write to Professor Sharrack and prescribe medication to address my fatigue and brain fog (assuming liver and kidney function tests are all good).  He also suggested I stay off work until the end of term. 

I have heard nothing further from Professor Sharrack and will find the energy to chase him again soon. 

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Today I managed to fall down the stairs …I’m not quite sure how this happened, but I think my legs just gave way beneath me and before I knew it, I was on the floor at the bottom of the stairs!  

Luckily I only have bruises, but I must admit I’m feeling a bit shaken by the experience.  Steep Victorian staircases are not best ever for MSers it would seem! 

I have only lived in this house for a little over 2 years and I was obviously aware of the unusually steep stairs, but had no idea how much of a challenge they would become for me. I mostly go up them on all fours, which seems to work well. Coming down stairs is a different matter and I really don’t feel safe a lot of the time.

I’ll add it to the list of things to worry about! ?

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You may remember a while ago I posted about Scott McCormick (From Gogglebox) undergoing HSCT at Hammersmith Hospital. Scott has been recovering well and has been keeping us all informed of his progress. He recently had an MRI scan – an insight into whether his MS has halted or not – today he got the results …

I am absolutely delighted for Scott. He has shared his journey on twitter and through videos he has made for MS-UK and the HSCT community has been following with interest. It has been wonderful to see him get better and better and to know that he is now looking forward to a happy healthy future with his family. I’m sure Scott will be a powerful voice for HSCT going forward and we are all very grateful to him for sharing his experience.

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109 A quick update

This is just a quick post to touch base and to update you on a couple of things.  

I was going to write a post entitled “A day in the life of an MSer” but as I started writing it, I began to realise it was too bloomin miserable for public consumption! 

I’ve had a difficult couple of weeks, overwhelmed with MS symptoms and generally feeling rubbish. I didn’t manage to go to work at all last week but I’m hoping to get back to it on Monday. I think I’ll delay my “day in the life” post until I’m feeling more positive! 

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I don’t live in the same place that I grew up and I have friends and family all over the place.  I keep in touch with many by email, whatsapp, Facebook, Messenger etc and really love to hear from people.  Over the last few weeks, I’ve had lots of lovely messages from friends and family, many of which I haven’t managed reply to.  I’m sorry for being so rubbish at this.  I really do appreciate hearing from you, I’m not ignoring you, I haven’t forgotten you …I’m just struggling to deal with everything at the moment.

Something else I’m in danger of falling behind on is this blog, so this post is an attempt to address that. 

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In amongst the stressful last few weeks, I received some really good news …a letter from Professor Sharrack at Sheffield Hallamshire Hospital.  I have an appointment with him in February and he is hoping to bring this forward.  He has also asked me to bring a copy of my previous MRI scans (on a CD) so that he compare it with the scan I had in June.  It’s hard to say whether this is a hopeful step or not (I’m trying not to get my hopes up), but at least I’ll have a final answer on HSCT in the UK a little sooner previously thought.

In the meantime, we are still fundraising and aiming for my date in Russia in March. Our fundraising total now lies at …

It would be amazing to get to £20K before Christmas ????

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We are asking people to think about the Christmas cards they send and consider whether there is a different way to approach this …

Are you about to hurry out to buy Christmas cards that will eventually end up in the bin? Why not help us instead…

This year, instead of buying Christmas cards or receiving a Secret Santa present, please consider donating the money you would usually spend to our fundraiser?

Not only would this help us to get a little bit closer to our target, but it would also help to save our planet and hopefully relieve some Christmas stress!

It is estimated that around 900 million Christmas cards are sent each year in the UK. When you factor in postage costs, that’s a lot of money on something that will be forgotten about in just a few weeks time.   Why not send an e-card, text, WhatsApp or Facebook message to wish your loved ones a happy Christmas …real life hugs and good wishes are even better! ❤️

Thank you so much for anything you are able to donate.  Please share this idea with your family and friends and anyone you know who would like to find a way to help others at Christmas time ??❤️

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Our next fundraising event is the Vintage Village Merry Little Christmas Fair on Sunday 8th December from 10am till 4pm.  Thank you for all your kind donations of items to sell ?

Please come along and join us if you can …I’ve heard there will be mulled wine! ?

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108 Fundraising update

After a busy week I have finally found some time to update you on the total raised at last week’s Vintage fair …

We are absolutely delighted with this total and had a fun day at the fair as well ❤️
You may recall from my previous post that a very kind lady on a neighbouring stall gave us some advice on some of the jewellery items we were selling … this turned out to be excellent advice.  These items are now being sold through a jeweller and have raised around £230.  Thank you so much Ann, for your expert knowledge and kind advice ❤️

We will be back at the next Vintage Village fair, hoping to sell the rest of our items.  Please come along if you can ❤️

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I had my PIP assessment on Monday.  On the surface, it wasn’t a bad experience, but I don’t feel much happened during the assessment to truly assess my limitations or to support my claim.

For those that don’t know, “Personal Independence Payment (PIP) can help you with some of the extra costs if you have a long term ill-health or disability”.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP)

Numerous charities and organisations that support those with medical conditions and disability are critical of the government’s approach to the assessment process for PIP and other disability benefits.  The MS Society is currently campaigning on behalf of those with MS who need this payment and is reporting on some of the difficulties MSers face with the process. 

PIP doesn’t make sense

“The assessor rushed through the questions and didn’t give me a chance to explain anything properly” …this was entirely my experience too. She stopped me going into detail about my difficulties and there were several times when I mentioned a particular issue but she didn’t even write it down. 

“It makes me really angry. You have a diagnosis of MS and there are clinical records that back that up. And then you get a report that completely contradicts it. It doesn’t make sense.

You don’t want to prove you have MS, but you have to prove how badly it affects you. To have someone judging you for a chronic illness is terrible.”

So, I’m not holding out a lot of hope that I will be successful.  I’ve had to reduce my working hours because of my illness and struggling financially as a result.  Life with a disability is expensive and stressful.  I will definitely appeal if I am turned down and have some kind offers of support with this from friends with expert knowledge.

You can sign the MS Society open letter to the next UK government on this subject here … link 

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Other than the vintage fair, we don’t have any further fundraising events until after Christmas.  

I haven’t sent Christmas cards for several years now after I started to become concerned about the huge amount of waste they generate and amount of money they cost, which I’d rather spend elsewhere.  Instead I donate the money I save to charity (Children in Need, the NSPCC, the RSPCA, Myeloma UK and the MS Trust have all been recipients in the past).

This year, I’ll be paying into my HSCT fund. 

There is a growing trend to stop sending Christmas cards and it is thought that many more people will be choosing this option this year.  An unbelievable 1.5 billion Christmas cards are thrown away by UK households each year, (according to researchers at Imperial College) and it would be amazing if we could reduce this figure. 

If you do decide to stop sending a Christmas cards and donate to a worthy cause instead, I do hope you’ll think of us.  Even small donations can make a big difference and I would be very grateful for whatever you can spare ❤️

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Thank you for your continued support ❤️?❤️