GUEST FUNDRAISING : Megan Whitehouse - Secret Message Capsule Keyrings

This is another fundraiser from Megan; a valued member of the team.  

The official ‘fundraiser’ has now finished but keyrings are still available for purchase in the ‘shop’. 

PUBLIC FUNDRAISING CHALLENGE

SMARTIES TUBE CHALLENGE - Ends August 31st

Ths first of the public fundraisers is the ‘Smarties Tube Challenge’. This is a well-known project, but for those who haven’t heard of it, all you have to do is buy a hexagonal tube of Smarties - the hexagonal tube is essential, being the focus of the competition. Once you’ve eaten (and hopefully enjoyed!) the chocolate, all that’s left to do is fill the tube to the top with 20ps. A single tube holds £12, so if only 5 people took part, £60 would be raised, which is just incredible! So please get involved so we can raise as much as possible (don’t forget to tell your family and friends about it and get them involved too!).

Posts by B.B. participants: Megan Whitehouse

As this month (May) is EDS awareness month I thought I'd put together a post explaining what EDS is and how it affects its sufferers. 

As an EDS warrior myself this is a very important month for me as raising awareness is so important as this condition is rare and is often missed by doctors so patients often go undiagnosed for many years! 

EDS (Ehlers Danlos Syndrome) is a rare connective tissue disorder that causes the body to produce faulty collagen. Collagen is the 'glue' that holds our body together and is found all throughout our body. In our ligaments, muscles, joints, organs, eyes... This faulty collagen weakens the tissue that supports the skin, bones, blood vessels, arteries, internal organs and more. 

There are 6 'main' types of EDS (these are the most common types). These are; Hypermobile Type, Classical Type, Vascular Type, Kyphoscoliosis Type, Arthrochalasia Type and Dermatosparaxis Type. Though I've only listed the names of 6 types of EDS there's actually 12 known types of EDS that have been discovered (so far) though the other 6 are extremely rare. 

Symptoms vary depending on which type of EDS you have and no two people have exactly the same symptoms but the most common symptoms are; Hypermobile joints, soft velvety skin, easy bruising, poor wound healing, abnormal scarring, joint dislocations/subluxations, chronic pain, stretchy skin and many more.

Common comoribities are; Chiari Malformation, TMJ, POTS, Dysautonomia and CCI. 

Posts by B.B. participants - Nicole Gray

I feel extremely proud of myself for what I've managed to achieve thus far. My education is something I feel extremely passionate about. Circumstances have lead to me facing a great deal of adversity where my education has been concerned. If you'd have asked 13 year old me what my future plans were I'd have replied: staying on at school until I was 18, applying to University, gaining good results in my examinations and finishing University by the age of 22. Unfortunately my life didn't quite go according to plan and I was thrown into a life living with various chronic health problems from the age of 14/15. My once very good school attendance dropped dramatically, so much so that my final few years of school I can probably count on one hand the number of times I managed to attend a full week of school. I faced some very negative comments from other people where they expressed their opinion regarding what they believed I should do in terms of my education. University was my biggest ambition in life however instead of supporting me (which very few people in my life did) I faced comments such as "you'll never get to University so why bother?" "just give up now", I was even removed off my higher English course as my school didn't believe I would achieve a pass in it (thanks to my amazing parents writing a letter to my school I was allowed back on my course). It didn't matter what people believed, I was out to show that I was capable of achieving great things. \

I should have finished school at 18 however on evaluating things I made the smart decision of asking if I could repeat my final year of school as I felt I wasn't in a position to pass my exams due to my poor school attendance, thankfully my school allowed me to do this. After finishing my final year of school during what should have been my summer holidays, I attended a 7 week long summer school set at 1st year University level (I actually only managed to attend 5 and a half of those weeks due to spending time in intensive care, I even had to sit one of my subject's exams at home). My University condition, to study a BA (Hons) in Psychology, was achieving BBBB (I had to have a B in English) in the 4 Scottish Higher examinations (English, German, Maths and Modern Studies) I sat in my final year of school, on getting my results back in August 2013 I had achieved BCC (B in German, C in English, C in Modern Studies and I failed Maths), however on accounts of how well I did at summer school (I got AAB in the 3 subjects I studied) as well as having several different extenuating circumstances I was accepted to study BA (Hons) in Psychology. I will forever be so proud of myself for what I managed to achieve, I will forever remember the moment I found out I'd been accepted to University, I've never been more proud of myself as I was on finding out I had did it. 

Throughout my time studying full-time I faced a great deal of issues related, once again, to my attendance as a result of my health issues. I very much struggled to attend classes. Unfortunately due to this, and due to so many hospitalisations, I could not sit my final examinations which were required for me to pass my 1st year so I was now allowed to progress on to 2nd year. I applied to repeat my 1st year in the hopes of passing the year 2nd time round, this repeat year was granted. I also applied for a place in student accommodation for this repeat year and was granted a place. It was fantastic experiencing my first real independence, I throughly enjoyed the different experiences this independent living gave me and have fantastic memories of my time in student accommodation. Throughout this repeat year, unfortunately, things in relation to my health worsened to the extent during my 2nd Trimester I was unable to attend the majority of my classes (I think I managed a total of 5 classes that Trimester), again I missed most of my examinations and, again, was not allowed to progress onto 2nd year. There were many tears in response to this however after much deliberation I made the heartbreaking decision to withdraw from my Psychology course on medical grounds. I felt completely hopeless, my health had already taken so much from me but it was heart-wrenching feeling like I had to give up something I'd worked so hard on. However, my story was not completely negative and in time I found that despite my initial thoughts being that there was no possibility of "every cloud having a silver-lining" in relation to losing my University place, I found my rainbow after the storm. 

I decided one day, out of the blue, to look into and enquire about 'The Open University'. They provide flexible part-time distance learning with a wide range of different courses. I jumped at the chance of enrolling on one of their courses and registered for their BSc in Health Sciences, I've truly never looked back since. This is my 3rd year with them and I will soon be completing my 2nd module (I'll have a 1/3rd of a degree!). Yesterday I received the result of my 4th assessment where I gained 90%! I feel so proud of myself for everything I've managed to achieve in spite of the health adversity I continue to face. I am doing this for me. I am doing this to show myself that I am capable of achieving fantastic things and that not giving up can truly give you great things. My degree is part-time so I won't achieve my full degree until 2022/23 however I am more determined than ever to do this. I am more than a list of symptoms and a series of conditions. I can do this!

Posts by B.B. Participants - Terri Hester

To the specialist who suggested I take out my mirena coil and try for a baby to see how my symptoms are after birth.To a society who thinks it’s acceptable to expect every woman to want to have a baby.

Stop… Please… Before you do more harm than good. I am 30 years old, I don’t have children, I do however have 6 beautiful fur babies who I love as if they were my kids. I have several illnesses one is a lesser known invisible illness called adenomyosis, even most doctors and nurses have never heard of this condition and yet being on a number of support groups I have found its not as rare as you would think.

Let me tell you a bit about adeno… Instead of the endometrial lining growing where it should mine grows inside the muscle wall of my uterus and because it is inside the muscle it cannot shed, instead every month it continues to build up causing an oversized and boggy uterus. Symptoms include irregular and heavy periods, 24/7 pain in the abdomen, around to the lower back and down the legs, insomnia, exhaustion, depression, brain fog just to name a few (trust me the list goes on for several pages).

Looking back now I realise I have had this disease since I hit puberty however because periods seem to be such a disgusting and embarrassing thing to talk about I thought what I was experiencing was normal, I didn’t know any better. I have never had regular periods and when I have had them I bled so heavily that I found it soaked through my clothes on a regular basis and I had no control over it, not to mention the cramps, my god the cramps…

I turned 21 and was put on the progesterone only pill, for two and a half years I was in heaven, not a period in sight, no more pain, no more ruined clothes. Then one day I had a random period arrive I anxiously awaited the next month to see if aunt flo would arrive again, she didn’t come, I put it down to stress. A couple of months later it came back aunt flo decided she wanted to visit me every month again, I was none too happy to make her acquaintance let me tell you.

Eventually I got used to it again, same old story, no different to when I was a teenager. Soon things began to change. 3 years ago I moved in with my boyfriend, as far as we were concerned we were both healthy adults and in a happy relationship I was 27 at this point. One month I had a period that lasted three weeks finally I came off, again I just put this down to stress. One week later I was back on again this was THE most painful period I had ever experienced and lasted for another 10 days. I remember being in so much pain I was curled in the featal position on the sofa sobbing, enough was enough I finally realised something must be wrong, this can’t be normal I made the decision to go see my gp.

I won’t go into the ins and outs of my 2 year journey to a diagnosis because we will be here forever, what I will say is for a long time I was fobbed off “there’s nothing wrong with you” “you’re normal” “it must be your genetics” I stood my ground and requested tests, I had several blood tests that all came back normal, I had an ultrasound which again came back normal, let me tell you if all the usual tests come back normal doctors will not then think ok well we’ll try looking for something unusual… Oh no…. “Its all in your head”.

I never gave up, I knew there was something wrong as eventually the pain became worse and became constant. One day I went to the doctors crippled in pain, tears building up in the corner of my eyes, he takes one look at me “you look like you’re in pain…would you like me to refer you to a specialist?” It was like I was hearing a heavenly choir, oh my God he was finally taking me seriously, it had only taken 6 months to get to this point.

Finally I managed to get my appointment with the gynaecologist and he was amazing within 5 minutes he said the word endometriosis, but it couldn’t be diagnosed with out a laparoscopy. I went away thinking finally I know what’s wrong and it made sense. The day of the lap afterwards he came to visit me in my bed, “sorry we couldn’t find any sign of endo but I believe it may be a similar condition called adenomyosis we went ahead with giving you the mirena coil because it will alleviate some of the symptoms just like it would have if you had endo, if it works you have adeno, if not we will have to refer you to a bowel specialist” ( the gynaecologist’s go to move because they don’t know what’s wrong with you)

4 months later follow up appointment, mirena worked for one month and then symptoms came back. “Ok we’re going to try this next treatment for 6 months called zoladex. If this works you have adeno, if not I will have to send you to a bowel specialist”(see he did it again)

Zoladex, let me tell you is horrible. A flippin implant being injected into your stomach every 4 weeks to induce menopause at the age of 28 and 29, just wow, a whirlwind of needles, hormones, tears, hot flushes, night sweats and if one more person said to me “you’re not old enough to go through that yet” I swear I was going to go down for murder. Miracle of miracles though, no more pain, what a blessing.

I am now at the point where I have my diagnosis of adenomyosis, I have been on zoladex, injections for 15 months, I had to be taken off them in march of this year as they were causing additional issues, I now have painful joints that crack constantly and my wrists will never be the same again.

Now for the good news, there is actually a cure – unfortunately it’s a hysterectomy.

NO consultant will agree this surgery at my age with no children unless it is life threatening.

I had hoped a second opinion would get me closer to the surgery I long for. So I went along today and this appointment is what prompted this oh so long rant. The whole time I sat there I was made to feel like the only reason I existed on this earth was to have a baby and that by wanting the surgery I was committing some sort of crime against humanity. “I promise you, you’ll regret it” “you may not want kids now but you’ll change your mind’ “I can’t fathom why a young lady with no children would want this surgery” she even turned round to me near the end of the appointment and said to me “why don’t you have the coil taken out, try for a baby and see how your symptoms are after birth?”

I saw red and left the hospital in floods of tears.

For crying out loud how many times? I don’t want a baby and will not be blackmailed into trying to have one, this disease renders a lot of women infertile or if they can conceive struggle to carry to full term. She could be sentancing me to a long struggle, to numerous miscarriages, not only that but the mirena is currently the only thing i have keeping (at least some of) my symptoms at bay I will not have it taken out.

Who does she think she is? But then I got to thinking why does society feel like they have the right to try making a woman feel like she MUST have babies? Why is it socially acceptable to ask when a woman is going to have a baby or why she hasn’t had one yet? So many women these days can’t have kids or even don’t want kids, don’t make it any harder for them. I can say from the bottom of my heart it is hard. I want to run away and cry every time I think of it, I have dreams of being pregnant and when I wake up and realise i’m not it hurts. Not because I want children, I don’t, its because society has ingrained into me that that is what a woman is for.

My battle to have my cure is ongoing and I will not stop until I finally have my hysterectomy, in the meantime I want to raise awareness, I want society to be a bit more considerate of a woman’s feelings. Also I want the stigma around puberty and periods to stop, if I can help one young girl learn that what she is experiencing isn’t normal then I will have done my job.

Terri runs her own blog, which you can visit by clicking here. 

Posts by BB participants - Laura Bennett

Pets and chronic illness 

iiI want to take a moment to talk about pets and chronic illness. So many people with chronic illnesses of many kinds have pets. Pets can be a god send in terms of chronic illness for so many reasons such as:

- Feeling less alone, we all know that people with chronic illness can find things alot more challenging than the average person.This can mean people can go days weeks or even longer without leaving the house or only leaving to go to appts. This can be incredibly isolating, having a pet can give you that connection that sense of having something someone there. They may not be able to talk back to you , they may not be able to have a conversation but they are there and they help you to just be

- Having someone depending on you and someone you need to care for This is especially helpful when you have mental illness or difficulties surrounding ,mood. I know for me my pets have saved my life of on so many occasions, Knowing they depend on me they need me that i can't go anywhere as they wont be cared for is often the difference between walking the tightrope and falling off

- Connection to others- the internet is a wonderful thing and having pets and being in groups for other pet owners can often help you connect with other pet owners all over the world

- A reason to get up in the morning. - pets need care be it only a little or more needy pets that require a lot more sometimes the only thing you can do is care for them, and thats ok , having them there can be a reason you get out of bed even if its not often , i know for me i find that sometimes the only thing i do is feed millie and molly and go back to bed but i did something that day and i still got out of bed

- Calming and relaxing, we all know that cat purrs for example are known to be calming , but all pets can and usually are helpful to their owner to calm and relax in my case i often sit with millie and molly during a panic attack. Despite the fact that they hate being held being near them is enough often to calm me down and help me.

Posts by B.B. Participants - Megan Whitehouse

"The Stress and Anxiety that comes with gastro issues"

I've been suffering from gastro issues for over a year now. It started with acid reflux (troublesome but bearable). Then came the difficultly to swallow. Food would get stuck in my throat whenever I tried to eat, water wouldn't clear it and it would cause a lot of pain until eventually the food slowly went down. The same started to happen with liquids then even my own saliva! Before I knew it I couldn't eat or drink anything without it getting stuck or 'choking' on it. I had to adapt to drinking every drink through a straw with tiny sips at a time.

As soon as this started I went to my GP, concerned knowing something wasn't right but she wouldn't refer me to see anyone as I wasn't loosing any weight. It wasn't until 4 months later when I began rapidly loosing weight that she referred me to a Dietician and a Gastroenterologist.

I saw the Dietician pretty quickly (probably about two weeks later) who decided to prescribe me nutritional supplement shakes. They tasted nice but they didn't help as I was still loosing weight so they introduced an extra supplement- which unfortunately still didn't work and I continued to loose weight.

I finally saw the Gastroenterologist about 3 months after my referral who decided to run several tests including a barium swallow, endoscopy, gastric emptying study, 24 hour PH monitoring study and more but all have come back negative apart from showing acid reflux (which we already knew). 

Over the months that it's taken to complete these tests and recieve the results my initial symptoms have worsened and I've developed more symptoms but we're still no closer to finding out exactly what is wrong. I'm still loosing weight so I'm significantly under weight now. 

All of this has had a profound affect on my mental health in ways I'd never imagined. I constantly feel stressed and my anxiety is worse than it's ever been. Food and nutrition is constantly on my mind, forever planning the next "meal" and calorie counting to see if I'm meeting my Dietician's target (which I rarely can). This never ending "noise" inside of your head is exhausting and certainly starts to wear you after a while.

However I've found comfort in those who are going through similar situations, people who understand, people I can talk to about the seemly never ending grind. They give me hope for a better future. Having Bravery Bottles in my life has also helped me cope, giving me a way to reward myself and acknowledge my achievements and victories over those small battles which otherwise would go unnoticed. 

Posts by BB participants - Nicole Gray

'Fight like a warrior' 

I’ve lived with chronic health problems for over 9 years now. I’ve faced a lot of difficult to deal with situations but one of the hardest things that I’ve had to contend with is something that most people wouldn’t even consider to be something associated with chronic illnesses and that is how much I’ve struggled in relation to my self-esteem, confidence and body image. 

As a teenager, I wasn’t the slimmest of girls, I was what most considered to be “chubby” but I think at first it was just “puppy fat” and related to going through puberty and maturing from a girl to a young adult. Chronic illness changed that. I went from what seemed to be weight caused through a “normal part of growing up” to weight gain and retention that was the result of medications and difficulties being active. One of the medications I was placed on a great deal was steroid courses (prednisolone). In short bursts they don’t carry many side effects and are fantastic drugs but when you start to be placed on them longer term you can run into issues. I was on constant high doses due to frequent severe asthma attacks and severe allergic reactions. I was faced with rapid weight gain, fluid retention, excess hair growth, excess sweating, swelling to the back of my neck, horrible stretch marks that covered my body and I’ve not even began to touch on the mental health side effects I face. What I do want to say is that this is my own personal experience with steroids, please don’t be scared of steroid courses as everyone reacts to medications differently, some people have little to no side effects at all. My biggest issue with my weight gain. My weight ballooned to 16 stone (224lbs/102kg) and I felt at the lowest point I’ve ever felt regarding my body image and confidence. People would constantly point out my weight, I faced comments in real life as well as the online world, the place I viewed as my escape from my reality. 

I began to worry about never being able to lose weight and it only getting worse that was until March 2015. In March 2015, I began to be unable to tolerate anything orally (food, fluids and medication). It didn’t matter what type of oral intake I tried or what medication I tried I couldn’t keep anything down. I was hospitalised for over a month as a result of it whilst we tried to get on top of my symptoms. My weight began to drastically drop. In a short space of time I’d gone from 16 stone/224lbs/102kg down to 14 stone/196lbs/89kg. Doctors had become increasingly concerned and as a last resort decided to trial me with an NG feeding tube. It thankfully worked, I managed to tolerate feeds and was sent home shortly after with tube feeds at home. 

Whilst my weight no longer made me feel down I now struggled with feeling extremely self-conscious about having a tube stuck to my face. People would be cruel surrounding it. I struggled with going out in public as I was constantly aware of people’s eyes falling upon my face and seeing my feeding tube and staring at me, sometimes people would go as far as laughing, pointing and speaking nastily to those they were with about me. My confidence plummeted and hit the lowest point it had ever been. This affected me greatly, my mental health began to suffer dramatically and I faced feeling unhappy all of the time. 

By January 2016 I felt I was on a downward spiral. I never felt happy and those around me really noticed. I felt I’d lost so much to my chronic health problems. I used to be someone who tried to see the positives in difficult situations but I just couldn’t seem to find any good. I begged and pleaded for something good, something positive but it just felt like it was never going to come. 

April 2016 a friend on Facebook had posted photos of when she’d competed in a beauty pageant. I felt instantly drawn to the idea. It seemed absolutely crazy as it’s something I’d never considered previously. I’d always assumed that beauty pageants were for girls who were really tall, really pretty and very slim. When I’d thought about beauty pageants I instantly thought about girls strutting their stuff on a stage wearing a skimpy bikini. Without thinking too much I found the UK version of the prestigious international Galaxy pageants. I found their application form, inputted my information as well as sending 4 photos and clicked send. 

Less than 2 weeks later I received an email from them saying I’d been shortlisted for the grand-final. My heart kind of skipped a beat reading the email however I still didn’t think much of it. I never in a million years saw myself as a pageant girl and I thought the directors of the pageant would almost laugh my application off. I put it to the back of my mind and life went on as it had been doing. 

2 weeks later I received an email that has truly changed my life! Reading it I couldn’t quite believe what I was reading, it felt like any minute someone would pinch me and I’d wake up. The email read “Congratulations, you’ve been selected as a finalist for Miss Galaxy Scotland 2017!” I’m not ashamed to admit that I cried reading the email. On telling people they were shocked as I’d not mentioned to anyone I’d applied on the basis that I never in a million years dreamed I’d be selected as a grand-finalist! 

From the get go I got stuck in but I had a great deal to learn! I found out that there was so much more to pageants than the physical onstage round. There was charity work, fundraising, appearances, platforms (a cause or charity you support as a finalist/queen) and much more. I began to have such fun preparing for the final! In a very short space of time I’d gone from feeling at my lowest to feeling happier within myself. As my time as a finalist drew to a close I felt eager to take to the stage and compete for the title of ‘Miss Galaxy Scotland’ but I also felt really sad that my experience was nearly over. 

10^th March 2017 I took the stage, as one of 15 girls aged 19-29 representing Scotland, to compete in the prestigious UK Galaxy pageants. I still had my NG feeding tube and worried about the reactions from other people. Walking on stage I felt a confidence I’d truly never felt before. I felt on such a high, completely on top of the world. The best part of all, I felt beautiful. I found myself feeling very emotional throughout the whole event. I didn’t win the overall title of ‘Miss Galaxy Scotland’ however I was awarded ‘Miss Congeniality’, an award chosen by the other contestants as who they viewed to be the friendliest contestant. It was truly one of the best experiences of my life and I found a new lease for life that I hadn’t had before. I feel I achieved so much during my time as a finalist. I made over 36 appearances (ranging from public appearances, visiting charity projects, supporting awareness days and more, I raised over £500 for 2 different charities (The Anaphylaxis Campaign and The Christie Charity). 

I’m currently a finalist for a second pageant, Face of Scotland, where I compete in May in the senior category (girls aged 19-39). If I win the title I get the chance to go to Disneyland Paris representing Scotland in the final of Face of Europe and the World. As a finalist I’m supporting 2 different charities (Headway Kent and Les Hoey MBE DreamMaker Foundation) and I’ve already made a start on doing different appearances. I also continue to use my pageant platform.

My platform for pageants has become advocating for those who have chronic illnesses and mental health problems, raising awareness of different conditions and also showing other people that no matter what you’re faced with in life, no matter the conditions you may suffer with throughout your lifespan, no matter what medical aids you may have to use in life you’re truly beautiful and nothing should take that away from you. Illness can truly make you feel horrendous, not just physically but mentally too, and it can diminish your self-esteem, like mine did for me, but you are not your illness, you’re much more than a list of symptoms and conditions, you deserve to feel proud of yourself, even if it’s just for getting through the day, you’re doing amazing.

Posts by B.B. participants - Casper Dawson

I’ve been meaning to write a blog for Bravery Bottles for quite a while, but I haven’t been able to think of an idea that anyone would actually like to read, until today that is. Today was an awful day, and although it may sound like nothing to some of you reading this, it has been a massive thing for me.

I am autistic, so I like routine, I don’t like things not going the way I was expecting them to, I’m not sure why, but I know I’ve always been this way and chances are I always will be. I got up this morning and got dressed, took my medication as usual because my acid reflux tends to play havoc on towards the end of the week, again, I’m not too sure why, it’s been that way for years. I can almost hear you thinking ‘why is he writing this? Is anything actually going to happen? This sounds like a normal day to me.’ And it was, I left the house and went to the train station as usual, already nervous for the journey ahead, public transport has never been my strong point and today I was supposed to be attending my first shift as a personal assistant. Supposed to be being the key term in that sentence.
I got my ticket from one of those far too confusing, totally not built for small people machines and went to sit down on the platform, which was when I heard a somewhat concerning announcement: ‘There has been a train strike on the tracks, all trains to be delayed until further notice.’ Now, this may minorly inconvience some people, but for me it honestly felt like the end of the world. ‘What if I’m late? What if the kid’s in the playground crying because I can’t get there?’ My head started spinning with a million questions and what if situations a minute. I could feel a panic attack coming on. This was when I started to pace.

When I’m pacing, which is one of my main self stimulating behaviours i get funny looks, my friends and family always say i ‘make them nervous’ but when in public, i always get really strange looks, especially when I’m chewing a chewable necklace, which i often do when pacing, it helps to calm me down, but to onlookers it just looks like very strange behaviour. I was pacing and chewing whilst thinking of something to do, surrounded by what felt like 100 people on the platform (however it was probably more like 10) like I normally do, attempting to block out the dirty looks i was obviously getting, it wasn’t working. I texted my boyfriend for advice, he’s used to me worrying about seemingly normal situations. Although he isn’t autistic himself, he really understands.
’Just phone and explain to her mum, it will be fine. I promise. X’ was his response, i was questioning why i hadn’t thought of this myself, but whilst in meltdown my mind is doing everything but thinking of a sensible solution. So that’s what I decided to do, make a phone call to the child’s mum to tell her my situation, she knows I’m autistic and so is her daughter so is very understanding. A phone call might seem like nothing to most people reading this, but to me, especially whilst in a meltdown can seem like the end of the world.

My mind was in overdrive of what to do if she didn’t answer, i wasn’t quite paying attention whilst I was waiting for an answer. It got to the 4th ring and i heard a ‘Hello, Casper? Is everything okay?’ From the other end. She answered. I physically breathed a sigh of relief and explained that there was no realistic way i could get to school this afternoon. She was very understanding and even stayed on the phone to me until I’d calmed down and stopped myself from having the meltdown that had been triggered. I felt a lot better after I hung up, knowing it would be okay and I didn’t need to panic half as much as I already had done.

I am starting my first shift on monday instead. Hopefully I’ll have no issues with public transport then, but if i do, i know I’ll be okay. I’ve proved it today, and i think i certainly deserve to give myself a bead for today. I survived a public meltdown and have come out of the other side knowing I can handle anything public transport throws at me.

Easter Fundraiser 2018

As you all know by now, I have set up a project - 'Bravery Bottles' (www.braverybottles.com) - for those living with any type of chronic illness, anywhere in the world. In its simplest terms, it is a positivity project aimed at redefining the common definition of 'bravery' within the medical community, by way of awarding yourself for facing fears, completing acts, or overcoming obstacles that are outside of your comfort zone; whether others would agree that it's 'brave' or not.

The project is mostly self-funded, with the added help of generous donations from friends, family, and strangers alike through the project's JustGiving Page (https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/katiefant), competitions held online by participants, and events that I've held myself.

However, the amount of applicants to the project has far exceeded all expectations, and with the total number of applicants now edging close to 200 members, raising funds is crucial for the future of the project, and for it to be able to continue to run as it is currently.

So, this is the official announcement for my next fundraiser!

I am holding an online raffle to win an Easter hamper (see photo) in order to raise money for ‘Bravery Bottles’) 

The hamper, (arranged in a wooden box), consists of a ‘Build a Bear’ rabbit soft toy with a carrot outfit, a pair of rose gold earrings and matching necklace, various crafts and hobby related items (including seeds and a small watering can), multiple Easter gifts, and a whole array of Easter treats.

If you would like to enter, I will be selling ‘virtual tickets’ from now, until Easter Sunday (1st April). Tickets cost £2 each (there is no limit to the amount you wish to purchase), and all payments are to be made via PayPal (which anyone can use as long as you have either a PayPal account, or a credit/debit card that you can use to pay with). Once successful payment has been made, I’ll be in contact with your raffle ticket number(s), so please don’t forget to leave your name & a method of contact (either email or mobile phone number).

The direct link to make a payment is www.paypal.me/braverybottles

Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any problems and I’ll be more than happy to assist you.

Thank you so much, as always!

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The winner of the Easter Raffle was Melanie Venables - congratulations!