Community: Real Life

It's our birthday!


Viks

Viks is 21 and from Surrey. She's bed-bound due to Myalgic Encephalopathy (M.E.), but works hard as co-founder of Post Pals, a website community for sick young people.
Entry: 8
Date: 11/11/2008

It's a month of celebrations as Viks's M.E. feels slightly more under control and she hosts a garden party to commemorate five years since they helped their first child.

Heels are a girl's best friend!

August was a much-needed quiet month. I've been doing quite well with my M.E., actually, very well I guess, but I always seem to be trying to recover from something and don't quite have the chance to do so properly until the next thing comes along to knock me down. However, it's been so lovely being able to do things for a change. In September my best friend got married, and although the week wasn't without drama, the day was great and I achieved my big goal - I walked down the isle with crutches and in heels!

In my last entry I told you about how I went to Buckingham Palace because Post Pals won the Queen's Award for Voluntary Services. The formal presentation of the award actually took place in our local cathedral - I was expecting a posh hall, but it turned out to be in the cafeteria!  My family, neighbour, and our fantastic advisor from the Prince's Trust who's supported us since the start, came along. We were met by a lady who presented the award and it was great to see how enthusiastic she is about Post Pals.

The ceremony started, which really should have been a serious affair, but listening to the spokesperson's 'speech-voice' made me want to giggle! First they read a citation, of which we were given a copy that was personally signed by the Queen, then we posed for some photographs while being handed the trophy. I was warned it was heavy, but it was so heavy that I couldn't even hold it. My Mum was shown the assessment paperwork, which said something along the lines of: "I have experienced across a lot of charities in my time. However, Post Pals is one of the best." The committee had also scrawled "inspirational" and "amazing" over the top of it. I was so happy to see this and I was hoping to be able to keep a copy, but unfortunately it was soon put out of reach.

Time to reflect and celebrate

Later that month I held our first Post Pals party to celebrate five years since we helped our first child - a nine year-old who had leukaemia - happily, he is now a healthy teenager. We had volunteers from Cornwall, families from up north, and the grandparents of a little girl who drove up from Somerset to: "Meet the people who made their granddaughter smile in her last few weeks." They kindly arranged for a ventriloquist to come along who soon had the children roaring with laughter. I always think that children's laughter is a precious thing, but that day it suddenly hit me as to quite how wonderful it is. All the children were either battling a serious illness or had a sibling who was, yet on that day they were simply young and carefree as they laughed at the puppets who kept forgetting their lyrics. Afterwards we moved outside for a BBQ, a chocolate fountain and lots of chatting. Thankfully the weather was lovely enough to be outdoors as there were so many people that had made the effort to come. It was weird to think that the day was down to something I helped to create. One Mum said: "I always knew we were part of something special, but today just made it feel even more real."

Remembering loved ones

Balloons

Remembering loved ones

In preparation for the party, my Mum collected a cake that was kindly donated and was so perfect that I didn't even want to cut it. We then did a balloon release in memory of the 10 Post Pal children who have passed away, which sadly has now risen to 11. My friend Kat and I let go of most of them, but one brother let go of his sister's, and another lady let go of her granddaughter's. It was so moving watching them float up into the perfect blue sky. Afterwards we started the teddy raffle as well as a normal raffle with lots of small prizes. There were so many prizes that the kids had armfuls of winnings and got so excited each time their number came up. It was a great day, which was extremely tiring, but well worth it. I couldn't believe how far some people had travelled and how generous some companies had been with their donations. I'm now planning to make the party an annual event!


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