Things are moving quick and productive with my "getting to Vancouver" plans...but seriously, sometimes..what a faff!

I promised this blog wasn't just going to be all "oh wow, i had this amazing experience!" So, this isn't a negative post. This is a reality post of stuff i'm having to do at the moment to get places. It's not a moan it's a "This is what i've got to do." it might possibly help someone or it might just inform and make a few people who've never thought of stuff, aware of what i've got to do in order to just be free and go over to Canada for four months on my own.

None of what i'm doing is new. So many eople do this all the time...just thought i'd write it down. :)

To make things simple, and easier to manage what i tend to do when i'm planning anything (like most people) i break things down. Initially i break tasks i need to do, when it comes to "going places" into able bodied/non-able bodied stuff. So your normal "sorting phone, money..." which apparently sometimes people find stressful (seriously, i have to laugh when i see my friends getting stressed by this student finance lark...it is nothing compared to the extra i have to put up with!) Though...as i'm finding right now...it's an extra add-on!

So travelling as a paraplegic 19 yr old with a fringe...
Within Britain...easy. Just attach a wire to top of your boot and shove what you can in there and bam!

Not so simple across seas and continents and as many frank turner-type explanations i can explain my life with...

If you have meds, which admittedly i do, (mainly for acne) you've got to get them in bulk as we
(Britain) are blessed with the NHS and don't want to be paying full wack in another country. The amount i need to take isn't so bad, and if you go face to face to your surgery and say, as I did,"I'm Laura May, i'm going to Canada for 4 months on my gap year and i need that much supply for my medication that's on repeat prescription..." They're pretty good an are like "ok!"
(despite the NHS website saying that a Doctor can only supply 2 months...which proves, as usual, if you just "go for it" you can get it..)

Catheters anyone? i now use coloplast ones and let's face it, i wee a lot!
An interesting occurrence occurred yesterday...i called coloplast to explain and ask if i could get 4 months supply sent over. They're not allowed to...and i found out some really interesting stuff too! apparently  a little box of 30 coloplast speedicath compact catheters is worth £50...so yes, i worked out that every time i go to the toilet, it is worth £1.67 (rounded up)...sad? Of course i am.
So...i could take 750 catheters over the sea and even more land...but what i'm going to do is get my parent to send them over in month-month supply through a courier as again, it would be so much cheaper than buying it when i get to Canada...£50 a week? C-razy!
So that's moving along...but then the interesting occurrence occurred when the lovely lady on the phone noticed that my GP hadn't payed for my prescription for the last few months and i luckily had enough to cover what i needed...otherwise i wouldn't have been able to get catheters. This has happened in the past and apparently happens a lot...it's all to do with the fact that instead of faffing around running back and to to the doctors and chemist i just call up chartered healthcare and they sort all that stuff and i get my catheters delivered the next day...which is great! it's just not when the "professionals" don't do what they should to make life easier...
Hopefully it will all be sorted and i think a renewal for my prepayment prescription certificate is on the cards...don't think i received my last one in the post...even though i did pay!
Oh and then there's the almost faff of trying to sort out getting an indwelling catheter...and needing a travel certificate as you know tubes on legs and stuff...i got a bit of hassle in belfast when they found my intermittent catheters let alone one attached!

So there's a tiny chunk of a day i managed to bundle an hours skiing, mcdonalds and a few rows of knitting into as well...things are getting there and all is good. I'm sad, i get a weird buzz out of getting stuff moving..but it's just me, and i'm lucky i can grab it and do it...

There's a lot more stuff to do!

A tiny post about BackUp for Children in Need.

This is my facebook status but for my twitter followers...

Right seriously dudes. Back up and especially the bit of back up I work with closely, their youth services, gets funding from children in need and believe me I am proof as a participant and now as a volunteer of the amazing positive impact this charity has on children, their friends and families lives. The course I led for under 13s this summer and services surrounding it are funded by many generous pe

ople and thanks to children in need hopefully more people will be made aware of both spinal cord injury and also the amazing lives us crazy (and increasingly normal...honest!) lot lead thanks to back up. So If you're thinking of giving any tonight please do for me, coz this is probably the one thing in the world that is really in my heart (other than Angus and political satire, green day and david Tennant) . It has had a massive impact on my life choices and way I live my life. I wanna work in bloody outdoor therapeutic education because of it for crying out loud! Give them money so back up can continue to support amazing kids, coz believe me the ones I've met, will continue to meet and hopefully had a good impact on along the way, are simply amazing. :)

Wheelchairs and snow...marriage made in hell? Maybe not anymore...

From feet, to trays, to wheels, to bigger wheels, to blades?
For any of my readers who don't know, snow and wheelchairs can often be a match made in hell (though that wouldn't be very helpful as your both tyres and snow would melt!)
The first few winters after my injury felt like a long steady torture of ill health and depression, sat at my bedroom window, trying and failing to revise, yearning to just run around and play in the snow...
My negative memories and feelings didn't help...the day before I'd gone into hospital for my operation I'd played out in the snow, and for 4/5 years I just couldn't cope with the idea of going out in it and when I tried, I just got stuck...

...Trays...
Until 2010...which was when I started to see my wheelchair as this cool thing that gets me around...(This was way before i'd even thought of skiing, I was still all studious and attempting to get an A* in History at GCSE (which i'm still proud of btw) back then...) and Dad dug out a tray he uses for gardening and that's how i got around that snow week...

It was a little awkward when i was forgotten and
stranded in the middle of my street..
Now, I'm a little more of a wheelchair geek and I love wheels...a little too much.

...Extra wheels...

I've now got a "freewheel" that I haven't yet had the pleasure to use in the snow. Apparently however, with the correct large wheel tyres it's pretty good...(my snow tyres are currently on order...)
I'd recommend anyone who can afford or has the guts to ask for someone to fundraise £375 buys a freewheel. I got mine through Gerald Simonds in the UK, but it originates from the US. I use it all the time and i's got me many places...

It got me onto the giant's causeway...yes, I had to be
carried off, but that's because...have you ever been there?
you'll get my drift!

It's also fantastic for everyday use more than anything, not just Laura May-loony adventures. If I go for a push at night (especially these dark ones) I put it on so I can push quickly and with the confidence, knowing that I'm not going to fly out because my caster got caught on a tiny stone.
So I'm looking forward to trying it out on the snow either over here or when I go over to vancouver in January...
That's another thing, It's compact and easy to travel with. You just attach it to the back of your chair as it comes with all the equipment needed.

A video showing the freewheel in action             >>>>>>>

...Bigger wheels...
So from freewheels that are great camping, in fields at festivals, walking your dog and getting over everyday obstacles to my new baby...
My mountain trike.
I only got it yesterday but this is literally a mountain bike...but a wheelchair and when I get in it...i'm on a bike. It's weird, I will give it it's own beautiful, personalised blogpost...but that's apparently amazing in the snow too. Though I doubt I'll get it over to Vancouver in hand luggage and it's not £375 but it is worth £3995 and I really want to see it develop as a sport and oh the trails...anyway, sorry...sidetracked...but yes, mountain trikes...check them out...

Blades?!?!
I've recently taken up skiing and I'm loving learning how to slide and not fall or lose my teeth on the lifts at the Chillfactore...
Anyway, I've been talking to a few people and recently at some kind of motability show in Dusseldorf...these lovely little wheelchair attachments called "wheelblades". The design of them seems similar  to your outriggers that you use when mono-skiing. I don't know anyone who's tried them but what I've seen looks pretty epic, I'd love to try them! Not sure I need them however with all my beautiful baby wheels...but hey, when you get kids trying to be cool, or old men walking their dogs saying "you need to attach some skis to that thing!" if you're going down a huge hill...at least you can answer back and say, "ye, don't worry, they're at home!"
Wheelblades website

Though...if you've seen where I live...if it did snow, I'd love to just monoski down my street!

Hope this helps...just thought i'd let you all know of my little journey from feet, depression, getting stuck to...rolling and sliding quite happily in the snow. :)

Snowdon - We did it!

Becky getting cozy with the crisps!

The weather in Chorley was dire on Friday. I was receiving numerous texts and tweets off people half wishing me luck, half hoping the weather would improve. It didn't.
We packed everything in the car and it was way too full...there wasn't enough room for any erm..."extra refreshments" and Becky was being smothered by two multipacks of crisps and a wheel!

My many wheels then travelled to Snowdon in three parts. My "everyday" chair was in my car, the front wheel of my Mountain chair went in Sandra's car from St Helens and the two main wheels and body went in Matthew's car. For some reason the grey, pessimistic clouds decided to combine with my car rage as we found ourselves stuck in traffic between Widness, Runcorn and over the Welsh border...

It's a good job the inside of my car wasn't being recorded...

After an entire set of Jessie J's "Domino" had been played to try and perk our spirits up and cool my road rage, we finally got moving and had a very "British" moment in Wales, cheering and listening to Andy Murray get through to the Men's final at Wimbledon. Grinning, driving past a "Milk bar" and "Snowdonia Antiques" I said, we'll never forget this guys!
From then on, I knew things would get better.

We weren't the last to get there, allowed my team to finally meet each other, set up a soggy camp and cooked fajitas!

You know you're somewhere with Back Up when you get woken up at 6am by Bazza shouting "MORNING!! GET UP!" to the entire camp site.

I failed to find the accessible showers, so straight away I was feeling very conscious of my fringe...the fact that I was being filmed by Matt O'Donoghue for ITV's Granada reports made me slightly anxious! But now the footage is out and half my extended family, friends and their pets tried contacting me via facebook, twitter and my phone while I was hiding with Becky in Frankie and Benny's, I've realised that we really did do pretty well going up...

ITV Granada Reports report of our Snowdon Assent!

Notice i used the word "assent."
Matt was really tired and took the train down which I think for filming purposes he must now regret it as coming down was fantastic!

For some strange reason my team
decided to test the strength of our
ropes by skipping, while i was
stranded with no front wheels at my
car!

I was most anxious about the dissent as I've always been able to and good at climbing up things...but not so confident or good at getting down again. Also, coming down would mean having to balance and keep myself from falling out over the handle bars...a fear I've always had, like most kids, since I learnt to ride a bike...but with no working stomach muscles, it would be even more challenging!

It was.
I fell out twice near the top but i wasn't scared...more excited and determined to get better at this technique that bizarrely felt like mountain biking.
And I got better.
And I got more confident.
A lot more confident!
The team work just flowed and I know from every day rolling that the key to landing down a kirb, or in this case boulder, is to get down equally. I also got very daring and used to the idea of "driving into the problem" with my rather large front wheel going for all the rocks while my two big wheels either side rolled passed them.
We picked up a lot of speed and I estimate we came down in around 2 hours!
I loved it.
I honestly feel that our greatest achievement was not just reaching the top, but the entire climb both  up and down; adapting, encouraging and laughing all the way with all our little individual goals we reached, some we may not have even realised yet, is what we truly achieved.
PLUS, WE RAISED OVER £2,200 FOR BACK UP, WITH ALL 9 TEAMS RAISING AN ESTIMATED £30K!
This sort of thing is fun to me, so I don't like to write any soppy crap.
That's why I'm proud of my team mates, most especially those who really broke out of their comfort zone and did this because, well you can't say no to me!
 A celebratory drink at the pub and onto the hog roast and beers. Had a laugh with friends old and new and went to bed happy and content knowing that we did it, after  alot of hard work raising money and planning, we did Snowdon!

 

 My amazing team! (friends first though!)

Finally though...who exactly is this onlooker trying to get on TV?

(ignore my face!)

Back Up's youth advisory group: Our first event was a success!

Despite the first half of my Easter holidays allowing my head to form a fruitful relationship with a brick wall, the second half settled a quick, clean divorce with this situation.
I found myself driving down to London on Wednesday, the day after watching Steps at the MEN (amazing night!!) to organise and hold a "youth event" a Stanmore spinal unit. I ran this along with Sophie as part of our youth advisory group that we are pioneering for the amazing charity, Back Up. The event was a great success (so we were told, even better? :). It was all for under 18s with a spinal cord injury, their parents and their siblings. There were 4 young people with sci and with all their families it came to about 20 people. It basically turned into a family fun day, we had additional wheelchairs so everyone could have a go at the activities and it was interesting to see how certain siblings were experts…(I think some wheelchair stealing has been going on!)
I went to all the parents and asked for permission to film and take photographs for Back Up and for my extended project. They were all lovely and ok with it but you could tell they were nervous and unsure about their own and their child’s future, let alone the 3 hour event! I later found out that majority of participants were still in hospital with one only having been home for a week...

We started with a presentation about who we are (Jessie J reference ;), what Back Up has done, what Back Up does in general and what the Youth advisory group are aiming to do! As I was speaking I looked at parents and kids faces...I never thought a persons attitude and outlook on life could be physically displayed upon a person's face, until then! (And I've spoke in front of audiences many times, for many years...)
 One parent who I remember being particularly nervous at the beginning was literally bouncing at the end and came over congratulating us, wishing us luck in our A levels as well as saying how she now knew her son would have a good life. I assured her that he would. That was the moment I realised "We'd done good!!!" and a lot of thoughts and a personal realisation of achievement came into my head...

I’d almost forgotten that feeling of thinking you had no future or worth on this planet. That exact feeling of not knowing where you would go or what you would do once you finally got “released”. The feeling of knowing that any expectations your friends, school, Mum, Dad and family had of you had completely fallen out into the enternal universe that is nowhere and it was your job to build them back up and do something...but you couldn't do anything because you had nowhere to go. Feeling trapped. Feeling alone. You feel alone. You feel like no one will ever understand what you're going through and all those that ever say they listen to you, don't really, they just want to feel like they've given a helping hand and done their bit for the day...I want to make sure that I never become that person. If I ever inspire, help or make someone realise they can achieve and be themsleves, I want them to know that I'm not a "do gooder", I'm just a believer. I believe in humanity and the power people have. I believe in myself. I believe in you.

 I’ve experienced that feeling recently, in all honesty. That feeling of being alone with no one quite understanding you, and everyone undermining and assuming that you'll give in sooner or later. Well...I haven't done...and I still don't intend too!  I’m doing what I'm doing and trying to get where I'm going because I want to and i'm be true to the person I am. That all comes from the ten year old girl up a tree, showing the boys who's boss while gobbing off to the headteacher...combined with the 11 year old girl who spend a year in hospital with babies and adults...I've felt the real world for all its harshness..now I'm tasting it. I couldn't cope with another 3 years of a bubble where people are just "talking"...so I'm doing and I'm inpsiring and making people realise they can be who they want to be no matter what life throws at them. I didn't have that help when I was 11, sat in a hospital, waiting for Doctor Who to start with Green Day on my personal CD player...but those families did...and for three hours at least, they got to taste, remember and re-realise how wonderful, though challenging, their lives and future will be.