2014 is going to be a good year!
It is already quite exciting because Martin and I are off to Disneyland Paris next week and this has all come about because of an amazing lady who is always looking out for Martin and I. She is a remarkable friend who I met over 10 years ago. She has MS herself but she is a rare person who cares a lot about other people and making sure they are getting everything they deserve.
She was telling me one day about something that the MS society have called the Social and Activities fund. It is a grant that people can apply for to help anyone with MS to do something that they wouldn't normally be able to do. She said to me that I ought to think about something that Martin and I would like to do because I could apply to it. I wasn't sure that we would qualify for it after all we had been away with my Dad last year, but she asked me when was the last time that Martin and I had been on holiday together.....just us. I thought about it and I think it was probably 2005!
I still wasn't sure that we really deserved anything like this but she got cross with me and said that nobody deserved to go through everything that Martin and I have been through over the past couple of years.
I thought about Paris because we have a friend who lives there and we had said we'd love to go over and see her and also take in Disney too.......we are big kids like that!!
Anyway I didn't really think any more of it until my friend and I went for a coffee and she asked me whether I'd decided what we wanted to do! I told her my Paris idea and that to begin with I wanted to do it as a surprise for Martin but I then decided that if we were going to do this I'd really need his help to plan it all. I went home and told him my idea. He was definitely up for applying although neither of us really believed it would happen......things like that don't happen to us!!
My friend organised for an application to be sent to us and she came round and helped us fill it in. She had also arranged for our MS nurse to write a letter of support and she herself had written one too.
I had found a deal to go to Disneyland Paris, staying in one of the Disney hotels, with half board and tickets to both parks included but it had to be booked by Christmas day!
This was all just a few weeks before this Christmas just gone. I remember it was a Wednesday. My friend took the application form and said she would put it together with the letters and get it sent off.........and that was that, we'd done it, but we still didn't really think we would get anything!
How wrong we were! ;-)
On the Friday of that same week, so just two days later, my friend phoned me. She said we had better start planning properly because we'd been given a grant.
This was unbelievable......talk about receiving the best Christmas present ever! And we didn't have long as we'd already thought that if we did get a grant we would go in February!
It didn't stop there because the grant from the MS society only covered the hotel and a few other bits. Martin had decided that he was happy to drive over - he's got to do it all as I'm not allowed to drive at the moment because of the Menieres Disease. It would mean we would have our car with us though which would mean having my wheelchair and a comfortable way to carry all the other things I would need to take like my Peristeen equipment etc.
So we would need petrol money as well as money for sightseeing etc. My friend then organised application forms to send off to another couple of charities and we've received other funding to help cover these things.
It really is amazing, my friend is truly amazing because without her we'd never have thought this was possible and without the MS Society we wouldn't be going!
To be honest I'm still pinching myself to believe that this time next week we'll be on our way to France.............amazing!! :-)
I hope you are all staying well with this appalling weather,
Stay safe :-)
XxXxX
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