A Very Big Heart

Two weekends ago saw a big family walk taking place, it was filled with parents, grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, great aunts, and uncles. It was a cold day at the end of January, and although the sun was shining down on us, it didn’t detract from the overall chill that spun it’s cold breath over everything it touched. Leo had been excited about his walk, and he started off full of energy, running, darting and jumping along his merry way. Of course it wasn’t long before the abundance of energy had deserted him.

Leo walked up the steepest muddiest hill I have ever come across, and he handled it much better than I. We were slipping and sliding trying to find our footing, but each attempt was thwarted by mud, but Leo kept on climbing…Despite eventually going full front into the mud, covering his lovely snow suit and his hands in sticky, squelchy mud. Of course this was quickly rectified, and soon I was sporting leggings with those very muddy hand prints all down them, but thankfully Leo was smiling again.

It was around this time as our ascent continued, that Leo looked behind him and saw his Granny struggling to get up the hill. Granny suffers with Rheumatoid Arthritis, and the walk hadn’t really been tailored for her, or a 3 year old for that matter, but still they both soldiered on. Leo saw his Granny trying her hardest to get up the hill, he saw her slipping and sliding and he looked worried for her. In a split second Leo had turned on his heels and started marching back down the hill to his Granny, it was then that Leo took her by the hand and began to pull her up the hill. He was helping her, trying to make sure she was ok, because he was worried she might fall over and hurt herself.

Granny looked very pleased with her little Grandson that day, I would even say rather proud. She thought that Luke or I had put Leo up to it, but in matter of fact it was as much a surprise to us as it was to her, and it was all done completely off Leo’s own back and merit. When I asked Leo about it later he said ‘I scared Grandma fall. I help her up’. I gave him the biggest hug for being such a thoughtful little boy, but that’s Leo all over. He’s observant and caring, so of course he was going to go out of his way to try and help his Granny.

It was only last week that Leo and I were sat watching a film together in the lounge, when he took his blanket and draped it over me, tucking me in with him while we snuggled together. ‘You not cold now Mummy’ he said once we were all tucked in. Then Leo noticed that my feet were coming out the end of the blanket ‘You got cold feet Mummy!’ he said, and he pulled a pillow out from under him to place over my feet. Then just to make sure I really wasn’t cold, he piled pillow after pillow onto my feet to ensure they were warm.

Leo has such a big heart and is just so loving, watching him sharing his kindness with the people he loves and encounters is such a magical sight. It means that I have done something right along the way, and he really is a credit to me.

My beautiful, caring little man <3

A Best Friend

I can remember my school days as though they were just yesterday, a time where I had all the time in the world to make memories with friends and quite simply rejoice in the complete lack of responsibility.

In reality it is already been 8 years since I bid farewell to that time in my life. So many things have happened and changed since the school bell rang for the very last time, and responsibility has certainly caught up with me now!

My school life was fun and looking back I quite simply wouldn’t change a thing, I could often be found giggling with my oldest friend. Trouble quite simply used to follow us around, and we certainly used to act before we thought things through… I guess to some extent that is still true today.

It has been 14 whole years since I first met my mischievous best friend, and in that time frame we have certainly had our fair share of ups and downs. For every wrong we have made we always make things right, we have said things in the heat of the moment but kissed and made up regardless of any choice words we said. We have cried happy tears and shared nights where we have done nothing but laugh, and she was even the person to support me when I first found out I was pregnant.

We have been through absolutely everything together, we have grown up together and experienced many of life's lessons. But sometimes things happen in life that you don't expect. Sometimes you can be nothing more than a shoulder to rest upon.

In December 2011 Chelsea got dealt some life changing news, my best friend was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. For once even I was lost for words, and I didn't really know what she was telling me. I didn't actually really know what Multiple Sclerosis was until that day. I guess to a certain degree I still don’t understand exactly what it is, but I do know that from deep inside her MS is rivaling and making himself apparent to her in ways far less than desirable.

I have watched Chelsea fight this, and fight hard she does.

Chelsea is head strong and knows exactly what she wants, she always has done. MS certainly was not in her life plan, but as you walk through life you realise just how cruel it can actually be. You realise that even those people closest to you can get dealt a life changing set of cards and age has absolutely nothing to do with it.

Chelsea is 24 years old and dealing with this horrible disease at the same time as juggling her two beautiful children and loving husband. Multiple Sclerosis has no place or right to be taking away all of her energy and throwing multiple relapses in her path. Relapses mean being pumped to the nines on steroids, steroids that make you feel awful and then give a much needed buzz! But no amount of steroids can undo the damage that this silent disease has already done.

I wish I could wave a magic wand and take all of the pain away but I can't. Nor can I relate to how she is feeling...But I do try to comprehend what she is going through on a day to day basis. I wish I could go back in time to when she first started mentioning her eye sight problems and push her to book into the Opticians sooner...

It breaks my heart to think of everything that she is going through, sometimes I don’t know what to say because I cannot even comprehend how she is feeling. The only case of extreme tiredness I have ever experienced was in early pregnancy with Leo, and was gone within a few months. I cannot imagine my eye sight being permanently damaged and not knowing what MS will do next. But somehow she still lives her life to the full, and all the while is raising awareness of this horrible disease.

Throughout everything she is going through one thing is for sure, she is still the same girl that I met all those years ago, still as vibrant and fun loving as she always was, she really doesn't let this disease define her. She still strives to do everything she can, plays with her kids all the while creating an amazing childhood for them to reflect on when they are big and grown.

Even though Chelsea has been dealt this set of cards and her life has changed beyond recognition she is still here telling it exactly as it is. You can read her story over on her blog MS Mummy of Two, where she enlightens us into exactly what life is like, living with Multiple Sclerosis.