Hello,
I would just like to show my appreciation sincerely for this wonderful organisation which helped towards a dreamy vision become reality. Hopefully sharing my little story can be used positively and show the vitality of this whole process.
So from September 2018 I had a relapse and my lovely cancer came back, which was ideal timing as a week before this I went to Leeds with my Dad to get my passport at the ripe age of 23.
My main motivation was to fly to Canada to visit a friend and her family and had even the funds saved aside waiting upon this ‘Disney’ moment to become accessible. Also within it being short of 2 years since I originally left my hospitals it felt like an monumental stride in a positive direction and things for me were being put it place.
From me being such a ‘David Brent’ admirer the thought of being bed bound to Canadian bound was over thrilling. Of course the banter of life wouldn’t allow that and the week after receiving my passport through the post my cancer came back and it was left collecting dust on my bedroom shelf for months.
Everything, as you can imagine, was a tad hectic and being able to use my passport was naturally on the back burner… Until recently!
I had a visitation from one of my support workers Harriet Wainwright ( MASSIVE BIG UP ) who’s always been very supportive and caring. She mentioned Dragonfly Cancer Trust and the whole concept of how you could have a trip anywhere. At first this troubled my bubble wrapped mind and straight away I dismissed it as even the simple pleasure of laying on the settee can make the tumours in my spine come out to play and cause discomfort.
Fortunately my Mamma raised a stubborn boy and the whole concept was too over whelming to miss.
I changed my mind in a rebellious nature as my mind seems to be quite spontaneous and I had just finished the series Vikings so it encouraged me.
Me and a old pal of mine (Göktürk) always mentioned the idea of a trip in Dublin so it all really fell in to place.
A Cash Gift from Dragonfly Cancer Trust made our dream become evident and just a week later we were on a last minute flight to Dublin!
We boarded the plane and I smacked my forehead straight away on the luggage storage above my head. – HA take that brain tumours.
I could smell the purity of the Guinness and had to personally connoisseur the matter.
We flew in late on the Sunday so we were in our hotel by 1am Monday to enjoy the few days until we flew back on the Thursday.
This is me in front of the most iconic pub in Dublin, which is situated in a busy riverside neighbourhood called the temple bar.
As my mother was a massive fan of the Eurovision song contest, not just in her memory, but every year I love to watch it and get really excited for the months leading up to it.
Last year Ireland’s entry was my favourite and the video of the song started from outside the temple bar.
(You can see the music video here)
Singing this to the locals may not have seemed appropriate as I learnt the Irish don’t watch this competition either.
We also tried traditional Irish stew – I found talking to the local lovely people from Dublin was the ideal way to find out where these prolific places were located.
The whole experience was enlightening at a time where I just feel ‘logged out’ mentally…
To me this trip whole trip was a simply phenomenal and a key glorious way to dismiss reality… and the fact Ireland should have really won the Eurovision song contest last year!
I would strongly recommend anyone to support Dragonfly Cancer Trust and I really hope this charity will carry on growing. I know it was vital for me and this was why I wanted to personally thank this organisation by giving a little feedback that will hopefully support what this charity represents.
My friend, Gokturk, would also like to add “Thank you you to the members of Dragonfly Cancer Trust for bringing joy and happiness to many people’s lives including ours”.
Anyway, the main thing was just to show my appreciation and how much of a difference you guys can make!
On a serious note, I would love to show this charity as much support as possible , it gives me great satisfaction that there’s people like you guys in a world of humans that make alcohol a vital necessary procedure to find them vaguely interesting.
I’ve also added a picture of my sausage dog (Richmond) named proudly after the sausages in Tesco.
Alex
