Sally's World

Is it just me, or does anyone else think that having a fund raising charity walk for two healthy children, who are actually millionaires in their own right is taking things too far.

Now, Jade Goody is a 27 year old mum of two, she has just been given weeks to live from cervical cancer. My heart goes out to her and her family, and I, like most people I know, have been behind her and her choices 100% so far.

Jade has been criticized (quite unfairly in my opinion) for selling her story to the press, and for selling the rights to her wedding pictures for just under a million pounds. But she wasn’t doing it for her; she was doing it to secure a future for her sons. I think anyone her position would have done the same. If someone told me I was dying, and I had the opportunity to give my kids financial security for life…I’d grab it with both hands.

But, what I think has taken it too far is the fact that her friends and supporters had a fund raising walk over the weekend to raise money for her sons.

Whilst jade earning money for her sons is one thing, I’m not entirely sure she would have asked or wanted this. The reason she wanted to secure their financial future was because she didn’t want her boys to be seen as charity cases. I sincerely hope she steps in and insists that the money raised goes to cancer research.

There are thousands of families and kids out there suffering because of cancer, the majority of them are not celebrities and do not have the option of selling their stories and so on…perhaps the money could be used to help some of them, or the hospices that so need our support.

Jade is doing so much good in publicising her story, the amount of women going for smear tests has gone up, at least 20% in the UK since she started raising awareness. Yes, she may be getting paid for that publicity, but I think she would be raising awareness either way. It would be a real shame if her story was tainted by this fund raising walk.

So, I know Jade did not organise the walk, and I’m sure the organisers were trying to be helpful, but it is very misguided. Firstly, to do a charity walk, it needs to be for a charity, Jades boys most certainly are not, secondly, Jade has earned more than enough to secure their future financially.

It just smacked of friends of hers trying to get in on the act, which sounds harsh, but its how it seemed. Perhaps they should put that time and energy into raising money for the hundreds of worthwhile causes and charities there are to support.

If you want to read more about Jade and her brave fight against cancer, click on…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/4901791/Jade-Goody-feeling-brighter-in-hospice.html

For those of you who follow the blogs in any way, you’ll know exactly who Trojan is. For those of you who are brand new…

Trojan is a close friend of mine, and he is the one behind the whole blogging idea. We work well together because he has all the technical know how and I just have plenty to say! Trojan strongly believes in what I do with the t-shirts and the charity, and will be getting more and more involved in both those things as time goes on.

For as long as I’ve known Trojan, he has been into taking photos; he always has his camera with him and snaps away all the time. This is great for recording those memories for those of us who always forget our own cameras, or forget to use the bloody thing even if we do have it.

Of course, it’s also a bit of a pain in the arse because Trojan has a love of ‘natural shots.’ Which roughly translates into him catching people in embarrassing moments or while they are yawning or stuffing food in their mouths. And if you want to get up to anything slightly illegal/immoral, forget it if your with Trojan! It will recorded in glorious, immortal Technicolor!


I’m not going to pretend I always got it, often he’d be snapping away and I’d be all like “erm...Trojan, it’s a gate!” to which he’d just smile and continue with shots of wildlife/flowers/buildings/lampposts. But once I saw the photos and what he’d done with them, I got it. He has a great eye, and seems to be able to capture art through the camera lens. Something I admire because about 80% of the shots I take are of headless people, my own thumb or look like they are taken at midnight...in a snow storm…in gale force winds!

To show off some of his brilliant photos Trojan has a blog. It’s called Trojans Corner, and not only are the photos of the places he’s travelled brilliant, it’s a great way to find out more about him and those places. Its fun and informative, he talks about many of the things that interest him, and he has many interests and strong views and is certainly worth getting to know.


So take a look at his blog on http://trojansgallery.blogspot.com/

Take care

Sal xxx

A good friend sent me an e-mail yesterday, this was part of that e-mail and it touched me.

This is a poem written by the beautiful Audrey Hepburn, it was read out at her funeral, I thought I’d share it with you.

“For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day.
For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.
People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.
Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms.
As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands; one for helping yourself, and the other for helping others.”

Perhaps if we all tried to live life in this vein, the world would be a much nicer place.

Humbled,

Sal xxx

My day so far has led me to question whether we are a nation of people who are so self absorbed in our own lives, that we don’t stop and give a second thought to what someone else may be going through. Or is it that we realise the difficulties, but we just choose to ignore them.

Deion had a hospital appointment this morning, and the sheer amount of doors that got slammed in our faces, and the number of people walking in front of us had me looking down at us both and questioning whether we were actually invisible.

Then I had to go to Tesco’s to do some food shopping, there was a lady selling the big issue outside, I said hi and told her she could have my trolley pound on the way out, my usual small contribution. But as usual I was surprised at the number of people who not only ignored her, but shot her a look as if she was something they scraped off their shoe. Not like she was someone, down on their luck and trying to do something to help themselves at all.

Inside the entrance was a blind man and his dog with a collection box. I had some change in my pocket, and heard it hit the plastic at the bottom as it went in. On the way out, after an hour and ten minutes in the store, I put my newly acquired change in his collection box…and I was surprised that I still heard it hit the plastic. “How long have you been here?” I asked him. “Three hours,” he said. “and how many people have put change in your box?” I said. “Four,” he answered.

This is surprising isn’t it, that a man can stand collecting for people who are missing, in my opinion, one of the most precious things of all, their sight, and no-one stops to put their small change in the collection box. Surely, it’s just a few sweets, or half a pint down the pub even, but still hardly anyone bothered.

Are we not able to see that we can do some good, is it possible that we care so little of the plight of others that we cannot spare a few pence, or a pound to help. Then of course, if you can’t spare the change, holding a door open costs nothing!!!

Of the thousands and thousands of pounds that got spent in Tesco’s yesterday, a few pounds for a good cause doesn’t seem so much to ask does it?

Maybe I’m feeling a little emotional in my weakened post viral state, maybe I’m sick of people nicking all the disabled parking spaces, slamming doors in Deion’s face or ignoring any person who needs help. Whatever it is, it has really got to me today.

Take care, think of the needs of others and be generous when you can.

Sal xxx

Hi, I'm Sally, i live in London with my husband and four children. My eldest son passed away after a long fight with a muscle wasting disease just over two years ago. My goal is to carry on in life in the way Aaron taught us. Aaron lived life to the full and had many lessons to teach us all about love, laughter and having our say. After Aaron passed away, i found myself at the computer for hours on end writing about our lives together, this was published exactly a year to the day of Aaron's passing, an accident, we think not!