Hey guys!
Firstly, this is going to be a bit of a different blog post today. Normally I write blog posts about things such as my cancer story, positivity and negativity, friendships, fears related to hospitals etc etc. But today, I’m going to write a blog post about somebody that I met in September and an amazing day that I experienced on Christmas Eve. This is an extremely special blog post... Its for Verena, and her daughter Jennie.
Jennie and her Mum, Verena
Jennie and her Mum, Verena
In September, I was in hospital and I had just been moved to a ward after coming out of Intensive care. I was in a two bed bay part of the ward with an older lady and she introduced herself right away even though she had visitors which I thought was lovely of her. She had her daughter there with her and a couple of her friends. After they had all left, we started speaking about why she was in hospital and her story from her past. We spoke for ages about herself then we spoke about my story too. To sum it up, this incredible ladies name is/was Verena Smith. 7 years ago, Verena was diagnosed with cancer of the Oesophagus. She had surgery to remove her Oesophagus and went into remission soon after. Unfortunately she relapsed this summer and was diagnosed with cancer again, this time it came back in her lungs. She also had blood clots in both lungs so she was on oxygen all of the time.
Whilst myself and Verena were in hospital I had the pleasure of meeting her daughters Jennie and Wendy. I met them both a few times, and kept in contact with Jennie throughout our time in hospital via text so that I could keep her updated on how her mum was as she was often in London rehearsing for an upcoming Musical that she was going to be performing in!
Verena and I really bonded over the time that we were in hospital and we had spoken about me going to visit her once we were both out of hospital and at home. We both waited and waited each day to be told that we could go home, but each time I was told that I had to stay in for another couple of days etc, Verena would say to me “At least we get to spend a couple more days together!”
One specific thing that Verena said when we spoke of our diagnosis’ was, “I just can’t believe that you’ve been through and are going through as much as you are at such a young age. At least I’ve had a wonderful life!” - This just proved to me how much of an incredible woman she was and this has really stuck with me. I have to say, Verena made the second half of my hospital stay much more bearable. I spent the first half in a room on my own in Intensive Care, so coming out of there and into a bay on a ward with such a lovely lady was great, and we really got on which was so nice.
The day that I got told I was going to be allowed home was the 29th September and I was both happy and sad! So happy that I was finally going to be going home but sad that I was going to be leaving Verena in hospital as she wasn’t allowed out yet. She was so happy that I was finally allowed to be going home though and like I mentioned previously, we had spoken about me going to keep her company once she was out of hospital anyway, so I knew that it wasn’t going to be long before I saw her again! Throughout the day when I was packing my belongings she was asking me what I would do first once getting home and saying that she bet I couldn’t wait until I could get into my own bed - Which was true, of course! She also asked if that evening was going to be the evening that I would let my brother shave off my hair as my hair had started falling out and was going EVERYWHERE, to which I agreed! The time came where my younger sister arrived at the hospital to take me home, and I actually got emotional saying goodbye to Verena as I hated leaving her in there knowing how much she wanted to go home. My eyes actually SO teary!
Unfortunately, around 8 days later I received a text message from Jennie, Verena’s daughter at 12:31am. She told me that she had lost her Mum that night, that Verena done all she could but her breathing was just too hard for her. I was so heartbroken. We had formed a huge bond just from a stay in hospital and it upset me so much to know that I wasn’t going to get to see her again. As much as I was upset myself, all I could do was think about how much Jennie and Wendy would be struggling right now and that honestly made me so sad. I was unbelievably tired and drained from crying but I just couldn’t sleep. Jennie also said to me that night that she couldn’t tell me how much I was an inspiration to her Mum. It made me so happy that I made a difference and an impact to Verena’s life and also made an impact on her hospital stay & made it easier for her.
Jennie and I spoke here and there, she was so busy from rehearsing for the show so of course I understood that! But, on the 5 December I received another text message from Jennie asking if I would like to go and see Elf The Musical in London. This text excited me so much as myself and my Mum really wanted to go and see it with our family, especially knowing that Jennie was performing in it too! To make this even better, she told me that the showing would be on CHRISTMAS EVE! How magical is that?! She also hinted that this show was going to be a very special show, and that she wanted me to be there. I didn’t think that she was going to tell me but then she did and I burst into tears. Half of the ENTIRE box office’s takings were going to be donated to The Teenage Cancer Trust because I touched Verena’s heart so much and The Teenage Cancer Trust was the charity of her choice, this being around 50 THOUSAND POUNDS. I was in shock. £50,000 will do so much for The Teenage Cancer Trust and helping out cancer patients aged between 13-24, I don’t think anybody will understand just how much unless they’ve been in my position or a family member/friend of somebody that has been through it. It will help do so much for teenagers with cancer and help make the fight for their life become easier. Teenage Cancer Trust has helped me out so much over the last 4 and a half years as I have had cancer three times. If you would like to know what it is that they do, you can go to www.teenagecancertrust.org.
As it was late at night when Jennie asked me about seeing the show, I spoke to my Mum about it the next day even though I knew she would agree. Later that day I responded to Jennie and told her that we could make it and she was so excited! It was the matinee show that we would be seeing. We spoke and organised everything and myself, my family, Rhiannon (My best friend who was coming instead of my sister as she had to work) and Jennie honestly couldn’t wait!
Christmas Eve came and I didn’t even struggle to get out of bed which was strange for me as because of my illness, my body aches so much, 'm in a lot of pain most of the time and I really struggle with being so tired but because I was SOO excited, I didn't find getting out of bed a problem! We got ready and went to Brighton Station to find that our train was delayed which was incredibly annoying. We had to be at the stage door of The Dominion Theatre at 1:30pm ahead of the show starting at 2:30pm as Jennie had organised a tour of the stage and the set backstage. We got the train from Brighton to London St Pancras then we got a taxi to the theatre and made it 10 minutes early, luckily! We went in and got taken up to outside the stage door and it was so cool to see the cast rehearsing as they were opening Harrods on Boxing Day for the sales. Once they had finished, Jennie took us for a tour and showed us each part of the set and told us what each part would do in the show, like Santa’s chair, Buddy’s bed, Walter Hobbs’ office, etc. It was so great to experience and see up close each part of the set. Then we went on stage and was able to take photo’s where they had the ‘Christmas Town’ sign.
The show was absolutely incredible. Each performer played their role perfectly and I was honestly in awe all the way through it! It made me laugh all of the way through and even certain parts of the show made me cry! It was so nice to have a day out with all of my family (apart from my sister) and Rhiannon, also to be able to actually enjoy myself, not think about my disease at all and truly laugh. I absolutely loved it.
At the end of the show all of the cast stood at the front of the stage in a line to do their bow, and on the screen behind them it said “This performance was dedicated to the memory of Verena Smith and the fund for Louise Plowright”. I saw all of the cast facing towards us but Jennie and another of the cast who had their arm around her was facing towards the screen. I managed to get a photo of this which is so lovely. I know Jennie was very emotional and said to me before the show that she was really going to have to try not to cry! At the end of the show, they announced that they had buckets at the front of the venue by the doors to collect money for The Teenage Cancer Trust. Everybody started to leave their seats and make their way to the front of the venue so we done the same. It was so busy but as we got closer to the doors we noticed that Ben Forster who plays Buddy The Elf and Jennie were the ones holding the buckets and collecting the money. Everybody was trying to get photos with Jennie and Ben which was the reason why it was taking longer to get out of the venue. We finally got to the front and members of my family and Rhiannon gave Jennie a cuddle then I put my arms around her and gave her a squeeze to which she started crying and so did I! We said our goodbye’s to her and then had to try to find a taxi to get back to London St Pancras but Christmas Eve + London + rush hour = NIGHTMARE! At this point we also had to say goodbye to my Rhi which I was upset about but I knew that I was going to be seeing her on New Years Eve anyway so I was ok about this.
We got the train back to Brighton and by this point we were all absolutely knackered! I was half falling asleep on the train which was very embarrassing, haha!
I absolutely loved my Christmas Eve. It was the most magical day, spent with my all time favourite people… I honestly didn’t want this day to end but our Christmas was only just beginning!
I honestly cannot thank Jennie, Michael Rose and David Morgan enough for making this day happen for us. Not only did we have an absolutely amazing day but I also cannot thank them AND Verena enough for choosing The Teenage Cancer Trust to donate money too. The amount of money that is being donated is incredible and will do so much for teenagers like myself and allow our cancer battles to become just that little bit easier which makes so much difference to our lives. £50,000 will do an amazing amount of work and help so many people. I’m just so thankful to everybody at who works within Elf The Musical for doing this for us.
I am also so proud of Jennie, she has been through so much these past few months. She had her Mum in hospital whilst she was having to travel to London to rehearse and I know she was worrying about leaving her, I always made sure that Verena was okay though and had everything she needed. Then unfortunately loosing her mum whilst being so busy with Elf The Musical which must have been so hard and I can’t imagine how hard that was for her. Verena told me whilst we were in hospital that she was so proud of Jennie so I know that she would she unbelievably proud of her right now for being so strong and carrying on no matter how hard it must be to do so.
There is also a Just Giving page that was set up by Verena’s daughter Wendy to also raise money for The Teenage Cancer Trust in memory of Verena, where £1,279.66 has been raised so far which is amazing! If you would like to donate, no matter how little the amount is, I would appreciate it so much and so would Verena and her family. The link for this Just Giving page is: https://www.justgiving.com/celebratingverena/ - Please share this blog post and Just Giving page on your social media pages in the hope that people will donate to this worthy cause and charity where the money will do so much for teenagers like myself.
I know that this weeks blog post is very long but I hope that you have all enjoyed reading it and learning about the amazing, inspirational and very missed lady Verena. I also apologise again about not posting for a few weeks but I really do hope that you all understand the reasons as to why I couldn’t upload.
Until next time my lovelies,
So much love, always!
Jayde x
0 comments:
Post a Comment