• What I wish I could tell my younger self about getting sick and surviving text over photograph of girl holding a camera on her lap. Seen from neck to knees

    What I Wish I Could Tell My Younger Self …About Getting Sick & Surviving

    “If I could give my younger self some nurturing advice, I would tell her (or him [or them])…” – Kris Carr Thinking back to my younger self, when she first got sick. If I could speak to her now and offer some nurturing advice, I would tell her… You Are Enough You are loved. You are amazing. You are going through something extraordinary and it’s impacting you, that’s tough but it doesn’t mean you are doing anything wrong. Listen to your body as much as you can, she has wisdom to share with you. Get a journal, keep writing. Write through the story. Move your body in all the ways…

  • What’s Self-Care When You Can’t Care for Yourself?

    When we finally found it, I felt like there was hope again. There are very few clinics set up for treating people with M.E. and Linus and I heard about a clinic in the Breacon Beacons, near where we live. It looked amazing, set amid parkland, with an on-site nutritionist, physiotherapist, occupational therapist and pain management experts. People whose job it was to help me live, to encourage my body to heal and hurt less. Quickly, where do I sign? Self Caring But then the fine print; you couldn’t go unless you were “self-caring”. I care for myself – I love myself – I really, really care about my well…

  • Releasing Perfection in Healing

    It was winter when my doctors told me that the pain, exhaustion, cognitive dysfunction and muscle weakness I was experiencing were permanent. They said, “no cure” and left me to my own devices, along with a shiny black wheelchair and a packet of painkillers. I was 19 years old. There was a time I didn’t push to be well. I didn’t want to focus on “getting better”, because what was better, really? When does one know when they have arrived? After being told, definitively, that there was no cure, chasing after “getting better” seemed foolhardy. Too hard. Pointless. It’s so easy to put things off; we say we will buy a…

  • Hospital Shops Branded Too Expensive: Healing Boxes Offers an Alternative

    Further to news about hospital shops expensive prices, reported by The Times here social entrepreneur, Grace Quantock, Founder of not-for-profit gift company Healing Boxes CIC, based in Pontypool, Torfaen, has this to say:    “I believe hospital gifts can be affordable, useful and ethical, which is why I founded Healing Boxes, selling tailored gifts for people with illness/disability/in hospital at non-profit prices.   We offer an alternative to expensive hospital gift shops and post affordable, ethical gifts worldwide (even to your hospital ward).   In hospital gifts and cards can be essential – a vital connection to family, friends and daily life“. Check out our new Hospital Box, designed by people with illness (and…

  • Trailblazer Interview: Tiphany Adams – Push Girls

    At age 17 Tiphany Adams was a high school senior with dreams of modelling when the car she was riding in was hit head on by a drunk driver on October 15, 2000. Three lives were lost in the accident and Tiphany was the only survivor of the 130 mph impact crash. She was diagnosed as a paraplegic with a T10 fracture and L2 movement and persevered through months of painful recovery to graduate with her class the following June. Born in Lodi, California, Tiphany has always been a small-town girl with big dreams. Today she pushes forward, pursuing her passions as an actress, abilities advocate and fitness evolutionary. She…