08/12/2024 - 'It's beginning to look a lot like...' by David

November drifted into December last week and significant anniversaries were observed. On November 27th 2007 I started working at Southampton General and on my very first day, I met a pretty nurse called Alice and 17 years later we celebrated by working on a jigsaw puzzle, and cleaning out Teddy's litter tray. 

Teddy was 3 years old two days later and he celebrated by trying to eat the jigsaw pieces, or just sitting on the jigsaw itself so that we can't make any progress. 

On December 6th we we observed the first anniversary of losing our lovely Frankie. He was a talented musician with a gentle soul, but unfortunately, he never got the breaks he needed. We miss him terribly. 

Alice and I attended an engagement party for our friends Anna and Glen, and Kevin and Perry came second in the fancy dress competition, ahead of Freddie Mercury, but behind Adam Ant.

They also took to the stage as Elton and Kiki to perform Don't Go Breaking My Heart, which is our go to karaoke song. It's not ideal as there is no harmony and although we have sung it many times, it never really seems to get any better but it was good fun and we were commended for our performance - Rinsin!

Do you remember the part of the film where Kevin had to use a stairlift to access a restaurant? No, neither do I but it did happen and I made it look cool!

You may remember that we organised a charity walk along the seafront last November for MND and this year we again took part but unfortunately this year I couldn't walk it, so my brother pushed me and we joined over 100 people and about 15 dogs who had braved the rain as they walked The Extra Mile to coincide with Kevin Sinfield's latest MND fundraiser.

Cakes and coffee were available from a gazebo at the finish and over £600 was raised so thank you to Doreen and Rob for organising this years event, and it was lovely to see so many friends of ours showing us their support.

Alice and I were interviewed for a podcast called The Arts Show and we were asked about our experiences of living with MND, our running community, and my DJ sets. It will air just after Christmas - watch this space for how to listen when it's out. 

Alice made it onto the TV too! She was one of 85 people to run the first ever marathon underground in Britain. It was held in the Portsdown Hill tunnels, formerly the Royal Navy's underground headquarters used to track troops on D-Day. The last two years, she ran a marathon around Bovington Tank Museum, past the exhibits and through the gift shop 47 times - she seems to like a novelty run! She said that running underground was cold, wet, and dark, and the floor of the tunnels was uneven and slippy. She completed the 91 laps despite only running a few 10ks this year, and falling and injuring her back. Every time Alice runs an event, she wears a badge with my face on so that I'm running with her. Running was my life and I miss it so much.

I popped in to the hospital to see my ex-colleagues and took part in the ED research team's Dirty Santa

It was great to see them and to think that I have been retired for almost a year now!

How was storm Darragh for you? In Southern England we had a yellow weather warning for high winds and it lasted for over 24 hours and it looked and sounded pretty bad from my cosy and warm position indoors. Unfortunately it put paid to our parkrun, our MND support group Christmas party, and a meet up with my ex-band mates, as they had to cross the Solent and all boats were cancelled. 

It meant we could relax at home, so we drank coffee and started our Christmas jigsaw, with accompanying festive playlist. We may have also started on the Christmas chocolates too!

The Christmas theme continued the next day as we started our 6 advent calendars between the four of us - oh yes, Teddy has one too! We also put the tree and decorations up, which is always a joy, and then settled down with a bottle of Bucks Fizz to watch the Snowman and Father Christmas. We are just waiting to see what Teddy thinks of the tree. So far he hasn't tried to climb up or knock it down, but he has started to push our Christmas Smurfs off the mantelpiece. 

And in the evening we attended our first of two Christmas meals with our fellow Hampshire vegan runners at a lovely restaurant in Southsea called Mangosteen. It is always nice to see us all dressed up rather than in our running gear, smelling of sweat.

With regards to fundraising, I have to mention Kevin Sinfield's latest challenge which he completed yesterday. 7 ultra marathons in 7 days, hoping to raise £777,777 for 5 different MND charities in tribute to his friend Rob Burrow. He actually raised over a million pounds. On a more personal note, my daughter Rachel and her husband Max each took the 5,000 squats challenge in November and they raised £350!

We had an architect round to take measurements for my downstairs bedroom and wet room, and with the help of the Occupational Therapists who know exactly how much room I will need for a wheelchair and a hoist, he will produce a floor plan. It still may require planning permission, but it feels like things are getting underway nicely, although we have been told that it probably will be the Spring before building can start. 

I have been using my walking frame to get around the house, and Alice bought a tray which fits on it so that I can carry a drink and a plate of food to the living room. I also sit on a perch stool to do the washing up now which makes it easier. 

My mobility is not very good and I now shuffle around the house but my latest goal of still walking at Christmas is less than three weeks away so I'm determined to get there. I can still get myself in and out of the shower and bath although if Alice is around, I ask for her assistance. She even brought me up a cup of coffee from our new machine - a frothy almond latte! Life ain't bad x