It’s going to take me a couple of days to post pictures, post messages and write my recollections of the night. 

If anybody who was there wants to say

anything at all, please do, either by posting a ‘comment’ or emailing me, and I’ll stick it on. 

To say I was overwhelmed would be a gross understatement.

That so many family/friends/colleagues/employees strangers(!)  would reserve that date and dedicate their time to me is moving and humbling. 

300 or so people separately looked deep and straight into my eyes and touched my very soul. All barriers came down. People cried openly and without embarrassment  and people laughed loudly and honestly. 

It was the best party they’ve had at the Hogarth Club for quite a few years, and blimmin heck, they’ve had a few good ones…!

Fabulously emotional speeches were made,a naked press up competition was staged, and people drank themselves stupid. 

It was a celebration of a bright future, not a wake for what’s been lost. 

Hundreds came and ‘spun’ in the 40-strong spinning bike studio.  24 hours of generosity of time and spirit. 

Dan got hold of an ‘arm powered bike’ for me, and I had 3 stints on it. Determinedly I managed an hour on it, the final hour (5-6pm Saturday) of the 24 hour total. 

The mood in the room generated by the riders, inspired and egged on by the spinning instructors, was tear jerkingly incredible. People whooped, swayed, cheered and danced in their pedals. 

I have to say, it was FUCKING FANTASTIC. 

Friends did as many as 5 hours spinning.

 James Cacknell, and his mum and dad (!)    and the Big Man, Jason Leonard ( and his 2 boys) were amongst the many. 

  Rob Colliver sweated like a demon, as usual. 

Clare and Charlie came from America(!) Was truly wonderful to see them after so many years. I cried. 

Loads came from Wales. Yep, I cried again. 

My treasured brother, Alwyn, tried in vain to get around his 2am cancelled BA flight from Tokyo to be there. He was devastated to be absent. He cried. That got me going, again 

Alwyn, it’s ok. I know no one would have tried harder than you did. 

Finally, for now, I want to thank the outstanding staff at The Hogarth Health Club in Chiswick for doing what they did. 

Joanne Harris, Giles Stumpe, Terry Rodham, Jade Rodham, Berj,  Tim Slater, Ian Chaffey, Chris Juster, Adam Jones, Voj, all the spinning instructors, especially David Nivor, Dean, Vanessa, Charles, Barney and so many others. 

Big love to all the bar staff, receptionists, everybody that helped. Also to Holly, Maisie, Astrid and my angelic Amber for making and selling cakes, pancakes and God knows what for the cause, little Jimmy and Sherezade  from next door for being, at 6 and 7 the youngest spinners. 

I can’t name everyone, but I love you all. 

There’s one man that made it all possible. 

He no longer needs an introduction. 

At 12.30 AM he told me that ( 2nd only to his Stag Night, which I organised lol!) it was the best night of his life. 

I give you, the One And Only Dan White. 

I hope to be there at the start, with a whistle/ gun(?) / flag, or probably just to shout / whisper  ‘go’. 

It’s going to be a very emotional night for me, all of those kind hearted people there just for my charity. 

I’ll have seen quite a few of the 200 at one hospital or another over these last 4 strange months, but there’ll be a lot that I’ve not caught up with. 

Will it be awkward for them, or for me? Very few will have seen me in my wheelchair. A wheelchair categorises you, puts you in a bracket. I’m now a DISABLED person. There are signs telling people like me which way we’re best to go. The absence of a sign may well mean I cannot go there at all. 

In SM it’s easy, there are 110 of us scooting about. In the Hogarth tomorrow, it’ll be just me. All 3 foot 6 of me, two and a half feet shorter than before, looking up to everyone. 

As I write I’m not afraid of the prospect, but I now feel nervous. I still speak quietly, and tend to slur ( though this has gotten better ). It’ll be loud at the party, louder than anywhere I’ve been for 4 months. 

People will only hear me if they get pretty close. I’ll no doubt have a few drinks, and God, I do intend having a good time. 

I’ll apologise now for not being able to speak to, and thank, everyone who comes. 

But I am so grateful to all of them, as well as to the senders of the many emails that I’ve had recently. 

But above all else folks, whatever you do, have a laugh doing it. Make the most of every moment. 

Russ 

Gasping, was me, earlier, after repeated outside uphill training pushes. 

I found an outside incline, semi covered, about 30m long and did my shuttle push routine. Pedestrians kept stopping and asking if I was ok, whether I ‘was mad’ and if I was cold, in my shorts. 

I wasn’t the last two, and I was barely the first. Not exactly the Hymalayas but a hill of sorts. At the ‘top’ I’d be doubled over with fatigue. I know it’s gonna be hard this recovery thing, but the rate of improvement has only one factor…MY determination. 

Ok there are others: arse injury avoidance, sickness avoidance  and luck, but you know what I mean. 

I was so tired I went back to bed at 1pm, only to be up again at 2 for ‘education ‘. 

We did ‘stress coping’ and the psychological impact of Spinal Cord Injury (SCI, round here). The good news is that most SCI victims go on to be as happy as Larry, no more likely to be depressed than any other slice of the populace. 

And that’s the odd thing, most of the wheelies around here are bloody cheerful most of the time! How can that be, given that all of our lives have been ruined?

I still wake up hoping it was all a horrible dream, but then acceptance kicks in. 

It’s getting easier.  

The more you can do, yourself, the less useless you feel and the better your esteem. I’m a mile away from being self sufficient but I can see the light in the far distance. At the moment it’s about as bright as a glow worm’s arse, but it is winking at me. 

Thanks to Emma Fountain for visiting me, all the way from Hereford (!) and to Aideen Jenkins   Aideen brought me dinner too ( and wine ). Get this, she’d popped into the very posh and lovely ‘Riva’ restaurant in Barnes and asked if they’d do a takeaway… Hearing of my ‘plight’ the owner insisted she take a meal in a foil tray, for me, and on the house. I’ve had the pleasure of going there quite a few times in the past, but you know, that’s a beautiful gesture by them, and I’m very grateful. Plus, it tasted  bloody great. 

Emma sells ‘Wonky Ware’ crockery, imported from South Africa. We’ve got a lot of it and it’s really cool, hard wearing and dishwasher proof too! Yes, I’m blatantly plugging the product, and her. 

She has a website

Emma Aldous-Fountain … These great ovalWonki Ware platters make an excellent addition to the table.

Check it out anyhow 🙂

Tomorrow I go home at 3pm hopefully, my first 3 day weekend!

I hope to watch Lily play hockey then retire to my kitchen boudoir. 

The idea is that I’ll be rested and raring to go on Friday night. I hope I’ll have the stamina to say hello to 200 of my closest friends. 

On that note, I’d better get some shut eye.  

X

My brother,  Stu, continues to make the 6 hour round trip to see me, and check his more handsome sibling is ok. This time however he was fed, as was I, Glen, Sam and Kev, by the wonderful home cooking of the one and only Sally Saffadi. 3 courses in a picnic hamper no less, served with matching plates too!

Plus red wine ( oops, that’s officially an offence here ) but we got away with it. 

Thank you Sally. Made our night, that. 

Had a laugh with the fellas too,great bunch that they are. 

Earlier, I’d been treated to lunch by Sis in law, Melissa ( founder of this blog ) and her husband, James,  plus Dani’s mum, Jenni. 

Then Toby and Cress came too, bearing yet more treats. It’s only my healthy choice eating that’ll keep me lean; if I tucked into everything that my mates bring, I’d be a right lardy git in no time. 

But what a day….

The long arm of love reaches to me every day, and squeezes my hand.  🙂

The detail of my new life, it would seem, is sufficiently interesting as to have become a kind of ‘daily fix ‘ .

Strange really, as my old life was loads more fun, but recording that probably would not have generated the same attention, or at least would have had a ‘niche’ audience!

Today started with 10am  water torture. 

Shortly after being hoisted ( yes, in a big cradle ) into the pool, Derryn ( pictured, in the black swim suit, looking as though she’s, er, ‘fisting’ me ) decided she’d assess my ‘sitting balance’. 

The benefit of water is that falling over in it isn’t potentially terminal. She therefore sat me on a small backless stool, dead legs dangling into the deep…. 

Then she proceeded to push me off it, repeatedly. 

In the picture I’m laughing. F knows why.

But the good news is that the rationale worked! I did get far better at not falling off, and very quickly, learning to rebalance using my head, arms and back. 

Then she made be do ‘dips’ , pictured, in the pool corner. Previously I could do 60 dips on parallel bars, now it’s a paltry 10, assisted by the fist of Derryn ( sounds like a Jackie Chan film )   I wondered why she had placed foam padding on the tiled corner, until I face planted into it…. Yes, balance is the additional challenge now, not only strength. 

Dani arrived today an hour earlier than I thought. You know why? So she could pee herself laughing at me flailing in the water, like Forrest Gump in trunks. If you can’t laugh……

I showered in a bath chair, was dressed in my finest gym shorts, then released back into the hospital corridor. 

I joined Dani and my ‘team’ for a Goal Planning meeting. 

In short the objectives are all bum related: looking after the skin on it, and regulating what comes out of it. Plus, mastering the art of wheelchair to car/bed/bench transfer, without tearing a new hole in my arse. 

A lovely lunch followed, accompanied by Dani, Dan and Martyn. Baked jacket potato with cheese, purchased from the cafe is a lot better than the synthetic NHS sandwich that I get for free. 

The days activities officially over, my visitors having departed, I attended a lecture on, yes you’ve guessed it, Bowel Management, otherwise known as How to get through the day without shitting yourself. 

Yawning badly I then made myself go to the gym, where I did lateral pull downs and seated chest bench press. These are the muscles required to self propel  a wheelchair. Half an hour in, the gym shut so I wheeled down to a quiet, sloping corridor and spent an hour pushing hard up it and freewheeling down it. If you saw the pathetic gradient you’d probably laugh, but hey, it’s a start. 

Then, after going outside to cool off, I chatted to 2 fellow inmate unfortunates for a bit, and then retired to my room, just as Carol and Tom arrived to see me. Ha, no rest for the wicked!

We had a very entertaining hour or two, chatting, and I’ve been writing this ever since ; and it’s now 10pm. 

So there you go, my day in it’s entirety. 

That’ll teach you for chastising me. 

X

She’s given up her valuable time to help massively with the setting up of my charity, in advance of Fridays Spine-a-thon. 

As you can imagine, that sort of thing is best left to the experts, and it seems as though she is one!

Thanks sincerely to Rebecca. See you on Friday. 

Also thanks to Ruth Wood, who’s used her culinary expertise to make me a pile of healthy ( and tasty ) drinks. I’m sure the nutrients within are just the thing I need to heal my skin. 

Cheers Ruth. 

Xx