The Campaign- Why It's Important: Simon Green's Personal Account

There are ways in which I can't explain why my Believe-A-Bear Campaign is so important to me. I asked a dear friend of mine Simon Green to share his inspiration story with us today so people can get a good dose of motivation but also help showcase why this campaign is so important for emotional health. We need both emotional and physical health to work together for the best health possible and to make life a lot better for ourselves.

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'Hello, my name is Simon Green. Sophie Ward has asked me to write the below describing my loneliness and isolation after spending a lot of time in hospital recently.

Well I am 42, I like to think though despite my bald patch I look 25. I have a Neurological condition called Neurofibromatosis which has caused me many health issues, especially with my digestive system and legs and I have used a wheelchair for 15 years.

But I am happy to say I class myself as an active wheelchair user and pleased to be very active raising awareness about many issues and trying to improve lives.

During my time on this planet I have had many operations and spent a lot of time in hospital, sometimes for a few hours, on occasions days or weeks. But recently I was diagnosed with a brain tumour and after first surgery was given bad news and spent the hardest time ever in hospital.

The brain tumour was found accidentally back in March, a routine scan on my back uncovered the mass and a brain scan confirmed it. I was told tumour was in cerebellum and a biopsy was needed first and I was admitted on April 9th this year.

I had my first brain surgery the following day and normally a person may wait two weeks for results, but due to the neurological condition I have results were inconclusive and they had to be sent away and I waited two months.

Results came in during June and showed good news that tumour was only grade one so a low form of malignancy but was too deep to remove or even take some away, doing so could result in paralysis and incontinence so I was told I just needed to carry on and live with it, but they would monitor me.

I was devastated, I was hoping it would be easy to cut away. I was also getting sicker at home, headaches were becoming more severe and I was vomiting more so one morning I went to Casualty, there they gave be blood tests and another scan.

A few days later I had phone call from my surgeons secretary, she told me there was significant growth and a lot of bruising on brain and they needed to operate after all.

I have had more surgeries than I can remember, but this time I was terrified and not sure of outcome, but I painted good picture with close friends. I was told that removing whole mass would be impossible but they would debulk area and hope for best. I was also told that the surgery could have catastrophic effects on my health so was extremely risky. This again I chose to keep to myself.

I had the surgery during middle of June and first thing I did when I woke up was get my brother to stick pins in my legs, something he did gladly, and I lifted my hand to touch my nose, was amazing that being able to do such a simple task made me so happy.

I was in intensive care for a few days, then a normal ward for two weeks, and while the paralysis had not happened I was very poorly and for a while lost control of my bladder and bowels. I also was not aware how successful the surgery had been.

But biggest thing was my sheer feeling of loneliness and isolation, it was terrible and worse than ever. My father, who was staying in my home came in every day and many friends visited but I still felt lonely and did not know who to talk to. What made it worse was I lost my voice and power to speak, as well as much of my power and ability to wheel myself about and be independent.

When your laying in hospital bed thinking worse its hard and nobody can help. Thankfully the bladder and bowel issues subsided and some of problems I was having improved and they released me. I sadly was unable to speak for almost three months but brilliant speech and language therapy in my local hospital and having a three year old sing with me helped improve this and my voice returned.

My strength still lacked and I was getting irritable through not knowing and had to wait four months to get another MRI scan and results because of the swelling in head.

When I eventually got results it was fabulous news. They got rid of far more of the tumour than they expected, sadly there is still some left and its hard to remove because of where it is. But a lot more was debulked than they thought and the symptoms haven’t materialised. My strength is returning slowly and I am getting about a lot more. My eye sight has been affected but if only downside is I need to wear glasses then so be it. People were ecstatic when I told them the mass was not terminal and surgery had been successful, but I got to admit I have had a hard few months and at times did think I would die.'

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We all go through some rough times in our lives and I think its important to note that they are key in many ways. They show us the strength we have that we didn't believe we had and we become grateful for EVERYTHING. There will be many going through similar experiences to Simon's this year and that breaks my heart and is the reason for the Believe-A-Bear campaign.

I admit the donation to the charities isn't massive but we wanted to keep costs a low as possible for customers and I really wanted to focus on the emotional side. Giving a gift to lift moods, bring comfort and a friend to make people feel less alone in their fights.

We are often surrounded by the best supports but they can't feel what you are going through. This knowledge and understanding leaves you to feel alone in your battle.

Loneliness is the bigger killer and has such an impact on your overall health so that is why, if I can help in anyway, I have made it my mission to do so.

We are selling out fast so get your orders in TODAY the last Christmas cut off order will be the 17th December.

Thank you, and thank you Simon for your personal experience and account. So grateful to you for sharing.

THANK YOU.

Soph

xoxo

#Christmastime #Chronicillnesslife #gifts