Harry

In one weeks time Harry turns 6! Time goes so fast, I can remember the look of shock when Richard realised he was to become a Daddy!

This has also made me realise that my memory is at times shocking, therefore thought it was important to reflect back on Harry's birthdays gone by as when we get to next week he will have only shared half of them with his beloved Daddy.

4th April 2005 - Harry was born a few minutes before midnight, so only just managed to grab the easy to remember 04/04 birth date! We both cried the moment we first saw our little 'peanut'. Richie also cried in relief a few days later that I was no longer pregnant - apparently I was a bit of a hormonal nightmare but surely this isn't true ;)

4th April 2006 - Harry's 1st birthday was celebrated with a boozy BBQ in the back garden. Perhaps not the theme that Harry would have wanted but he had lots of cuddles and fuss so pretty sure he didn't mind too much! Our friend Gary made Jamie Oliver burgers on the BBQ which were lush, although Richie couldn't appreciate their quality being a devout veggie :)

4th April 2007 - We had a chilled day swimming and playing in the park, followed by a family tea in the evening. In general fairly low-key but just 2 months away from our wedding we were rather skint!

4th April 2008 - The last with his Daddy. We spent the day at Chessington World of Adventures. Harry had a blast, particularly on the Jumbo's with his Dad

2009 and 2010 birthdays were both tainted with the sadness that Richie was not there to see Harry grow (and get more boisterous!) something that Richie himself reflected on in earlier blog posts before he passed away. Next week I am sure will be the same but we will be keeping busy with a bouncy themed party on Saturday and family dinner on the Monday with our new unique little family.

Positive Attitude

This blog post comes from Tim Elliot. Tim emailed me a week ago to see if he could write a 'guest blog' for Richie's site. Tim is very passionate about maximising cancer patient's mental and physical health, and how best to cope with terminal illness. I'm sure Richie would be well impressed to know people want to guest write on his site. Anyway, here goes.........

Can Cheering Up Help Your Body Cope With Cancer?
Scientists studying the new field of physchoneuroimmunology, which involves examining the nervous and immune systems interactions, have discovered that the advice “just stay positive” positive might actually have a physical basis in helping the body cope with cancer. New studies show that the power of positive thinking might actually help to increase cancer patients’ chances of survival because positive emotional experiences can actually often boost the body’s immune system.
Although the link between positive thinking and cancer treatment is still under consideration and further study, what is certain is that there is a direct, harmful connection between stress and cancer. Chemicals that are produced in significant amounts when you are stressed, such as cortisol and norepinephrine, are proven to have an effect on tumor growth. Norepinephrine in particular, has been proven to induce cancerous tumor cell growth in mice and is thought to play a role in ovarian cancer in humans. Even in cancers caused by environmental toxins, such as mesothelioma, and genetic factors, such as breast cancer, there are thought to benefits to staying positive that are attributed to the interplay between the improved mental and emotional condition of patients and their immune systems. For example, the average mesothelioma life expectancy is only a little over a year- but it’s believed that a positive outlook can extend it by up to several months.
Of course, it can be extremely difficult to stay positive when coping with cancer. With the increase in knowledge on how positivity can affect the outlook of cancer, more doctors have begun suggesting more measures aimed at boosting emotional and mental health. More and more often doctors have begun to suggest cancer patients participate in support groups, and exercise regularly. Exercise directly boosts people’s mood by stimulating various chemicals in the brain, and because cancer support groups present patients with a community of others who have been in a similar situation they provide an emotional buffer. In the end though it’s important to remember that that phrase we always hear- “Just stay positive”- might have a lot more power to it than you ever thought.

Its Been A While.....

Its been a very long time since I have posted an update on here and I feel very guilty about that. I've been putting myself under pressure to make sure the long awaited post was witty/clever/inspiring by having sadly not had any writing brainwaves!

Luckily for me a lovely old school friend of Richie's - Gary - has recently been in touch and sent me, Harry and Becs some fab school photos, so what a perfect way to kick off some new bloggin!

No need to ask which one 'Tall Fella' is and if you coloured his hair blonde Harry would defo be his mini-me!!