Morning guys.
Today is probably one
of the most important posts I’ve ever written and I ask that you please treat
it with respect and above all, kindness.
This is my friend
Sarah. She has the same name as me, is a mother like me and is the same age as
me.
Yet I’ve never met
Sarah in person. We are both Bloggers you see, speaking daily on the world wide
web!
We’ve laughed, supported
one another and even been through multiple pregnancies together, virtually supporting
one another along the way.
She’s a mother to
three gorgeous kids under the age 5.
I know right, imagine how
tough that must be in itself.
The thing is, she
also has incurable cancer.
Just you take a
moment to take that in and consider the enormity of that devastating prognosis.
When her youngest was
just 4 months old she was diagnosed with grade 3 invasive ductal carcinoma
breast cancer.
Throughout the
entirety of 2019 she has endured 4 different types of debilitating
chemotherapies, radiotherapy and surgery all whilst trying to single handily
raise her three very young children.
She has suffered and
struggled through bravely and thought and hoped that she had finally come out
the other side.
Until recently that
is when she received the indescribably devastating news that following a period
of pain within her bones, that the cancer has now spread to her ribs, classing
her as stage 4.
Despite her FIERCE
proudness and I mean fierce, in sheer desperation she herself up a Go Fund Me
page to asking friends, family and kind citizens for donations to allow her to
afford childcare so she could ensure that her most precious possessions, her
children could be best cared for while she was suffering the devastating
effects of chemo.
The result of this
plea for help was simply abominable.
Sarah was trolled relentlessly
online, sent message after message of abuse such as;
“Your children are going to so be so embarrassed of you when they’re
older’
‘Stop being a money gabber’
‘Shouldn’t have had kids if you can’t afford them’
‘Hopefully the cancer will kill you then we won’t have to deal with our
self righteous self begging’
So devastated by such
a vile and cruel response to a desperate please from a proud woman for help
Sarah shut down.
Both literally and
figuratively.
Left feeling suicidal
she and subsequently shut down her fundraising page, deleted all of her social
media channels and disappeared from online completely.
Sheer luck meant I had
her phone number as I’d sent her a care, pamper package some months earlier so I
got in touch in with he and found out what had happened.
THIS.IS.NOT.OKAY.
I have single handily
taken it upon myself to try and build up
A Go Fund Me for her as apparently being
brave enough to ask for help yourself is something to be chastised and bullied
for.
For the past month or
so I have been doing literarlly everything in power to try and raise money for
Sarah.
Raise money so she
can afford childcare so that when she goes to hospital, her children can be
properly looked after.
Money so that Sarah doesn’t
need to worry where her next food shop is coming from because she can’t work.
Money so that when
she is having a well day, she take her three children out for a day of fun and
spoil them rotten.
She is not well enough
to do so right now, but it is our
hope that one day she will have enough money and be well enough to take her wonderful
family to Disneyland to make precious memories to last a lifetime.
A lifetime.
Sarah is soon to
undergo an experimental clinical trial, however this will be to try and
prologue her life as opposed to curing her of the cancer as at this time, this
simple isn’t possible.
I cannot even begin
to comprehend the devastation this news must have made to Sarah and her
beautiful family.
The future is
extremely uncertain right now.
The incomprehensible
and overwhelming reality of the situation is that Sarah might unlikely to be
granted the privilege, or some may say the right, of seeing her children grow
up.
If wishing on a star
worked all would be well, yet despite wishing I could, I cannot change a single
thing about this prognosis.
BUT there IS something I can do.
I can try to raise a
little money so that she has some financial security not just for herself but
for her kids, for her future, for their future, come what May.
I realise that now is probably the WORST time
to be asking for people to part with cash and so to try and encourage people to
part with a few quid I have taken it upon myself to get in contact with some of
my close PR and Beauty Brands who I work on my blog and asked if they could
kindly afford to donate some of their wonderful products for me to give away as
an
incentive for people to donate, and you know what they have.
Temple Spa
ESPA
Winter In Venice
OPI
Childs Farm
Truffle Shuffle
Scamp & Dude
Olverum
Burts Bees
Pixi Skincare
Ted Baker
Biovene
Great Little Trading Company
Choc On Choc
Aromatherapy Associates
Posh Paws Int
Soul Analyse
Sabon
Have all generously
donated a host of goodies for me to giveaway to a random donatee.
Each week I randomly
select a donatee to receive a gift and pop it in the post to them.
Why?
To say thank you.
To
say thank you for your generosity ad to try and help raise their spirit during
this difficult time.
Paying it forward if
you like.
But I want and need
to find a bigger way of getting the word out.
I even signed up to a
Celebrity contact website at the personal price of £125 to me to try and get in
contact with the publicists and agents of a host of different celebrities in
the hope that they may back my campaign somehow or spread the word, but to date
I’ve not heard back from anyone.
I’m not going to lie,
yes I’m asking for money. But I’m not asking for a lot. If every single person
on my Instagram donated just £1 we’d
have over £11,000 for Sarah.
Please share her
story, please share my page, please share her link. Absolutely any help
whatsoever is so greatly appreciated.
In a world where just
2 month ago following the tragic death of Caroline Flack from online bullying, I
fund Sarah’s situation frighteningly similar and so please try to find a way to
just be kind.
For the record, Sarah
will be mortified that I’ve written this as she feels entirely undeserving but
she is not and I will not stop trying for her.
If you’ve read this
far, you deserve a medal.
If you think you could help me in any way email me at Sarahberryman1@gmail.com
