make it count...

I watched a couple of things on TV this weekend that both made me a little emotional.

The first I saw by accident when I was snoozling in my chair on Saturday afternoon.  The athletics from Manchester was on in the background and, between races, they did a little profile of one of Paula Radcliffe's runners.  Apparently, Paula ran a competition to pick six women who want to get active and inspire others by taking on the Great Manchester Run (which took place on Sunday).  Presumably they've been profiling the others too, but the one I saw was a profile of a lady called Lynsey Moores.

As this article says:

Lynsey, a single parent from Old Trafford, has been unable to see, speak, swallow and walk at times because of her uncertain condition. Lynsey, who was diagnosed shortly after youngest son Jacob, now seven, was born, said: "I've decided not to live in fear of MS. I won't be beaten by it any longer and let it rule my life as it has done for so long. "Fortunately, I've not had a major relapse for quite a while and do count myself as one of the lucky ones. I hadn't done any exercise but am now gradually getting fit.  The most important thing is to complete the course and raise as much money as I can for the MS Society."

The BBC profile showed Lynsey running and talking to camera, and it was inspiring to see her determination to do this 10k and also quite moving to see how proud her two kids were of her and what she was achieving.

Clearly, all this is quite close to home for me.  Close enough that I looked up her JustGiving page and made a donation.  If she is anywhere near as determined as she sounded, then I think she will have smashed it in the race yesterday.  I like (and recognise) her attitude.

And then, on Sunday, I caught up with The C Word on iPlayer.  This was screened the other day and tells the story of Lisa Lynch and her battle against breast cancer.  Sound familiar?  Well Lisa wrote a beautiful, funny and very popular blog called "AlrightTit".  She was a brilliant writer and she was one of those people who just seemed to broadcast life and the joy of living....even when facing up to an ultimately incurable cancer.  Sheridan Smith did a great job of capturing Lisa (if you don't believe me, ask her family), and it was a very emotional way to spend a Sunday evening.

Lisa was a friend of this blog, and she was kind enough to put me up in her (quite small) list of links to "blogs I like", which was - and still is - very flattering.  Since the screening on the BBC over the Bank Holiday, I've been receiving a steady flow of referrals from her blog via that link.... presumably from curious people who are quickly disappointed at the sudden drop in the quality of their reading.   Lisa died on 11th March 2013.  I don't make much of a habit at looking at my blog stats, but every time I see a referral from Lisa, it reminds me of how awesome she was and how she's still making a difference to people's lives today.

We were supposed to meet at the Cider Bus at Glastonbury the year she broke her back (it's a long story).  As I have done every year since then, I'll be raising a pint of Burrow Hill cider in her memory when I get to the festival in June.  Much missed, kid.