Yesterday I arrived back from Sheffield & my sisters Funeral, how come everything up North involves a steep slope? From the burial plot to the church steps, I imagined her watching in   amusement at us the light weight Southerners panting and trying not to skid on the wet leaves causing an avalanche and taking out the rest of the party making their way up behind us….…..       

            Watford Observer:

My sister worked at an Advertising Studio called Holden & Sons in Manchester http://www.holdenandsons.com/ & as head of Copywriting  their nickname for her was “Words” and the church service held at https://www.facebook.com/SheffieldChurchOfTheNazarene/  was indeed full of wonderful, beautiful, amazing words including tributes, Comments and even photos that spoke a 1000 words & had us crying, laughing, clapping and crying some more.  Watford Observer:

As we sung out the hymns Michele had chosen, we could  hear the fine voices &  beautiful harmonies coming from her church family, there was no doubting how much Michele was loved, the church was packed to the rafters, people had come from all over the country, our cousin Donna had even flown in from Kenya and another friend from Australia. It was a day I’m sure none of us will forget. Our hearts are broken and the pain deep but I think we all realised just how blessed we were to have had her light in our lives, a light that i'm Sure will remain in our hearts and go forward with us.

A plain old goodbye was never going to be sufficient for a Wordsmith such as Michele and nobody disappointed, Au revoir, see you on the other side, til we meet again, & Ciao Bella  were just some of the ways people said their farewells, and I’d like to think she’s now sat with her god, bending his ear with her words……….over a coffee of course.

Watford Observer:

It only seemed right that The first  Gizmo/Gadget/Gift of the week had something to do with words, and there’s plenty of them at https://www.etsy.com/uk/market/gifts_for_writers   Where you can buy everything including this rather quirky writers block…er…block. So writers, readers, Wordsmiths get clicking cos I think you’re gonna love it?

  Watford Observer:

And for all you men ………and I guess any bearded ladies out there, how about some novelty beard baubles?  I don’t know if they would hang off any other bodily parts, but feel free to try & be sure to let me know. They are £5.99 & available here:  http://www.findmeagift.co.uk/gifts/christmas-beard-baubles.html

   Watford Observer:

Onto M.E news & some words from Mike Harley who some of you may remember I wrote an article on earlier in the year. He was running a Marathon in a number of EU Countries for charity? Well I thought it was time to catch up with him & let him tell you the readers a bit more about himself and how he was getting on, and this is what he had to say.

“ Well as of January this year, I run marathons for ME charity, Invest In ME.  http://www.investinme.org/ One of my best friends, Ian, has had ME for 9 years and been unable to lead the life of a normal 33 year old.  We grew up together in Cornwall and have always kept in touch, talking mostly about football but increasingly more about ME.  Ian is an extremely positive guy and had a whole career ahead of him having graduated in 2004. Unfortunately he’s not been able to work in this time and when we meet up it has to be brief as he gets tired easily and can’t risk a set-back.  People who don’t have a friend or family member with ME can be suspicious of the illness, as the pain they feel isn’t always visible.  I don’t think I ever thought that Ian’s condition was psychological; he’s one of the liveliest, positive minded people I’ve ever known.  Why would anyone want to be ill for that long? 

Watford Observer:

Anyway in late 2013 we talked about Invest In ME and the possibility that they could bring the highly promising Rituximab Trial to the UK.  67% of patients given the drug saw significant improvement, with some able to return to work, living symptom free for years.  Invest In ME (run by volunteers) had the contacts and ability to bring a trial to the UK but not the money required.    I was desperate to get involved and help in any way I could.

In April 2014 I led a team who visited all 92 English Football League grounds in 92 hours to raise money for Invest In ME.  We raised £4K and reached 10 million people through features on ITV, BBC Radio, over 70 match day programmes and 35 newspapers.  Adults and children with ME met us at the grounds and it had a profound effect.  After the challenge I wanted to do something else to help them.  Bringing in the money is great but really it’s about changing people’s attitudes and putting pressure on governments to fund large research projects. 

Watford Observer:

I’d run the London Marathon in 2001 when I was 18 (youngest ever entrant at the time) and enjoyed the training/race but without really having the urge to repeat it.  This time last year I decided that I had another marathon in me but doing one wasn’t really going to get the charity the attention it really needs.  I looked at the map.  There’s about 40 odd countries in Europe but some don’t have organised marathons but each one of the 28 in the EU had at least one.  The challenge was set.

Watford Observer:

A year later I’ve ticked off Czech Rep, Finland and Ireland raising nearly £2500 and meeting with ME associations, charities, patients and press in each country.   I’ll be doing Greece and Sweden next year with two others left to book.  It’s going to take around 5 years and a lot of money to get the challenge done, not to mention 100,000 miles of training.  I’m not a natural runner, I’m a bit short and enjoy a pint and the odd pie.  I am pretty stubborn though and long-distance running seems to suit me pretty well so far despite carefully managing a partially torn cruciate in my right knee. 

I’ve got an army of amazing supporters behind me, an understanding wife and a great physio.  It’s been an incredible experience so far and I can’t wait for the next trip. 

You can follow me at;

www.mikeseumarathons.com

www.facebook.com/mikeseumarathons

https://twitter.com/MikesEUmaras

www.justgiving.com/mikeseumarathons

In local news you need to get 21st November in your diary, Watford are playing Manchester United at home, I’m so excited, us women often get a feeling in our waters and mines telling me we’re going  to have a great result, let the countdown begin…….Come on you ‘Orns.

                                       Til Next Week, Stay Blessed

                                              Back Before Elvis X            

 https://www.facebook.com/RunninOnEmptee1      

https://twitter.com/RunninOnEmptee

http://ldifme.org/

http://www.investinme.org/