Having a child with a medical condition can be challenging for any parent, especially if it has a considerable impact on their life. But one mum is pulling out all the stops to make sure her son’s happiness isn’t limited just because his eyesight is. Here’s their story.
When I heard that Giovanni Pernice was touring his own show this year, I was full of excitement. As someone who has starred in one of my all-time favourite TV programmes ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, and as someone I idolise as both a dancer and a performer, I knew I had to go and see it, and that I had to learn some dance moves from the man himself. Luckily, both of those wishes were granted on April 29, 2017.
I was recently asked a question in a job interview that went a little bit like this: “How can you demonstrate that you’ll be committed and dedicated to this role, despite the sometimes long and unsociable hours?” There was only one thing that came to my mind. The same thing that, I’m sure, has influenced a huge part of the way I am today. Dancing.
After reading the novel Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher last summer, I was so excited when I heard that the poignant storyline would be coming to Netflix in the form of a 13-episode series. The story revolves around student Hannah Baker who kills herself, and each chapter, or episode, reveals another reason why she did it. As the plot thickens, there are so many lessons we can learn from this heart-breaking tale.
No matter what our differences are as people, insecurities are what seem to tie us all together. The issues we face differ from person to person, but each one of them causes the same negative end-product. Although everyone is entitled to their struggles, and should never be shunned or made to feel guilty for having them, we also all have a responsibility to make sure our own problems aren’t inflicting more pain and suffering on other people.
The road warped one way and then the other, headlights illuminating a small patch of moist tarmac and a scatter of autumnal leaves ahead as the vehicle trundled along. The rest of the road remained a complete mystery, with darkness firmly settled in all directions. While the passenger’s eyes were fixed on her phone screen, the driver’s were straight ahead. Alert. Fixed. Focused.
Calm.
Then suddenly panicked, wide, overwhelmed, unmoving. The headlights in front of them grew impossibly big filling their entire vision. The sound of airbags exploding on impact was piercing, and then – blank. Paralysed in shock, the driver lay still while the passenger rolled her right ear towards her shoulder, their eyes meeting. “We’re going to die, Katie.” Continue reading
He’s made us laugh, he’s made us cry. He’s made us fall in love, and he’s pulled the whole world from under our feet; there’s no denying that Nicholas Sparks does more than just put ink on paper – he gives us something real that we can all become a part of and something we can never forget. Here are 10 reasons Nicholas Sparks is the best writer of our time.
The crumbling earth ripples gently underneath my palms as I dig my fingernails slowly into it. Desperate to feel something – anything – in a place where all your senses are limited. Whether eyes are open or closed, darkness is all there is. The only sense you can be sure of is your hearing, as the definitive tune of water trickling down a hard surface is clear, while creaks and breaks of woodwork in the distance provide very little reassurance of safety. Continue reading
Five. Five years of my, so far, 20-year life. That’s a quarter. A quarter of my life spent dealing with this. Four – that’s how many hospitals I’ve been to. Seventeen – that’s how many procedures I’ve had. Nine – the types of medication we’ve tried. One – the amount of operations. 2016 – well, that’s not a number, but a year. And it’s an important year, because it’s the year we put a plan into place and decided that this health mystery ends here.
