10 Sunday Feb 2013
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Charity event now organised for Colin 9th March at the Crown Stotfold, we will be listening to a great band called the Blazing 80s for which we will be charging a small entrance fee, and we will have a raffle all proceeds from the door and raffle to your cause.
09 Saturday Feb 2013
Posted in Blog, Colin's Blog
Hello everybody,
Let me start by apologising for the quality of last week’s blog, I seemed to be all over the place, and when this was pointed out to me I was stubborn and in denial. So, from now on, if the blog reads well, is humorous and makes sense it is from me. If not then it’s probably from Helen and her sister meeting a deadline, ha ha.
Last Friday night I ventured out in Baldock town centre with Helen, Bootsy and his lovely wife, Jan. We had a couple of drinks at The Rose and Crown and a beautiful curry at The Chilli Lounge. I used the sympathy vote to persuade the waiter to upgrade from a couple of After Eight mints at the end of the meal for the ladies, to beautiful boxes of chocolates using the squirm factor! We had so many well-wishers and saw so many friendly faces, it was really quite humbling, people I hadn’t seen for years were making the effort to come up and speak to me. It was a good evening.
I was back in hospital last Tuesday for blood tests and all was fine. There was an increase in steroids and back on chemo – 5 days on and 23 off- my God the tablets are getting bigger and bigger! To be honest, I haven’t been that well this last week. Sleeping a lot, feeling nauseous and being a bit confused. But hey, I’m now a seven month survivor and was told that if I stay stable I will be able to fly to Nice for the Grand Event in June. So that is the next target on my “bucket list” after the birth of our ninth grandchild which is imminent (nearly the other night!) but is due on Feb 26th.
Well, no football for me this week but up and coming events
Fund raiser: Organising a disco at The Crown- date and time to be arranged Chelsea auction of my personal collection memorabilia, part one and two finishing on next Saturday 16th.
Finally, I would like to thank Becks for a great big effort in the cake-a-thon. It turned out to be a cake-a-gone!! After leaving Liam’s grandfather in charge of Beck’s baby Liam, Becks was horrified when she came in from her errand and could see a rather large man sitting in the corner finishing off the last cake! Yes, it was her Dad, Nick, whose only explanation was “It is red nose day and I’ve put 50p in the tin, Cock!” Don’t worry Becks, he did the same to us on the way to Munich when he ransacked the mini bus, eating all the cake that Stella had made for everybody!
Let me end by offering my continued support and thanks to Tony and Dan. Good luck to Tony on his fingernail repair on Thursday and his shoulder operation which is on the same day. I am away on Saturday night for a break in Leicester with my brother and sister-in-law, Pat and Peter, to meet a couple of old friends from Bradford.
Until next week…..TTFN.
09 Saturday Feb 2013
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Shoes are obviously not just the realm of the fairer sex.
These little puppies are from Adidas, the Adizero Tempo 5 (obviously superior to the 4th version with more go faster stripes!)
So today they will be put to the test with a 4k run (gently with shoulder still pre operation status).
Editor: I wonder whether these were subject to the same dismissive statement upon their discovery in the bottom of the cupboard “oh these old things? I have had them for ages”
08 Friday Feb 2013
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So the first event of the year is complete and under my belt and overall I’m pretty pleased with how things went. Slightly nervous at the start of the swim. I jumped into Yas marina without a wetsuit (yes that’s right) and positioned myself in the middle of the wave as I usually do. I hadn’t actually done any swimming for 2 and half months until today so that was playing on my mind a bit but I was confident I had enough fitness in the tank to complete it in a reasonable time.
The count down started and off we went. I felt comfortable throughout the swim and after a bit of kicking and punching I got into a rhythm. It was clear that I hadn’t done much swim training but I got to the finish line mid pack and off out into T1.
The bike course was very smooth as you would expect for an F1 course! It was 22.5 km rather than the usual 20 and very windy with some sneaky inclines. I was keen to push myself on the bike as that’s what I’ve been working on the most recently. I didn’t post an amazing time but I definitely noticed an improvement from previous events and definitely some positives to take from it.
The run was where I made up the time and I felt really good from start to finish. It was probably the best I’ve ever felt on a final run leg and I didn’t get over taken once! (sorry, had to drop that in there). Again like the bike it was a slightly longer distance of 5.55km rather than the usual 5km but I was extremely happy with my overall time and even happier to cross the finish line!
59th out of 361 and a good day all round. Next stop Abu Dhabi International Triathlon but until then, a lot of hard work in the gym, road and pool to get that endurance level up!
Keep donating, keep spreading the word and thank you all again for your effort so far!
07 Thursday Feb 2013
While everyone reading this has at least some basic knowledge of computers and the internet, there are still a number of people that have not yet made the leap towards this new age form of communication and as result, won’t of had the privilege of reading the truly inspirational stories and comments that have been posted since this blog was set up. If ever I needed some motivation to get in that gym I know I don’t have to look any further than this site that’s for sure!
So, for those that haven’t quite mastered the art of mouse clicking and keyboard typing we’ve made a poster that people can put beside collection jars explaining the story and what we are trying to achieve. We are also hoping they will help to spread the word further a field by being put up in offices, at schools or anywhere people think will be beneficial to help collect donations.
We should have these printed by the end of next week and we will let you know asap once they are ready to be sent out to whoever would like some.
07 Thursday Feb 2013
Posted in Blog, Editor's Posts, Events, Tony
We are delighted to present an evening of entertainment you really shouldn’t miss. The very best London has to offer.
1 St George’s Ln, City of London, EC3R 8DJ
17:00
18:00
Light food
Auction Items include:
A Night in The Grange Tower Hotel
4 x Day Green Fees at Royal Wimbledon Golf Club with bar tab
Husband and Wife membership at The Yacht London www.theyachtlondon.com (worth £1,900)
A money can’t buy experience at Paradise Wildlife Park www.pwpark.com for a super VIP family of 4 to experience: Feed The Tigers, Meer cate, lemurs plus more. Plus an overnight stay at the apartments at the Park, Plus food and drink (worth over £5000)
A money can’t buy experience on set with Cohort Film Services http://cohortfs.co.uk/ which is a UK based company who provide props and weaponry to the Film, Television and entertainment industries. Nick the owner does not offer this to anyone so you can honestly say this would be worth thousands and thousands to buy and Nick can accommodate a couple of attendees
A years subscription to www.luxury-briefing.com and 2 tickets to attend the Luxury Briefing Awards which is being hosted, filmed and broadcast by Bloomberg, (worth £1,425).
Joe Calzaghe WBO Super middleweight Champion – Signed Boxing glove
Two Complimentary Subscriptions to Insurance Insider Magazine
Specialty luxury Spa Hamper
Signed framed shirt from Bacary Sangna
more to follow…
05 Tuesday Feb 2013
Tags
Cancer, Colin Smith, Dan Russell, GBM, headcase, ironman, triathlon
So there are 139 days to the event and I’ve now begun full time training starting last night with a 20k interval bike session and a fast 5k run to blow out the cobwebs from what was a very busy and generally unhealthy last couple of weeks. My aim is to have 9 days rest between now and the event which means I’ll be getting 130 days of solid training under my belt. Whether that’s possible or not is another story but that’s the goal so we shall see how we get on!
Tri Yas this weekend should be interesting having not raced for 10 months. Last minute decision to opt for the sprint distance rather that an olympic race which I think is the right one at this stage. Plenty more races in the coming weeks available but I think its really about getting solid training sessions in rather than competing too much in short distance racing.
03 Sunday Feb 2013
Posted in Blog, Colin's Blog
Well, here we are on Death Row, no timescale, just a vague time slot before the old Grim Reaper comes-a-knocking for me. I think I came to terms with the seriousness of my condition by looking at Helen’s face collapsing in front of me and seeing her scrambling around frantically in her handbag for uplift (facial scaffolding cream) while talking to the consultant.
After my surgical biopsy at Queens Square Euston, we were sent home, being instructed to return to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge for the results. I was fairly confident that they had made a mistake and there was some magical ‘thing’ they could do.
‘Wait here a moment please’ after leading us to a room. Door opens, a new face appears. ‘Come on in please, take a seat,’ no eye contact….. I glanced at Helen, no response. Then from under the desk she pulls out the biggest sledgehammer and asks me to lay it across her desk. She raises it, writes NUT across my temple in one of those markers and… WHACK. Then, quickly, she says “Results positive- GMB grade 4, only containment, no cure, no surgery. Terminal.
The recorded survival of a patient from some village in outer Mongolia, where time stops for 6 months of the year, and if you get there and start treatment the right day and time, and eat the mountain goat’s shit, then you may have a chance!”
So we think about the options for 0.5 of a second and opt for the 9 month plan. I was sure Helen was going to say let’s go for the shortest! At the moment she’s had to put up with months in of my erratic behaviour,: losing things, road rage, mood swings, and now…. I’ve only gone and got a walking stick!
We were asked to give them an hour while they made up my treatment plan. “This is going to take more than an hour” I thought when we got back. We got everything in boxes, medication, notes etc, etc and as we waited by reception the receptionist looked up and said ‘Mr Smith, here you go’ she passed a single sheet of paper. ‘Good bye, we will see you on your 1st appointment’ pointing to the top of the sheet!
So my initial Death Row is to be spent at home not hospital!
So, off we trotted looking at the treatment plan. It was radiotherapy Monday-Friday, chemotherapy 7 days a week in the form of a tablet taken at home.
I had to get a mask fitted, moulded on my face for the radiotherapy. So first I went into the moulding room, I was placed flat on my back, legs over a moulded hump for knee support, head in a dip at the back, clamped down tight, over face- laser beams criss-crossing, and markers being put on different places. It was so claustrophobic. That finished, I left the room. On the way I glanced at a mirror; Crikey! I thought. I looked just like Helen after an intensive pick and squeeze session!
After about a week of this, I was getting a little too confident and strolled into the radiotherapy room, kicked my trainers off, hopped onto the bed, put my feet where my head should have been, arched over the knee support and inching my head along backwards. So there I was, balancing like a see-saw. That was the most pain I’ve had since diagnosis.
The nurses suddenly saw what I’d done and shouted ‘Colin what are you doing?!’ I replied ‘Aargh!” Well, from that moment on there was laughing and giggling from anyone, even the radiographer behind the glass screen was laughing- they had to give me a good half hour to stop!
Well, looking back on this past week there was not much going on except Chelsea continuing to give away goal leads.
I’ll finish now for the week by thanking everyone who has supported us and the charity. We are creeping towards the target. Keep training hard Tony and Dan and thanks for all your behind the scenes work, Kirstin and for pushing everyone on. And finally, well done to Bootsie for passing the careers refresher course.
Coming up this week for charity:
03 Sunday Feb 2013
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So two weeks in and here are the stats…….55 Donations amounting to £2,629 (£3250 with giftaid)
However our best week was the 21st January with 4,498 visits in one week, our big launch of the blog, Since then we have promoted the blog and circulated tweets, but it needs your help with spreading the work and getting people to take a look, then hopefully donate.
All excellent so where to next…..
Before I go into that I just want to put on record that Colin is fast becoming in my eyes the first member of the ‘Chelsea Supporters club – hall of fame’ what a top bloke supported by an equally top family. He has in adversity found a new vocation! his story and weekly diary are truly inspiring, a blend of humour with a real touch of reality and detail. So if Colin can raise his game then it is up to the rest of us to at least try and match it…not going to be easy !!!!!
So what’s been happening this week ?
My favourite message of the week was from Faye…..on her Facebook !
‘Ok everybody…….its finally the end of January so everyone will have been paid by now, diets out the window, alcohol back in the fridge…and a daunting unused gym membership…..but its pay day so do something to make you feel better…don’t scroll past this to read some irrelevant post about someone’s weekend plans or breakfast (yes guilty of those types of statuses myself)…….go to this web site and donate for an amazing cause…….Thank You’.
I will be doing this sort of propaganda every last day of the month until June so plenty of time if now is not the best month for you to donate !
Other ideas………
Colin is fighting with the gloves off…the least we can do is support him and the cause !!!! Happy funding……
30 Wednesday Jan 2013
Posted in Blog
I sometimes struggle to find the right moment to tell you everything that I want to say without breaking down, so now is the perfect opportunity, as I know you’ll be reading this.
So here it is Dad (AKA Clark Griswold). I class myself as a number 1 daddy’s girl not many daughters can say that at 30 they can sit and chat to their Dad whilst he is in the bath and she is having a wee but it is something we do. Ok so we don’t make eye contact and you don’t really get choice when I just march in! You are not just my Dad though, you are my mate and I come to you with problems, gossip and to have a good old bitch (that’s what we’re best at). I also think that we are the funniest people on the planet, I know Mum tries but like we always tell her “you’re only married into the funniness” it’s in our genes.
You told me that no one can take away my memories and that I don’t need material things to remind me of you “you’ll say anything to get out of buying me something” I have the most fantastic memories of us Smiths to last me a life time. I am so grateful to you and Mum for being such an inspiration, for staying together through thick and thin. What you have given to us kids is something that I hope to be able to give my girls, stability, security and all the love they need no matter what age they are.
I have so much to thank you for, if it wasn’t for you and Mum supporting me and Michael through the loss of our baby twins on 2009, taking us in and keeping us strong and together we may well have not had the future that we do now with our two beautiful girls, who absolutely adore their Nanny and Grandee.
I sometimes wish that we could go back to being a young family again, blissfully unaware of what future we have, but this is life, and what we have been through together has taught us to be stronger and tighter than ever. As Charlie said in her post no words can describe the pain that we are feeling and what we felt when we found out in August, we just hope and pray that they can find a cure for this horrible disease so that no family has to go through what we are going through now. That is why what Tony and Dan Russell are doing is such an amazing thing for a fantastic cause. So please, please keep on donating and thank you once again to everybody that has helped so far – your generosity really does touch us.
Shelley Smith
Headcase Ironman 