Evening,
Today we look back …
I was very lucky to be apart of Young at Heart which was set up by Sandra & Ray and supported parents and kids with CHD that cane through Birmingham children’s.
I was so lucky as it meant I knew and grew up with other heart kids around me, Emma was the main person we made many memories, including our mothers having a bit to much drink singing and loosing wedding rings in the garden lol! Or ending up in mud at the sea side and now me & Emma laughed! We are both in our 30s now and still in touch.
Through Emma & Young at heart I met others with CHD including, Chloe, Gemma, Kate, Matt Paul S and Paul T and I’m sure more that my memory forgets. You see I’m still I’m tough via social media with some and well always be friends to some extent. I’m forever proud of each and everyone of them for what they have achieved and how they cope when health isn’t great, I’ve been extremely lucky with my heart, I’m very thankful for this.
Now let’s take you back to a holiday that we all went on staying in a caravan, the fun we had on the coast and we also went to PGL! But let’s start with story one..
It was a warm day in Weston super mare and we all decided to get a slushy .. now remember we all have CHD yes we are wicked kids, we had a blue slush each .. it was a lovely drink to be fair! But it turned all of our lips & tongues blue .. now if you have CHD or your a parent of a child with CHD you will know that this is a sign of something not being right. So we surprised the adults, they took it well considering!
That break was great many memories and laughs were had just a bunch of kids have a great time!
I’ll take you to our PGL weekend another great break with the same group. Lots of memories were had, we tried fencing and told not to hit the chest .. we have bad hearts! I was paired with Kate, I enjoyed fencing it was my first try! Then we go to the abseiling, now I like to think of myself as happy to experience new stuff, but after getting to the top and being told what I had todo. There was no way I was going down that wall … they strapped me to an instructor to take me down, i enjoyed that, I was proud I did it!
My point of this post is that we all had different types of CHD but ultimately we was just kids having fun! CHD is hidden so people don’t understand what we go through, the hospital appointments and the tests every hospital appointment and the lower immune in some cases.
A special shoutout to my CHD friends from childhood thank for great childhood memories and I’m so proud of all you have become, you have rocked this world. To my new CHD friends your all equally amazing and I’m so thankful to have you in my life. Including the parents of CHD kids I’ve meet over the years keep fighting the fight you do amazing for your children.
Finally a moment of reflection to my CHD friends who I’ve lost over the passed 34 years, I will never forget you.
Vicky xxx
