When Life Gives You Lemons: Amelia Denton

I am loving this WLGYL series because it has introduced me to some incredible people.  Sometimes those people were under my nose and I've been able to look at them with new eyes.

I've known Amelia since she was a little girl.  She is my friend Suzanne's niece and my first meeting with her was when she was a bridesmaid at Suzanne's wedding 26 years ago (in fact it was Suzanne's husband, Jon, who first introduced me to Andy).

I really did not take much notice of Amelia at the time apart from noticing the fact that had a disability.  I knew nothing of disabilities in those days and I probably felt pity and maybe even a level of discomfort in engaging with her.  She was a little girl after all and communicating with children, let along children with disabilities was not something on my radar in those days.

But I am so fortunate to have got to know Amelia the person.  I've seen her grow up through Suzanne's eyes as she posted pictures of Amelia's achievements, always the proud Auntie.  And now I know Amelia the woman, the mother, the person who wants to make a difference, and I'd like you to get to know her too........

Amelia and her son, Elliot

When Life Gives You Lemons: Marni Smyth

About a week ago my friend Suzanne shared a post on her timeline.  It was a Go Fund Me link for her friend Marni.  Marni was fundraising to buy a new powerchair. This chair is going to cost more than her car! Yet without a decent chair Marni is denied access to the life that most of us take for granted.  She is denied independence and the opportunity to pursue a career she loves, for which she trained and is supremely qualified to do.

When Life Gives You Lemons: Rosie Jones

A few weeks ago I attended the Women of the World festival in Norwich.  I took part in a panel about how the role of caring often falls to women and  I also shared my story and the lessons it has taught me on the final day.  I got to meet lots of lovely readers and signed copies of my book.

I stayed with my great friend Helen Linehan.  She was also talking at the event as part of a panel about women in the media (Helen co-wrote the BBC comedy, Motherland).  On the first night of the event the team from the incredibly successful and influential Guilty Feminist podcast were recording two live podcasts, the first was a focus on the Repeal the 8th vote .  Helen took part in that session and shared her very moving story about discovering that her first child with her husband Graham, had a fatal foetal abnormality.

The second podcast of the evening featured the comedian Rosie Jones.  I got to spend some time with Rosie in the Green Room back stage and as we chatted it struck me that she was a perfect candidate for the WLGYL series on the blog.

For those of you who don't know her, Rosie is a successful comedian, she also has cerebral palsy, she also recently came out as lesbian.

I loved meeting Rosie, we had a really good chuckle about our mutual hate of so called inspiration porn.  She's incredibly funny and if you are going to the Edinburgh Fringe later this summer make sure you go and see her show Fifteen Minutes.  Rosie explains the significance of fifteen minutes in this interview...

When Life Gives You Lemons: Danny Germain

Here's another interview as part of my When Life Gives You Lemons series.

 I've known Danny and his family for many years.  Danny's step-mum, Marion, was one of Andy's closest friends and he turned to her for coaching support to help him with the mental strength he knew he would need when he was diagnosed with cancer.  Marion was also one of Daisy's Godmothers.  Danny was a small boy when we first met him and it was years before we were entrusted with the secret that Danny had carried with him since he was little.

When Life Gives You Lemons: Debs Aspland

When Life Gives You Lemons is my blog series profiling some of the incredible people I have met during my journey.  People who, like me, have faced adversity but refuse to be defined by it.

Next up is Debs Aspland.

I first met Debs very briefly in 2012 when we both attended the Britmums Brilliance in Blogging Awards.  We bumped into each other again a couple of years later when were invited to meet with and give feedback to the Minister of State for Children and Families.  However it was over drinks on the Southbank that I really got to know Debs and recognise her for the kindred spirit and fellow warrior she is.  She definitely shares my rebellious streak and I couldn't wait to ask her to be the subject of an interview for my When Life Gives You Lemons series.

When Life Gives You Lemons: Lucy Watts MBE

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I'm delighted to launch a new series on my blog today, it's called When Life Gives You Lemons.  Over the years I have had the pleasure to meet and get to know some incredible people, many of whom have faced adversity and have decided not to be defined by this but instead to seize the day and make the most of their situation.  Andy would always say "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!". It as always been the spirit by which I have chosen to live my life so I thought it was about time I shone the spotlight on some other people who are also making lemonade.

Today I would like to introduce Lucy Watts MBE.

 I first met Lucy online about 5 years ago and got to meet her face to face in 2014  I was speaking at an event for the children's Palliative Care Charity, Together for Short Lives and Lucy was there also with her mum Kate in her role as a young ambassador for the charity.  We have stayed in touch ever since and I am so glad that she was also able to meet Andy.