“In a heartfelt speech, a stroke victim of just 22 explained her attack, and thanked stars for attending in support of the charity. Those included reality stars like Gemma Wright, Lydia and Arg from TOWIE, and Cheska Hull from MiC, who were almost moved to tears by the speech, as well as the show of gratitude from Nike Ede himself. We were actually moved by Nick’s speech – if we weren’t wearing waterproof mascara it would have been messy.” taken from Live like a VIP
I’m not really sure where to start with this. I guess I’ll try and be as chronological as possible.
Firstly I’ll let you know a little bit about Nick. He is the creative director of PR EdenCanCan and is also a celebrity stylist. His mum died of a stroke and so the stroke association are a charity very close to his heart. He has been putting on ‘A Night with Nick’ for the last 15 years and helping to raise awareness and money. His work has clearly been great as he is influencing people who influence others. He is such a friendly and fabulous man and made me feel really comfortable in an atmosphere that was new to me.
OK so me and Rosie stayed in bed pretty much all day to make sure we could make the most of the evening (or because we are the laziest girls in the world) When we started to get ready I started having a ‘mare. I tried to curl my hair but I didn’t like how it was falling and I got really upset. I know it sounds so petty and insignificant but curling my hair easily and so it looks good is one of the things I miss the most. After having my second hair wash of the day I decided to leave my hair straight and get ready. At half 5 we were ready and waiting for our car to the event. We arrived at the Swarovski Crystalized Lounge at about half 6 where we met Kate from the stroke association, she took us upstairs to where the party was and we had our eyes vajazzled hahaha.
At about half 8 the guests started to arrive and I started freaking out, How was I going to stand infront of all these people and do my speech? I was mostly worried about the increase in tone in my arm that I knew was going to happen because of my nerves (it happens infront of boys I like so it was bound to happen infront of a room of people I watch on TV ) To take my mind off it Kate started introducing me and Rosie to various guests. We saw Cheska from Made in Chelsea walk in and we started to get excited. We are OBSESSED with the show and had hoped some of them would be there. We carried on talking to Kate and then out of the corner of my eye I spotted Millie in the corner with Cheska. She is our absolute fave and we asked Kate to see if they would speak to us. They asked us to go over and they were both amazingly nice. I told them how nervous I was and they said they get nervous too. Millie told me to imagine everyone in their underwear and Cheska said “we’re your friends now but just imagine everyone in here are your best friends and you’re just talking to them” They really helped to calm me down. I think Millie left before my speech but afterwards Cheska came up to me and said I did amazingly and she’s tweeted me since saying….
which I thought was really sweet. Made in Chelsea really doesn’t do her justice on how beautiful she is or how lovely both of the girls are. Millie is an absolute stunner as expected.
We then saw Arg, Lydia and Gemma from TOWIE roaming around. I was introduced to Gemma as she was introducing me on stage so that also helped calm my nerves temporarily. Then Arg sang a few songs and before I knew it Gemma was on stage introducing me. I was so scared again and clumsily climbed up on stage. I started my speech so nervously and as I looked around the room I became really overwhelmed and could feel myself getting upset. I was baring my soul to these complete strangers who were all looking at me and as I said “My parents were told the first 48 hours were crucial and I may never walk again” I burst into tears. I was shocked, I havn’t cried about this very much recently and I really hadn’t anticipated getting upset on such an exciting night. I managed to continue with a slightly high pitched voice (sorry!) and ended up laughing at myself and crying again. The whole time I could hear everyone, especially Gemma, saying how incredible I was and how great I was doing. Gemma even said something along the lines of ‘how brilliant that you’re standing here today, stunning’ I carried on and finished my speech before presenting a ‘Lifetime achievement award’ to Nick who then also cried and made me feel less silly.
When I came off stage Lydia, Arg and Gemma we’re being so supportive and I found myself in an embrace with Arg whilst he told me how nervous he was and I finished crying into his arms. Lydia, like Cheska, is way more beautiful in real life than on the show. I honestly can’t believe how nice they were to me and how much better they made me feel. When my eyelash fell off from the tears Arg even said ‘Don’t worry you can spread the other one out’ not really sure thats how it works…
Trying to get to the toilet I couldnt take more than one step without someone saying how amazing I was or how brilliant my speech was. It was so incredible and I finally kind of accepted that how I have dealt with this is pretty amazing and that I have been through SO much this year and it really was amazing that I could even stand in front of these people at all. Most people told me they didn’t know it happened to people my age so i’m glad by me being there I not only raised awareness about strokes but also strokes in young people.
After sorting out my make up I was introduced to Denise Welch who is basically now my second mother. She missed my speech but was so ridiculously nice and I remembered her son is lead singer from The Big Sleep (more recently the slow down but now something else I forget) and i’ve met him a couple of times through Little Comets so I mentioned that to her. She asked me a little about what had happened to me and said she must get my number so that when she is next in Brighton we can meet up. At the after party she gave me her number and said I must text her in the morning so that she could take me to a pantomime somewhere near Brighton. She has text me since saying she hopes to see me soon so hopefully that could be a nice christmassy trip out.
I had noticed that a model called Jay from Dirty Sexy Things was at the party. Again Kate got him to come over and he told me about his mums best friend who had a stroke when she was 26 and said that I had made him a bit teary with my speech. We were chatting for a while and he said that he would get my number so he could take me out in Brighton. Later on he asked for my number but not in a million years did I think he would text me. He told me we were going to dance and spun me around whilst I laughed and said ‘I can’t dance’ ‘yes you can’ was his reply so I did, badly haha. He seems like a genuine sweetheart and I hope he keeps in touch and takes me out!!! Plus he’s a megababe.
You’ll be pleased to know he text me to say it was lovely to meet me and that his management are sorting a proper night out so fingers crossed. I’m just hoping him and Denise don’t organise something wgile i’m home for christmas or I will be getting the train down to Brighton for it (Just warning you mum!). You never know I might be the next loose women.
Not too long after my speech a lady called Sylvie came over to me and said “theres a boy over there who thinks you are absolutely amazing, he lost his leg and arm in Afghanistan and he just thinks you are so brave” I was so shocked and confused, how could he think I was brave? He was the brave one. I went over to talk to him and i’m pretty sure we just stood there saying “you’re the brave one” “are you kidding? you’re brave”. Of everyone I met that night I know that Ben will be the person I remember forever. Both him and his fiance Sophie we’re so down to earth and had the perfect personalities. I felt really bad because as I was talking to him I could hear my name being shouted out for the raffle so I scurried off and couldn’t find them again. Luckily they were at the after party so I asked them to come and sit with us, they told me a little bit about Ben and his recovery. We talked about how we both lost our appetite before both saying we were hungry which was pretty funny and they both told me to keep going because even three and a half years later he is still recovering. Its amazing how even though the situations are so different we could really relate to each other. I can honestly say that looking at him I wouldn’t have known anything was different about him and they both said when I stood on stage they didnt realise what I was doing there. I genuinely wish them both the best for their future and I hope they have a beautiful wedding, they really deserve it.
I also met Sue who was the stroke survivor who spoke at the event last year who told me she cried when she did the speech and we both talked about our recoveries and how annoying splints are! She asked to stay in touch so I have e-mailed her and waiting to hear back.
I had the most incredible night and as I said in my speeh want to thank Nick for letting me be there and to all the guests for being so fantastic to me and of course to Kate and Meri for being so lovely and making sure we were allright throughout the night.
Rosie filmed the speech for me so I will try and upload it asap.
