On Day 169 of my BRIT 2012 mile
walk I drove from Oxford down to West Sussex where Chichester College were
supporting the handover of Sally’s roles and responsibilities. Sally has been
working as the only employed member of BRIT since the very beginning. Sally has
been an integral and vital member of BRIT and has given constant support and
commitment. Whilst everyone who is part of BRIT is saddened to see Sally leave,
we wish her success and happiness at her new job in London. Sally will be
deeply missed and we are grateful for her dedication and devotion to growing
BRIT with us.
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| With the irreplaceable BRIT Coordinator, Sally Arnold, who looked after me |
With the support of Lisa at
Chichester College and Clare who is gifting her support to coordinate the
BRIT 2012 mile challenge, we spent the day ensuring we capture all of Sally’s
roles and responsibilities so that that with support of gifted services and
volunteers, we can maintain the work-load and ensure there is continuity. Sally
will not be replaced and therefore BRIT now runs with complete reliance on
voluntary and gifted support. This will be a hard transition, however I am
confident that with a smart strategy, BRIT will not be affected and we will
continue to operate as we have done.
I then walked 2 miles before
attending a Reception for A
Celebration of Youth at Chichester Cathedral as a guest of Mike Coleman, the
Chairman of West Sussex County Council. I was shattered and knew I had to
complete a further 4 miles, so with Mike’s understanding, I slid away to end
Day 169 with 904 miles to go.
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| Supporting the Scout Association on my BRIT 2012 mile walk |
On Day 170 I walked 6 miles and then attended the West Sussex Scout
Association AGM as their guest speaker. It was an opportunity for me to thank
the Scout Association for their support and also to strengthen my relationship
with this super youth organisation. I ended the day with 898 miles to go. On
Day 171 I visited Birdham School in West Sussex to meet the young people there
before attending a 4 hour medical assessment. On completion of the Assessment I
walked a further 6 miles to end the day with 892 miles to go.
After walking 6 miles on Day 172 and 8 miles on Day 173 I started to feel
nauseous, achy and my glands were swollen. Knowing I had to keep reducing my
miles, on Day 174 I walked, but managed only 2 miles. I had returned to Sussex
and had spent the weekend catching up with BRIT emails and letters, but my
health was deteriorating rapidly and I could find little energy to do very much
at all. Between Day 175 when I was on 876 miles to go and Day 179, I managed
just 13 miles in 6 days finishing with 863 miles to go. This had been the
toughest week of the BRIT 2012 mile walk so far and I felt drained and exhausted.
My local Doctor’s surgery was superb and I was put on a course of Penicillin
together with Ibuprofen and Paracetamol. I had lost my appetite and was mainly
on fluids as I was experiencing stomach ache and a lack of sleep.
The 2012 mile walk is not only to enthuse young people across Great Britain
and Northern Ireland and to raise awareness of BRIT, but it is also a display
of my commitment to the 2012 businesses who I hope will take up my invitation
to build the BRIT Centre of Inspiration together. Sometimes I find it very hard
to find balance in resting when I have to complete the 2012 mile walk on time
in December by spreading the mileage sensibly to sustain the challenge
throughout the year.
I always try to be honest about
my experiences as a person living with a spinal cord injury. Partially this is
to take the stigma out of it and answer people’s questions and partially by
talking about my injury it has helped me to come to terms with it. As I’ve been
walking around Great Britain and Northern Ireland this year I’ve had to deal
with numerous bladder infections and I’ve been open with people in my blog
about how miserably uncomfortable they are to deal with.
In the midst of fighting this
recent virus and infection, I’ve been trying to keep up to date with my work
and commitments, which has proven difficult. My family and friends have all
been telling me to slow down, and take care of myself. I find it hard to do
though as I think about all the work I have to do to get the BRIT Centre built.
In addition I think about the young people I’ve met and I know that every day
the Centre isn’t built is another day that a young person is missing out on the
support BRIT will be able to deliver.
So even though I find it
difficult to slow down, I am coming to the realisation that I need to find a
bit more balance in my life. One of my friends told me I need to learn about
self-care, and so I am trying. I admit it is galling as I used to be able to do
so much more, but the injury has taken some of my health from me. All of us
need to find balance in our lives in order to live the best possible life we
can. I wish there were 36 hours in a day, but there are not. What I can do
though is take care of myself, get well, apologise to anyone that I’m not able
to see when I am sick, and hope that they understand. At the end of the day, we
all need to practice a little more kindness towards each other, and perhaps
that lesson begins with learning how to be kind to ourselves.
Yesterday, on Day 179, I walked 6
miles for the first time in days. I felt slightly better when I woke up, but
what energised me and put me firmly back on track was going to visit Polly and
her parents at St Richard’s Hospital before Polly underwent an operation on
both her legs. I had met Polly on my half-way walk at Chichester College and we
had stayed in touch. I had given my word that I would visit Polly in hospital.
It was a pleasure to spend the day with Polly and her parents, Alison and David.
Polly is a brave and beautiful young lady who has endured a huge amount in a
very short space of time.
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| With Polly at Chichester College |
I don’t think Polly and many
of the young people facing adversity I meet realise, is that they are the
inspiration that gives me the strength to carry on. I firmly believe BRIT can
be a charity run with minimal overheads. BRIT is a charity run by gifted and
voluntary support and a huge amount of passion from the volunteers, young
people, Mentors, Advisors and Trustees. We are working in a very different way;
we rely solely on businesses to fund the BRIT Centre of Inspiration rather than
compete for public donations. We want to build the Centre for charities to
refer their young people. We are asking inspirational figures from every sector
of society to gift their time at the Centre to inspire young people facing
their darkest times.
Sometimes we all need to stop and
take stock of our situations. I do recognise the need to find balance to look
after myself and this is all a learning process, but one thing that I think
about more than anything else is that there are young people who are in far
worse situations than mine and they are struggling and suffering every day.
I cannot build BRIT alone, but
with an ever increasing group of tremendous supporters around me, I know we
will build BRIT together. It’s just a question of positive-thinking, hard-work
and belief. Thank you for all the support over these past few days and for the
positive messages and encouragement.
863 miles to go.
Best wishes,
Phil
P.S. Polly’s surgery went well
last night and her parents let me know she is comfortable.