Pick Me Up! 10-Jan-2019

Giggling in assembly at school, tucking into Mum’s roast dinners, dancing at my wedding. Fair to say, my best mate Amy and I had been through a lot together. But nothing compared to the heartbreak that I had to face two years ago. It was April 2017, and my mum Carole, 60, had something to tell me. She’d been under the weather but, two weeks earlier, she’d insisted that she was fine. But suddenly my world came crashing down. ‘I lied, it’s cancer and it’s terminal,’ Mum explained. Devastated, there was only one place to turn. Amy. Although it was actually her birthday, after answering my call she dropped everything. From that moment on she was there for me. Sadly my mum died in June 2017. Heartbreaking. But Amy has…

Approaching 20 years as a couple and still having fun at the Hard Rock Hotel Tenerife. Lucy Neville, West Bromwich Me and my partner Cameron before our gangsters and molls murder mystery evening on a steam train. We didn’t crack the crime, but we definitely cracked the dress code! Hannah Lynch, Irlam Nellie, 5, and I had great fun at Chester Zoo seeing all the animals. But I think she thinks she’s a little lion. Cassie Hardy, Pwllglas As big Corriefans, my daughter Kennedy and I were delighted when my mum Barbara treated us to a day on the cobbles. Melissa Guy, Doncaster My daughter was trying to sunbathe, but our pups had a different idea… Valerie Bruce, Clarkston How stunning does my friend Hannah look on her big day?…

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Leaning against the rail of the hotel balcony, I smiled as my friend took a photo of me on my phone. ‘Nice pic!’ she grinned, before we headed down to the pool. It was September 2014. I was on a girly holiday in Egypt with two of my mates. Dressed in a size-10, strapless bikini, I felt good. Confident. But it hadn’t always been like this. For years, I’d been battling Crohn’s disease, which causes inflammation of the bowel. Diagnosed at 11, it meant I was often in pain. I had to have regular medication and injections. And when I got really poorly, I’d be given steroids. My body would swell up. I’d feel huge, self-conscious. But in my teens, I learnt to take it my stride. Just got on…

When I came round, strangers helped me off the bus and Mum and Dad were there in minutes. They drove me to hospital, where doctors confirmed what I’d long been dreading. ‘The medication isn’t working any more - you’ll need to have the bag fitted,’ my consultant said. I was heartbroken. But I knew there was nothing I could do, and a few months later, I was wheeled down to theatre. In the weeks that followed, my frail body struggled to cope with such a big operation. I was fed through a drip in my hospital bed. And my weight dropped to a shocking 5st. My ribs and collarbone protruding, friends gasped when they came in to visit me. ‘I guess I’m skinny enough now,’ I laughed weakly. Yet I…

Lifting a box from the back of my car, I turned to carry it into my house. Only my boyfriend Samuel stopped me, took the box from my hands. ‘I don’t think so!’ he scolded. ‘No heavy lifting for you.’ ‘I’ll pop the kettle on then,’ I said. ‘For your first cuppa in your new home.’ It was July 2016, and after almost a year together, we’d just found out that I was pregnant. Now, Sam was moving in with me. Suffering with polycystic ovaries, I’d been told it might not be possible for me to conceive. The little niggling doubt I had was getting harder to ignore But here I was, expecting a baby with the man of my dreams. I’d never been happier. Apart from one thing... Sam…