Pick Me Up! 23-May-2019

Having been diagnosed with arthritis at 46, then battling seizures, an MRI scan was nothing to me. I didn’t expect bad news. But on my 48th birthday in August 2018, that’s what I got. ‘You need to come and see the doctor immediately,’ said the voice on the phone. And later... ‘I’m afraid we found a tumour on your brain,’ explained my doctor. I was terrified, and though Jeff was too, he didn’t show it. ‘Everything will be all right,’ he soothed. From then on, he was by my side whenever I was admitted into hospital after bad seizures. He made the hour-and-a-half trip to Addenbrooke’s every day when I had surgery. Even though I’m on the road to recovery, he brings me my fave mags to make me smile.…

My girlfriend Ana, 24, showing off her pool skills in the local pub – I didn’t have the heart to point out the mistake! Adam Clarkson, Birtley My friend Jenny and I visited an elephant sanctuary in Thailand. We met this lovely elephant who was being well looked after and he was so friendly. Genna Cooper, Prenton Here is a photo me as I was finishing the Great Birmingham Run Half Marathon for the Alzheimer’s Society in 3 hours 18 minutes. Kelly Whitton, Halesowen My little boy Jett, 4 weeks old, likes to reach for the stars when he’s asleep. Stacy Gibson, Wordsley While on holiday in Mexico, my soon to be son-in-law was enjoying a swim with this lovely dolphin. Debb Hunt, Nottingham If you go down to the…

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They say your school days are the best days of your life. And mine were certainly a blast! So I couldn’t help feeling nostalgic when school pal John Sharkey, 31, sent me a Facebook friend request in April 2009. ‘Let’s catch up!’ he wrote. It’d been 15 years since we’d seen each other. ‘Definitely!’ I replied. I meant it, too. He’d always been such a lovely lad. Tall and skinny, but shy as a puppy and with the cutest smile. So a friendly catch-up would have been good fun. Only, being a single mum, that was easier said than done. More often than not, I was too busy with my two girls, Madison, 8, and Isabella, 6. Then in June 2009 a mutual friend was opening a new business, and…

Thinking back, I only have flashes of what happened next. A passerby coming up to me, calling the emergency services. The ambulance arriving, and the paramedics trying their best to keep me awake. But I was so cold, and was losing blood fast. The next thing I remember properly is waking up in the hospital, with doctors and nurses floating around. And my dad Skip, 69, and my step-mum Destiny, 70, were by my bedside. But what I remember most is the pain. My whole body ached. Just taking a breath was almost impossible. Trying to speak or swallow, completely unthinkable. Everything from my eyes to my ribs were black and blue. Doctors gave me a day to really wake up before they listed my injuries. And I couldn’t believe…

Sitting down at the kitchen table, my mum Deborah, 41, looked serious. I wriggled, feeling impatient to go back and play with my toys. ‘Amanda, do you ever feel like you’re...missing something?’ she asked. I fidgeted. Why does she keep asking me this? ‘No, Mummy,’ I replied, irritated. I was 7, and knew what was coming. I’d heard it many times before. For as long as I could remember, I’d known that Mum and my dad Terry had adopted me. It wasn’t a shock. They were white, whereas I had darker skin and Asian features. Even at that age I noticed the looks when we walked round the local supermarket together. ‘We adopted you from an agency in South Korea,’ Mum repeated to me now. We’d shared so much, and…