Sunday 1 July 2012

Emily, the Mountain Conquerer!

Hello, and welcome!

Two posts in one day?........amazing, I know!
I just had to tell you about an event that happened yesterday, because I am so incredibly proud of my extended family.
Our eldest son, Mark, is married to the lovely Angela........Angela has a sister, Sarah, who has three children.  The middle child is 4 year old Imogen, (known as Immy).......Immy has been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour.
Rocks you back, doesn't it?
She has had all the treatments that were possible, with the view that she may live a little longer........brave, brave tot that she is.
Her parents want to give her the opportunity to see as much of their extended family, and to have as many joyous family experiences, as they can possibly give her........but her Daddy has missed a lot of his work, what with hospital appointments and "bad" days.......and their finances are suffering.
My beautiful, generous DIL #1, Angela, took it upon herself  to raise funds to help them be able to afford a few special outings, and cover their costs.
She came up with the idea of a sponsored walk........up the highest mountain in the British Isles, outside of Scotland.......Snowden!
It is 3560 feet above sea level, and yesterday, the day of the hike, the weather was appalling.........driving, cold rain......thunder and lightening.......and whipping winds........who'da thunk, eh?......the end of June, and more like January....haaahaaaa!
I'm not sure how much money was raised, but I do know that 43 people, aged from 3 years to 93 years, made that climb.......and a lot of them were members of our extended family......yaaaaaay!
I am so proud of each and every one of them.....they were amazing.

But, there has to be one person, in particular, who is not only amazing..........but is a LEGEND.........Angela's 93 year old grandmother, Emily, climbed every inch of that mountain without so much as a walking stick!!!!!!

Here she is........
Emily is enjoying a very well-earned cup of hot chocolate, at the cafe on the summit......yep......there's an actual cafe, there.......and the very handsome young man on the receiving end of a warm hug is my 6 year old grandson, Spencer....the lucky boy who shares his birthday with me.
He, too, walked the mountain, carrying his own little rucksack..........yaaaaay, Spencer!

These are the children who also walked the mountain.......some of them are cousins to Immy, on her Mummy's side, and five of them are my own grandkiddles....  ...the boy in the back (yellow sweater) is our 14 year old Jack.....the girl in the front (pink jacket) is his sister, 8 year old Taylor......green-cladded action man is 6 year old Spencer......orange action man is Jack and Taylor's brother, 10 year old Lewis......the crouching girl (needed the toilet!) in front end is Spencer's 8 year old sister, Alexandra.........each and every one of these lovely children walked that mountain, in horrible weather, without one word of complaint........I am in awe of them!

I might also mention that my lovely Daughter #3, Leigh-Anne.....she of the nimble quilty fingers......also raffled a beautiful quilt that she'd made, to raise money towards Immy's fund.....and the lovely lady who won the quilt wants it to go to Immy.....how lovely is that?

There are so many generous, loving people in the world.......and I know that my dear bloggie friends are of that ilk, so I'm going to ask a favour.
Immy had her latest scan, last week, and will get the results on Tuesday next........please offer a little prayer that she may get a better outcome than her last one.
If you've stayed with this post, thus far.......THANK YOU!!

Hugs,
Anne-Marie x
 

5 comments:

  1. Such a touching and inspirational story Anne-Marie. I shall certainly be praying for Immy and her test results.xxx

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  2. Wonderful to hear of the successful Snowden ascent. Of course I will be praying about Immy's next scan results. It's stories like these that make you really reassess what is important in life.

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  3. Oh my, what a wonderful story. I know you are bursting at the seams with pride over your family and their sacrifice to help this darling little girl. My younger daughter was discovered to have a Wilhm's tumor on her kidney when she was 3. That is a childhood cancer that is not usually found until "too late." By God's grace and a multitude of prayers, my daughter is now 41 years old. I know the heart ache your DIL's family must be going through. Lifting them all in my prayers.

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  4. Bursting at the seams with pride I can tell. More than deserved all the way around. Must say, while reading I developed moist eyes, not from sadness but from joy in the ever amazing human trait of love. Prayers as always for all in your family, extended or not.

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  5. For a better outcome I am praying.

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