Every cloud has a silver lining

Well social media is great. It really is. I would be nowhere near the amount raised now if it wasn’t for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. But what I didn’t know is that it would all come back to bite me in the ass!

Fundraising is an amazing thing, people rally around to help you get to a certain target for certain things.

I never ever wanted to go down this road. I mean, it’s embarrassing! Asking people to donate their hard earned money! I mean, most of them don’t even know me and they’re working hard to earn wages and are contributing a couple of quid – or more in other cases – to fund my surgery in America.

I am so grateful for all of this.

But today I witnessed the downside of fundraising.

I was so excited when I woke up – I got the keys to my new house! How exciting! I went there and went to sign for it, when I rang my mum and she immediately said “have you seen what they’ve put about you on Facebook?” I instantly felt sick. I didn’t want to read it.

I’ve heard a lot of things about fundraising and everyone has told me “something is gonna go wrong either way” “people are going to talk” “there is going to be negativity along with it” and I knew it would happen eventually. I just didn’t expect it to happen the way it did. It was public, and it was embarrassing.

People were now questioning if we were spending the fund money – who would do that? – and why I was buying a pair of shoes "if I was in a wheelchair", whilst they were donating to my fund. It was extremely hard to deal with the comments, some a lot worse than others – and the publicity of this negative thing. Things that were accused by a fake profile were disgusting! I literally cried all day.

All this happened this morning and I was so down I was thinking things I shouldn’t be thinking. By now, I’ve calmed down and cheered up a little. I need to remember that every cloud has a silver lining and that this happens to most people and fundraisers! I just need to rise above it and make sure that everyone has faith in the fund by showing them an expenditure sheet monthly or something. This I don’t mind one bit. But I just want this day to be over.

Time to concentrate on my health now – not stress over fake profiles

I’ve learned who my friends are – and I’ve learnt who are not

Tomorrow is a new day