Fellowship of the Ringlets: February 2016

WHAT IS THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RINGLETS?

In January 2015, following a routine check by my vigilant GP, I was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer.

As a Brit living in Sydney, Australia since 2008, I realised over the following days just how many of my friends and family were scattered across the globe and different timezones.

The Fellowship of the Ringlets was originally just a tremendous pun and the title of a closed Facebook group I created to keep those distant friends and family in the loop and worry-free.

But over 12 months, my little group somehow grew from 80 to 800+ and became a veritable band of brothers, a support team like no other and a true Fellowship in every sense of the word.

Their love, laughter and rallying cries have been the greatest tonic a little ringlet'd cancer-face like me could have wished for.

The following letters, musings, incoherent ramblings and occasional bouts of bad language are for them all.

Welcome to the Fellowship of the Ringlets.

VC x

Monday 29 February 2016

*RELAY FOR LIFE - HELP NEEDED!

Dear Fellowship,

Now I was going to start this post with 'When have I ever asked you guys for ANYTHING????' and then I remembered that the last post I wrote was in fact to ask you for hard cash. Hmm.

To be fair, that cash was for a very deserving little boy and both his parents and I were properly overwhelmed and hugely grateful at the sheer generosity of total strangers. Much of that generosity came from this here totally fabulous Fellowship so I must say thank you to each and every one of you that donated - so far over 6500 pounds has been raised which is completely amazing!

So on the subject of such staggering generosity of spirit, time and cash, let me simply mention that this Saturday, I will be partaking in the annual Cancer Council Relay for Life event in Sydney. This is my fundraising plea and there are a few reasons you should sponsor me:

1. I have known about this for 3 weeks but forgot to set up a fundraising page ‪#‎cognitivefatigue‬ and now I am panicking about being the worst cancer-surviving fundraiser ever.

2. I have, somewhat terrifyingly, been asked to speak at this event in front of hundreds of people as a cancer survivor. This is terrifying both for me ("do not swear, do not swear") but also for those innocent folk who are currently unaware of my enormous capacity for chat. My speech needs to be 3-5 mins. LOL. I think we all know how that will work out. Anyway, it will be quite awkward if the speaker who rambled on for 20 mins at the Candlelight Ceremony before no doubt falling off the stage in the darkness is then exposed as a fundraiser without funds.

3. There is some walking involved. Lots of walking. Apparently through the night. Which should be interesting. Luckily, it gets dark at night and therefore I plan to dress all in black like a cancer-surviving ninja so no one will notice my repeated unauthorised pit stops. If you sponsor me, I promise to stop less and potentially even moan less about my bad foot.

It would be tremendous if I could reach my little goal of $500 to help other little cancery faces just like mine, so if you can help me get there then that would be just fabulous.

Lastly, special thankyou to Cheryl Ayres for inviting me to join her Relay team and for also bravely putting her own reputation on the line and suggesting me as a fellow speaker. I fear she may live to regret at least one of those decisions...

http://fundraising.cancer.org.au/site/TR/RelayforLife/CCNSW?px=1473807&pg=personal&fr_id=3410

Love,

VC x

Friday 12 February 2016

*THE FELLOWSHIP GETS PUBLISHED! (KIND OF)

Dear Fellowship,

Best Valentine's surprise ever - 'Tales from the Fellowship of the Ringlets' is now in print!!

It's something of a limited edition right now - limited in fact to one copy, so that makes it literally one of a kind! Priceless, in fact! I may have to get contents insurance on the flat!

Massive shout-out and enormous thanks across the seas to my little Welsh pal Nicola Daniel for spending her days and precious time secretly doing this when she should have been tending to the needs of her perfect new daughter, Cassie Valentine!

Seeing it all written up like this is fairly overwhelming, not least because I've realised how much I MISS that GODDAMN wig *sob* but also because I've been dithering about over the last few weeks, wondering whether to write FotR up properly or just leave my cat litter'd memories languishing in the bowels of t'interweb for people to eventually stumble across. I am going to read it by the pool this weekend in the Hunter Valley and see if I get bored. If not, then we may just return to this publishing quest...standby for my Amazon rating of my own inane ramblings!

Whatever happens, this is frankly one the most sensational, thoughtful and fabulous gifts ever. If the internet ever collapses (which it eventually will do, probably under the weight of the Fellowship posts), I now have a proper book to remind me of the cancery madness of 2015.

Love you, Davey-Daniel, you Welsh legend. You have made my year (all 6 weeks of it)!!

Have great weekends, all...