On Saturday night Chris and I and some of his work colleagues attended a charity ball that another work colleague of theirs was holding.
I have to say it was the most beautifully decorated event room and the most professionally organised charity ball I’ve been to.
It was probably THE best in fact, and that was guided by a parent’s tragic loss and sheer determination to raise as much money for GOSH (Great Ormond Street Hosp) as possible.
It was also the most heartbreaking.
The reason that Daniel and his wife Danielle were holding the ball was in memory of their beautiful baby girl, Eva who lived her entire 6 months of life in Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital.
Eva had an incurable kidney defect and sadly died in December 2017.
Danielle gave a slide show of Eva and an incredible speech, her words resonated with me.
Although I am incredibly lucky that my boy survived cancer, Danielle’s speech about life in the hospital and the staff becoming like family, time separated from the rest of your immediate family and not being together much brought back some very sharp and painful memories of Sam’s treatment in UCLH.
Well, who knew all those emotions were all still in there, just below the surface simmering away.
I ended up a complete blubbing mess...incredibly embarrassing, especially when you bear in mind Eva’s mum was able to hold it together and get through the speech about her beautiful lost child, she was amazing and I’m blown away by her grit and courage.
They did Eva proud and raised over £20,000 for GOSH (which relies on 100 million pounds in donations every year to do the incredible work they do).
It was a very well put together do, from the brochures on the night to the invites and website that even had a step by step guide with suggestions for the women of what to wear (always a good idea in case people are nervous as to how to dress).
I know I always worry about whether I’ll be under or over dressed.
I went to a ball in a very posh London hotel about 25 years ago and I was all dolled up to the nines, big dress, big hair, pearls the lot, go big or go home I say…in this case I very nearly went home…
Well I got there and no one else had made the effort at all, even though it stated black tie on the invite. So there I am looking like a million dollars, (this was 25 years ago remember, I looked alright at 21) when other women were not in their finery, and one woman even had a work skirt and a camouflage blouse on!
Well I was mortified and quickly ran to the loos to disassemble my outfit and hair.
I now combat this fear by taking a back up dress in the car. That way if I go all dolled up but no one else is then I simply change into a little black number.
Saturday night, I sat in the car and waited to see what other women were wearing. But thankfully most were dressed as per the suggestion to come as bold, long and as sparkly as possible.
Dress from Fenn, Wright & Mason, Shoes and bag from Jimmy Choo.
I love wearing this dress, it feels so good on it brings with it an attitude. Yes, I have a colostomy but I still got it baby! Hahahahaha
I did have my trusty little black back number in the car, ready and waiting to change into should I have needed it.
Tuxedo dress from Dorothy Perkins, Shoes from Christian Dior.
Danielle had also arrange an incredible raffle, I’ve personally never experienced one like it.
For £35 you got a glass of Moët (well, I chose an orange juice as I don’t drink) and a little bottle with a cork. Inside the bottle was a beautiful sparkly gem stone...149 were cubic zirconia and 1 was a £900 diamond!
Well sign me up!! I’m all in for winning a diamond, the gents on our table we’re very obliging and bought their wives one.
One chap on one of the other tables bought 6...I’m assuming he treated all the women on the table to one as a treat rather than him having 6 wives.
It was very clever because to find out who had the actual true diamond it was announced that number’s 20-40 (the tag attached had a number on it) were to go to the foyer where a diamond appraiser was waiting to check over the stones with the eye glass.
I mean how’s that for added drama and excitement!
A chap on our table that works with Chris had bought the lucky bottle with the real stone. How lovely for his wife that she went home with it.
I thought it was an absolutely wonderful idea. Much better than buying just a plain old raffle ticket and winning a signed football shirt or something equally as unwanted at a charity do.
I didn’t win the actual diamond but I love my little zirconia. I’ve put it in the display cabinet in my dining room, it might be worth only a few pence but the memory of the night is priceless.
For as sad as the evening was it was uplifting to know that a lot of people wanted to make a difference to the lives of children in Great Ormond Street Hospital and make their lives a little more bare-able.
I’ve been there myself, it’s a gloriously positive place under the hardest possible circumstances. There is nothing in this world like a sick child or loss of a child.
Huge congratulations to Danielle and Daniel for bravely pushing through their pain and raising a lot of money for a very very good cause, there’s one little star in the sky that will be very proud of her mummy and daddy and big brother.
www.inthestarsball.co.uk
Choosing an outfit for a function can cause some distress for an ostomite.
Pre bag you could get away with most things, post bag you have to consider the likelihood of leakage, and whether the bag is visible through the dress, so you have to remember to check what the dress will look like with a full bag. There’s no point trying on clothes wearing an empty bag if it’s going to be filling up steadily throughout the day or evening.
Women want to feel feminine. Bags of poo attached to you kind of obliterates that feeling.
So the dress has to be extra special to help you to feel fabulous, confident and comfortable.
I bought this dress years ago from Fenn, Wright and Mason, it was expensive but I’ve had a lot of wear out of it (well as much as you can out of an evening dress that is).
It has a beautiful shape, it makes me feel very womanly and a bit sassy.
It’s sparkly which always adds a little something to a night out.
There is a dress out there for you. It just might take a bit longer to find it.
Now the weather has turned decidedly chilly. With that in mind I was very excited to wear my new big coat.
I love all the seasons really but autumn/winter has the best of the best to look forward to. Big coats and snuggly jumpers, Oooh cosy nights in all tucked up.
I bought myself what I would consider a fancy coat, mainly because I don’t have an office job, I think anyone with a job that requires you to dress well wouldn’t see anything fancy in a long, warm coat.
Coat from Sainsbury’s, Scarf from Burberry.
I bought this beautiful grey coat a few weeks back in Sainsbury’s of all places, it’s wool blend and it was a very reasonable £50.
I’ve been having great success with supermarkets at the moment I bought an incredibly cosy lounge suit from Tesco last Friday, and it had 20% off!
I wish I’d bought more now as it feels so good on.
Come on, who doesn’t love cosy lounge wear?! Although technically this can no longer be classed as lounge wear as I’ve been out and about in it loads! Hahahahaha
Sunday Chris and I spent the day doing what we do best…eating!
Ben and Kaitlyn invited us to have breakfast with them at the pub we went to a few weekends ago.
We jumped at the chance as we love the breakfasts there. What we had forgotten though is we were booked in for Sunday lunch at the same place a few hours later.
Nothing we can’t handle though, we’re almost ready to turn pro at dining out. Hahahahaha
It was only when we were half way to the pub that I looked at these photos and saw my bag was microscopically showing at the top of my thigh…do you know what my first thought and reaction was? It was “so bloody what!!“
If someone is staring at my groin area while I’m out and about to the point they’ve seen my bag I’d say they’ve got bigger problems than I do wouldn’t you agree. Hahahahaha
Years ago I think I maybe would have fretted, but I certainly don’t now.
My life is pretty darn good, and there are people far worse off that me with a slight bit of colostomy bag showing.
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I found out today that one of the biggest supporters of my blogs passed away at the weekend. I am truly heartbroken. Sophie was simply one of the good’ens.
Sophie I don’t doubt you’ll be making as much of an impact up there as you did here. I am so grateful for your kindness and support of gladrags and bags. You will be missed, I will miss you. xx
Sending your family my love and condolences.