Sadly yesterday, 20th November 2012, little Caden Beggan from Cleland in Scotland, lost his difficult battle against meningococcal septicaemia which he had fought bravely for four weeks. He died in the arms of his parents in Yorkhill Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow, which had looked after him so well. His father said on Facebook: “Dear friends, Caden Riley Beggan. Born 29th September, 2006. Died 20th November, 2012…in Mummy and Daddy's arms. Thank you for all your support. Caden is alive forevermore.” This little man now occupies a special place in my heart and in the heart of thousands of others. May He Rest In Peace. More about Caden's story can be found here Caden's Story If you would like to donate to Yorkhill Hospital in remembrance of Caden, as per his family's wishes, here is the address of the foundation representing the hospital in Glasgow http://www.yorkhill.org/donate "Some of you have also been asking about sending cards and flowers to David and Angela. Please feel free to send cards to the family home. However we ask that, instead of sending flowers, people consider sending donations to Yorkhill Children's Hospital, if they prefer." Caden's school, Ladywell Primary School in Motherwell are also trying to raise as much money as possible for meningitis research in memory of Caden. If you would like to buy their charity single costing 79p here is the link .... https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/o-holy-night-single/id581527767
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If anything could inspire me to write a blog it would have to be the viewing of this movie about Mary's Meals. I've just sat for the past 31 mins watching a beautifully shot film about the work of this wonderful organisation. Tears streamed down my face as I watched the inspiring work of the people who run, work and volunteer for this charity. Seeing the people they help, most of them poor hungry children with difficulties in accessing education, gives you back your faith in humanity. So many things are threaded into this film, not least the individual stories of the children highlighted. I cried to see the wall of one of the main storytellers adorned with the picture of Victoria and David Beckham. This is no refection on the couple themselves, but the stark irony of the situations of child and couple could not be more vivid. However, it shows that no matter what situation you find yourself in you can still have dreams and idols. The Beckhams do their bit for charity, I know that. Even more heartbreaking was the little boy struggling to keep his little backpack together in the hope that he could get to school and be fed his only meal of the day. My God how I cried when I saw his efforts go awry. So many stories though of hope, of children conquering their "barriers to learning," crossing over the scourges of poverty to be educated and fed, a right all of us should have. Please as we come up to Christmas again, think about purchasing this film; doing so will help to feed a hungry child for one year. When you think of what your children will get in their stockings never mind presents from Santa another few pounds is surely not much to ask, especially when you might be supplying those same children with a heart full of compassion for others much more needy than themselves. We could do worse than to include this DVD in every older child's stocking this year and spread the true message of Christmas. Another way of helping Mary's meals would be to buy the book written by Martha Payne the young schoolgirl who caused a sensation with her blog about school meals. Little did she know when she started out on her quest to improve school meals that she would be able to help Mary's meals with donations of over £120,000 from well wishers and supporters. If you are a teacher or educator you can find out more about Mary's Meals resources here http://www.marysmeals.org.uk/education-zone/educational-resources/ Mary's Meals on Pinterest http://pinterest.com/Looking4U2/mary-s-meals-charity/ Now for the little film that introduced me to Mary's Meals in the first place and heartwarming it was..... Another child worthy of our praise - Charlie Doherty http://www.crawleyobserver.co.uk/news/local/fundraising-boy-stars-in-documentary-film-1-4476587 Nothing nicer than a man in uniform I always think, be it a fireman, policeman, or soldier. Don't know what it is about those clothes but they certainly maketh a man. I am in a bit of a quandary at the moment though because I really don't know what man to choose for my next little project, and I have several choices I can tell you. Who is it to be? The fireman complete with hose and yellow helmet, or the lovely footballer from Manchester United? (no rumours on Twitter please as I have an injunction in place ) I must say I am drawn towards the policeman as polished shoes have always done it for me, especially if long-toed and Italian. Mmmm, his are a bit more booty-like so maybe not quite what I was looking for and he doesn't have a truncheon... not good. "Every girl loves a sailor" is the old saying and this girl is no different, but come on.... bell-bottoms really when out years ago and they were bad enough first time round. Nope I am really being drawn to the man of the moment, but he is a bit too keen on working all hours for my liking and his waistline could certainly be doing with a few sessions at the gym. Having been married to someone who worked at sea I think I will forego the chance of an adventure with a life-boatman as worrying about his safety is not something I want to be doing now, much as I admire his bravery and dedication. Come on, you'll have to help me with this one, too many choices... Who do you think I should choose? http://i.imgur.com/C87yH.jpg See update: Rest In Peace little Man http://aglasshalffull.weebly.com/1/post/2012/11/rest-in-peace-little-man.html If you haven't already heard the heartbreaking story of 6 year old Caden Beggan then I will let this quote from his dad explain a few things. “At 7am on Tuesday morning we found Caden on the bathroom floor after being sick. We had no idea that a few hours later he’d be fighting for his life. “He was not meant to survive the night. He was not meant to survive the ambulance journey from Wishaw General to Yorkhill Children’s hospital in Glasgow. He was not meant to survive the next day, or the next night. But, in spite of his critical condition, he is with us.” Read More: http://www.bellshillspeaker.co.uk/news/local-headlines/facebook-thousands-are-praying-for-caden-1-2607018 And thank God I am happy to say he is still with us and his wonderful family are keeping everyone up to date with the progress, or not, of this lovely boy. I have to say from a personal point of view that the loving words of his father, although an emotional roller-coaster to read are truly beautiful, even more so when you think of the terrible struggle they are going through as a family. Please follow this child's progress as his family are calling out for support and for the hope and prayers of anyone willing to give it. His story can be followed here: http://www.facebook.com/CadenBeggan There is a donate page for this family if anyone would like to donate. I'm sure the creator of this page will not mind me adding this link. https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/cadenbeggan
As you are probably aware already my main reason for being on Twitter and Facebook is to help raise awareness for the missing, both children and adults. This is not some idea that popped into my head out of nowhere, but rather the direct effect the disappearance of Madeleine McCann had on me and it was profound.
I have followed the story of Madeleine since 3rd May, 2007 and have done much as I can to try to make sure her story is known as far and wide as is possible. As well as Madeleine I have come to know the story of so many missing children and adults and that is what keeps me going today. I at one point worked as a volunteer for a Scottish Charity called Help Find My Child which sadly is no longer in existence. This work ensured that I was kept up to date with the stories and updates of many children across the world, some found safe and well, some still missing. During my time as a volunteer I got to know the names of organisations that helped families with missing relatives and it was there too that I learned many of the IT skills I have today. For that I am very grateful to the Scottish person who set that up and she knows who she is. With the missing in mind I thought I would share a little event that happened not that long ago when I went on holiday abroad.
I had taken several books with me on holiday to read but before the end of my stay I ran out of reading material. No mind thought I, off to the Quiet Lounge of the hotel where they had several large bookcases full of books all arranged in different languages. You know the type of thing I mean; you put in a book and take a book out. I had a look around and was disappointed to find that the English bookcase only had one sad little brown book which was hardback and had no dust-cover. What to do? Was I really going to take this sad little affair and eek it out for the rest of my holiday? I decided I had better have a look at least and find out exactly what is was as that was my only chance of something to read. I turned the front cover over only to discover that it was a book written by Jaycee Lee Dugard a missing child for 18 years, now thankfully recovered. The book was entitled...
My Stolen life http://www.amazon.com/A-Stolen-Life-ebook/dp/B004ZZS4CC Wow, can't tell you how I felt at that moment as I knew Jaycee's story and it wasn't a nice one.
What was I going to do now? I can't read this, the story of a young girl missing and abused by a paedophile and his wife for 18 sad years. No way thought I tears rising to my eyes. But how the heck could I put this little brown book back for God's sake, this child had written it to let people know what she had gone through and the misery that was her life, it was her voice on paper, I had to take it.
So I did, saying nothing to my husband as I couldn't even speak I felt so upset. From there we made our way back to our hotel room where I promptly burst into tears. My poor husband hadn't a clue what the heck was going on and I felt a fool trying to explain it. I read the book and yes it broke my heart, sometimes I squirmed at the words that I was reading, but in the end it was a book of hope and showed the love of a mother and child for each other. It was the story of a girl who wanted to spread the word that we should never give up on a missing child just like her mother hadn't or any other mother with a missing child. I can't decide for you whether you read this story or not, only you can decide that, but as this brave girl said :- "Sometimes you have to hold onto any hope to survive." Jaycee Lee Dugard Please keep hope in your heart for missing children
I'm a hip old granny, who can hip hop, bee bop, dance 'till ya drop, and yo-yo make a wicked cup of cocoa" I have been posting on Twitter for a while now and was probably better recognised with my parody account as Mrs Doubtfire than my present profile name "Looking4U2." Strangely enough when I set up my profile name as Mrs Doubtfire it never occurred to me for a moment that folk would think of it as a parody account, stupid as that may seem. It was my first venture onto Twitter and I was green as far as posting, account etiquette and parody accounts were concerned. I chose the name simply because I loved the movie Mrs. Doubtfire and the character portrayed by Robin Williams. She was funny, endearing, ridiculous at times, Scottish, and most of all she loved her children to bits like I and most people do. More of a concern at the time was the reason why I had joined Twitter in the first place and that was to try and defend the family of a missing child from the hatred and lies being by spread about them by a group of heartless trolls. On reflection that was a rather naive idea of mind because as we all know the best thing to do with trolls is to ignore them, and if that fails, block them. During my time fighting with the trolls I probably alienated people who could have helped me now in my awareness raising for the missing. Hard lesson learned. Can't really blame them to be honest as I used to spam a bit to try and shut up these nuts up which again was inconsiderate and stupid of me. People have asked why I gave up the name Mrs. Doubtfire as they loved the character too, even sometimes talking to me as if I actually was that lovely endearing old lady, which I found quite funny. One day long after I had stopped fighting with the trolls, someone expressed the thought that I would never be taken serious when using a "parody account". That was the enlightened moment that I realised that if I wanted to be taken serious as regards awareness raising for the missing then dear old Mrs Doubtfire had to get the heave and I resurrected another username of mine. Dear old Mrs Doubtfire, she served me so well for a while. |
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