My Daughter - Natasha
I am not too sure where to post this but hopefully all will become clear.
The reason why I wanted to do something for A-M was because at the time my daughter was terminally ill with a brain tumour. In Sept 2007 at 16 years old she was a normal, healthy young lady looking forward to starting college. A chance visit one Saturday to Boots to have her reading glasses prescription updated picked up a swelling in her brain. To cut a long story short by Sunday she had surgery to insert a shunt and remove the fluid causing the swelling. This sudden loss of pressure damaged her optic nerves and she was left completely blind. She was later diagnosed with a rare type of brain tumour and given a prognosis of 12 months.
For whatever reason she survived and rebuilt her life. She went to college at Loughborough and gained 2 music qualifications as well as learning how to live as a blind person at the nearby RNIB College. She taught herself Braille, to play an electric and bass guitar, she raised thousands for her own charities, gave her savings to the local RAF Regt Association as the members could not afford the cost of a minibus to attend the laying up of the standard, won a place at Uni where her work ethic put her as one of the better achievers trouncing her sighted fellow students, she fell in love, got a flat and lived with her fiancee (who is also blind).
At the beginning of this year she became ill again and underwent several regimes of chemotherapy. In the early hours of this morning, after her massive battle with cancer, the bravest person I have ever known passed away in her sleep. We were holding her hands and cuddling her. We are privileged to have had our daughter in our lives for 24 years of which the last 8 she took on her brain tumours and fought them with everything she had. I wish I was a tenth of the person she was.
The champagne for A-M was Natasha's idea but because she didn't know her she asked me to sort it out for her. Natasha just wanted to be involved and she took great pleasure in helping me count the bottles and package them up. She didn't want her condition to distract from the sentiment which is why she asked me to sort it and read her your responses.
We have lost our wonderful daughter and I wanted to let you all know who was behind the champagne plan.
That is why I have posted this here.