Can you be happy for 100 days?

I doubt that any of us can! However it is so important, I feel, for us to always try and find the positive in our day, even on the hardest and toughest of days! So I thought it would be good to join the many friends who are taking up the #100HappyDays Challenge. 




It can be too easy to get caught up in our busy lives. And when you have suffered great loss, whether that be your health, your job, a loved one or your baby, it can be so incredibly difficult to see the positive in anything anymore. The days and hours just meld in to one long period of misery and heart ache.

So as an aid to help us focus on the positives in our lives, to find that moment of happiness that CAN be found in every single day .... yes, trust me, even in the days when it feels like your world has completely ended ... thousands of us have registered for the #100HappyDays Challenge.

It's easy! Once we have registered, all we do is once a day upload a picture of what has made us happy that day. It can be anything from having a cuppa with a pal to that first coffee of the day, from that feeling of being in a special place to helping out someone in need.

The challenge is for YOU and you alone ~ it is not a platform for showing everyone how wonderful your life is ~ it is not a competition to prove that you are happier than everyone around you ~ it is not a means to make others jealous or to show off. It is simply a means for you to fully focus on what you can see in your life, your day, your world that makes you happy.

You can choose to share your photo on Facebook, twitter or instagram ~ just make sure you add the public hashtag #100HappyDays.

So, though this is not related to SiMBA and the work we do in the Highlands, it very much follows the ethos of SiMBA ~ #100HappyDays collects 100 day's worth of beautiful, lasting memories just as SiMBA enables us to gather treasured memories of our baby's short time here on earth ~ memories that will sustain us and uplift us through a life time of loss.

So ... who will join me?

"Faith isn’t faith until it’s all you’re holding on to”

I am always so inspired when I meet people who do amazing things for something or someone they are passionate about! Aileen is one of those people! 

We first met Aileen and Geordo at parent craft classes just over 9 years ago. None of us knew then that this was their second child they were attending the classes for. 

I am so glad I can share her story with you. 

"My name is Aileen and I’d like to share a wee bit about my story as to why I’m doing this challenge! 

In 2003 I married Graham (or Geordo as he’s also known!). Only a couple of months later on the Saturday between Christmas and New Year I did a test and discovered I was pregnant! I was totally accurate with my dates and was delighted to work out that our baby was due September 3rd 2004.  

6 weeks into pregnancy I started spotting so that meant a scan which showed our ‘nut’ with a little heart beating strongly. Further bleeding and another couple of scans showed the same strong heart beat, but our dates had changed. First to September 10, then to September 13, finally September 17.  

If this hadn’t been our first pregnancy, I think I’d have been more on the ball regarding the dates moving. After all, I knew I’d tested at the earliest moment and my arithmetic isn’t that bad!!!!

My doctor advised me to not do too much – sit and rest when possible – not that easy as a PE teacher!  This wasn’t to protect the baby so much as to protect myself mentally just in case something did go wrong ... I wouldn’t blame myself.  

Easter Monday 12 April, I went to see the midwife for my first Doppler listening in! Geordo was off work so came with me – we were rather excited! Much as she tried, the midwife couldn’t find a heartbeat.

So, Raigmore beckoned for us. I still thought it was ok – we were reassured that this can sometimes happen. The normal scanning place wasn’t available so we were put to the x-ray department.

It was awful – that absolutely horrendous sinking feeling as the person scanning left the room to get a second opinion.  It wasn’t real … yet it was.

Off to ward 9 to meet with a midwife and I truly thank God for giving me Ann that day – I know Ann’s brother really well and I knew she’d gone through the same thing a number of years ago with her own twins.  I knew she understood.

We went home with the understanding that we would come back in the morning for me to be induced.  

After the longest day of my life little Rosie Thomson was born at 11:13pm.  I asked if I should see her – and the Doctor advised no.  That was it.  All over.  

We spent the night in ‘the room’ in ward 10.

The marvellous Iain MacRitchie (hospital chaplain) our friend from church, came to see us the next morning.  He asked if we would like to give our baby a funeral.  At that point we didn’t know if she was male or female – this would be discovered in the coming days.

When we discovered we had a wee girl, I was determined her name would be a cheery name.  And that’s when we came up with the name Rosie.  We later discovered that Rosie was a ‘triploidy’ baby.  In other words, instead of the set of chromosomes she should have got from each parent, she got a full extra set from me.  She would never have survived.

We are blessed with a sister and brother for Rosie - Helen is 9 and Gavin is nearly 7!  

Most people I tell about this challenge think I'm mad, but they have been really encouraging recognising that raising money for SIMBA  is an excellent way to keep Rosie's memory alive!  Rosie will have her 10th birthday this year.  I will also turn 40! So the challenge is not only in her memory, but to kick me up the backside to remind me of the sheer adrenalin kick that a challenge like this will bring.  I’m terrified, but excited!  And certainly, determined."

"Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart." ~Kongzi

Joanne Docherty is from Glasgow and here she shares her very moving account about how she got involved in The Kiltwalk and decided to donate 50% of her fundraising to SIMBA. Joanne is not just doing one Kiltwalk, but 5 PLUS a Kiltwalk in MachuPicchu in Peru! 

Joanne on one of her 2013 Kiltwalks

“I first got involved with the Kiltwalk in 2013, raising funds in aid of Yorkhill Hospital as they became a charity partner of the Kiltwalk. I did the Glasgow 26 miles from Hampden to Loch Lomand, and in April and May I took part in the Edinburgh ones, leaving from Murrayfield, through the city, past Parliament and back to Murrayfiled.

Then I heard of a wee girl called Aine, a beautiful wee girl that needed our help. That's where my great friend and support Emma comes in. She was so kind and signed up to do THREE whole Kiltwalks (26 miles each one) all in one month in 2013. All together thousands were raised and I couldn't have been prouder.

For 2014 we have upped our challenges to attempt to get more money. Now there is a whole team of us, all working hard to promote SiMBA and raise funds on the Kiltwalks, with 50% of what we raise going to SiMBA. This year I will be doing 5 Kiltwalks and the September Machu Picchu Kiltwalk in Peru and Emma is planning 4 Kiltwalks and Machu Picchu! The rest of the team are doing a minimum of one 26 mile Kiltwalk each.

I have a personal reason for choosing to do these challenges for SiMBA. When I was 12 my baby brother David passed away at just 4 weeks old. He had a hole in his heart and though he came through that fighting hard sadly his wee heart valves were round the wrong way. Sadly at that time there were no charities like SiMBA which makes us work especially hard to do as much as is physically possible to help. I think about him every single day and my wee brother is my motivation and inspiration always. After we lost him I promised I would help families and children from then on.

This is going to be an extraordinary chance of a life time to help an amazing charity and honour our angels in the sky. I have asthma, and have been hospitalised a few times with it, so I’m hoping I don’t get carted off by mule in Peru! And I’m not too fussed about snakes, but I can't wait! 

SiMBA is an amazing cause for such brave people.”

You can sponsor Joanne and the Team HERE

Team SiMBA take on The Kiltwalk

I am always amazed at the incredible things people do to raise funds for a cause they are passionate about. I have been blessed to meet an incredible group of ladies and gents who are undertaking The Kiltwalk to raise funds for Childrens' Charities and SiMBA. Over the next few months I hope to share with you about what motivates them to take on these incredible challenges and about how they fair taking part in them!

The Kiltwalk was founded in Oct 2011 as a new Scottish charity with three main joint beneficiaries: CHAS, Aberlour Child Care Trust and CLIC Sargent. In 2012, with a new logo and mascot in Oor Willie,  2 new charities were added in Sick Kids Friends Foundation and Yorkhill Children's Foundation.  

2013 saw the charity supporting the following great causes:

• Aberlour Child Care Trust
• A&M Training
• Cash for Kids
• Children 1st 
  
• Childrens Hospice Association of Scotland (CHAS)
• CLIC Sargent (caring for children with cancer)
• DEBRA
• The Tartan Army Children's Charity (TACC)
• Sick Kids Friends Foundation
• The Aila Coull Foundation
• Yorkhill Chidlren's Charity

The Kiltwalk aims to help and support Scottish children from disadvantaged backgrounds or suffering from life threatening illnesses. 

Hundreds of participants walk 26 miles and walks include Hampden to Loch Lomand, and Buckie to Aberlour. 

I'm really looking forward to introducing you to the amazing Team SiMBA who are doing multiple Kiltwalks this year to raise funds for some incredible charities including SiMBA.