Sunday 20 May 2012

What happens when your dreams come true?

I hope my declaration doesn't put any of you off my blog, but I have to say I've had an interesting weekend. Thanks to my dad, I've been a die hard Chelsea FC fan since the age of about 5 or 6 I think, at least a couple of decades, put it that way!
It probably hasn't escaped your notice that my team and fans like me had their dream come true, when yesterday we won the biggest prize in club football, the European Championship, or Champions League to you and me.

After I saw the trophy in the flesh coming down Hortensia Road in Chelsea with the team, I thought, what do we do next? I guess if you're striving for something for so long that is the pinnacle of achievement, you don't really plan what you do after it happens. But then again I guess there is only one thing you can really do.

- You do more.


I suppose for people with Epilepsy, the pinnacle is being cured or completely in control of their condition. So what do you do once you cure your condition? Well you do more.

I sometimes feel incredibly guilty that my Epilepsy is under control whilst others didn't have the same luck as me. But I suppose I'm proud of myself in a way for taking on the Race Across America. I wanted to do it to raise awareness and I did in a small way. I became the youngest British female to ever complete the race across all categories. So what do you do when you have achieved that dream? You aim for more, the first ever British female to complete the RAAM Solo, the first ever female to win the race outright and claim the $25,000 prize which is still on offer for that cyclist.


I guess for Chelsea, there has never been a club in history to successfully defend the Champion's League, that could be Chelsea's new dream. Maybe even to become World Club Champions?

I think one of the reasons Chelsea were successful in winning the Champion's League was because they wanted it, more than anything. I think doing it again is harder, you loose the raw desire you had because it has already been done.

But if something wasn't hard, why would it be worth doing? Why would it be worth the energy and desire to achieve?


For me, my dreams came true when I had my Neurosurgery in the Sick Kids Hospital in Edinburgh.
It changed my life.
The fact that I am now going to be carrying the Olympic Flame in London is just icing on the cake, but I want to do more than just carry the flame. It will probably be one of the most memorable experiences of my life. But in being given the torch after my 300 meters, I want to take it back to the place that gave me the opportunity to take part in my first Race Across America to say thank-you. Because, quite frankly, I wouldn't be carrying the Olympic Torch without the Doctors and Nurses who looked after me in the way they did there.

I feel I can do more with my torch than just put in on my mantle piece. I hope it shows the young kids in Ward 7 of the hospital I was treated in myself, of what could lie ahead for them.


The one thing that keeps my guilt of not being in the situation, that other young people with Epilepsy who don't have their condition controlled or cured in check, is the constant faith that people who are involved with the condition will do more. That scientists will find a cure for Epilepsy, a dream drug or something like that.


If we achieve our dreams, why settle?

There's always a new dream to achieve or something more we can do with our dreams when they come true.

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