Hi again,
I'm in the library in St Ives, had to pay for the internet and could only have half an hour.
Moved campsites today but the new site, although it had a great disabled shower etc, had a nasty slope up to it, a nasty slope towards it and a really nasty slope to get off the pitch onto the path! We're now happily ensconced in a great site at St Buryan where we bought Keitha, one of our Shires from. Todays walk was slightly shortened so still possible - shortened by a dramatic cliff fall which neccesitated closing a long stretch, so it was quite a short if tiring walk to the next stop. Tomorrow its on to Sennen Cove I believe.
On a more serious note, I spent a long time awake last night worrying about all the things I keep being told I should've done or could've done. Well, and I mean no offense, I asked for help a year ago and none was forthcoming. Charlie and I arranged everything, we planned the stops, the meeting places, the campsites, we designed and built the website, we designed our logo, our literature, our promotional stuff, we wrote and distributed our own press release and inbetween I managed a little training for this huge undertaking. There were no more hours in the day for all the things we apparently 'could've' and 'should've'. We are very grateful to the people that have taken on the work still going on back home and I hope they know how appreciated they are, but I really don't need to be told all my shortcomings when I'm slogging at this walk. It's not a picnic, or an extended holiday - after all I could easily enjoy the sea and wonderful scenery right on my doorstep couldn't I?
There are, I know, one or two who have said that if I can do this walk I could go to work and earn a living like everybody else. I walk for a few hours each day, strapped at every joint, hurting on every step to fight for justice for young poorly people and their families. When I cared for Charlotte 24 hours a day, seven days a week, nobody suggested then that I was surely fit enough for work - strange, or am I becoming a cynic?
I should also let you all know that the walk will not be the end of this. I let the medical profession walk all over my daughter and ruin her life for ever - no more. I intend to find a solicitor with some courage, unlike the last lot that wouldn't even attempt to clear the first hurdle, and fight for Charlotte's right to justice. No doctor should be allowed to get away with striding upto a young person who can feel nothing from the neck down, slap their thigh hard several times and then walk away saying 'well, if you wont even try...', and no doctor should get away with going to a patient who has asked not to be treated by them any longer, pull out a set of car keys and scrape the soul of the foot to try to get a reaction, and then walk off leaving a red weal, and nobody should get away with changing a persons medical notes to cover up mistakes and lay all the 'blame' for illness on the child and the family. If I let them get away with it this time it'll happen again and again and again, so look out, I'm not letting it just slip away this time. Nobody deserves to go through what Charlotte did and I'm going to do my bit to stop it happening.
Thats my piece said, time's up on the internet in the library, so I'm off to try to keep the gas alight while I cook supper in the wind. Enjoy your settees, kettles and comfy beds - I'm looking forward to mine in June!
Bye for now,
Love Susan x