Lovely Linda

Our family came together to celebrate Gordon’s birthday last night, except Gemma who, unfortunately, couldn’t make it down from Uni. We had a great time and everyone was in good spirit; though special mention should go to Alex’s dad and Tom (my favourite uncle) for being on top ‘banter’ form, and to my Mum for baking her infamous birthday dumpling!

While we were all having a laugh and reminiscing over Gordon’s past 16 years, a friend of mine was doing her very best just to get through the day:

Sometimes you meet someone and, within a very short time, you know that they’re going to become a welcome addition to your life. On the first day of the course that I recently completed, I was lucky enough to meet a few such folk and I probably gained just as much from them – as individuals – as I did from the actual content of the course. One of them in particular, Linda Sterry, has become a firm friend and she’s probably one of the most resilient people I’ve ever met. On the 15th of March 2009 Linda’s two year old little boy, Gregor, died suddenly - totally out of the blue, with no warning whatsoever.  He just didn’t wake up. The same day that we were celebrating Gordon’s 14^th birthday, the Sterry family’s world fell apart.

Now, my first impression of Linda – before I knew about Gregor – was of a lovely, confident, happy, well-informed, interesting, genuine woman who likes to laugh (a lot!). As I’ve got to know her, I’ve discovered that my first impression hit the mark - but I’ve also discovered that there’s much more to Linda than first meets the eye. When Gregor died, the family received a lot of support from the Scottish Cot Death Trust and Linda has, ever since, been an effective and active advocator of this extremely worthwhile charity. In fact, after beating off the competition from thousands of other applicants, she recently won a place on the Vodaphone World of Difference Programme, which funds selected people to provide invaluable help - using their transferable skills - to the charity of their choice for a two month period.  Linda has thrown herself into this project and the SCDT is going to benefit greatly from her input, indomitable spirit and commitment. Since Gregor’s death, she’s already helped to raise over £15000 for the charity through a fundraising walk – and that’s before she plays a more official role! As part of the programme, Linda has to keep a blog – check it out if you’d like to meet her!

As if that wasn’t enough for one person to be dealing with, Linda’s husband received a kidney transplant six months ago after a long battle with renal failure. She’d made a choice to learn how to administer his treatment and had a room in their house converted so that she could nurse him through dialysis three times a week for five hours at a time at home. This latest transplant has been much more successful than his last so the family – Linda, Mark and their son Ben – can start doing some things again that have been nigh on impossible for a long, long time. Things that most of us take totally for granted. Recently Linda and Mark attended a REVIVAL conference; it’s a local charity that supports transplant patients in many different ways and Linda’s been pretty active in finding out how her and Mark can get involved.  And, from firsthand experience, Linda asks everyone if they’re aware of the donor register and, if not, makes sure they become better informed. I was already registered when she asked me.

So, she’s quite a lady is Linda, which is why I’ve dedicated this post to her and her worthwhile causes. I admire and respect her for making such a positive difference to people’s lives following unthinkable tragedy in her own; but admiration and respect don’t necessarily make for good friendship. It’s things like her sense of humour, love of a good blether and a mutual high regard for people who make the most of life that probably made us click.

From last night on, there’ll always be a special little place in my heart for Linda on Gordon’s birthday. Sometimes, in the midst of celebration, it doesn’t do any harm to stop for a moment, remember that life’s pretty fragile, and just appreciate and be thankful for everyone and everything we have around us at that very moment in time. And, sometimes, on even the happiest of occasions, it’s OK to shed a wee tear for the special people who either we, or our friends, have lost.