August 2021

31/08/2021 0 By Smile For ME

Hello and welcome to August’s newsletter. Hope you have had the best month possible.

Smiles

15 Smiles were sent to both ME sufferers and carers of all ages this month. The items included in our Smiles change all the time as we personalise them to each person’s likes and interests. Some of the items included this month were afternoon tea set, jigsaws, stationery, pamper products, books, book vouchers, craft sets, candles, socks, biscuits, coffee and a cuddly toy.

“I can’t thank you enough for the most perfect parcel ever! So beautifully wrapped you must have taken such care & time to chose, wrap & send them ? I had had a bad day yesterday so the timing was absolutely perfect ? I love all my gifts and the jigsaw is amazing! It’s as if they are from a friend who has known me all my life ?”

 

“Thank you so much from my wife and I for sending these, couldn’t have arrived at a better time. We are so grateful for all you do.”

 

“Thank you so much to Smile for ME for this beautiful carer’s gift. It came on a difficult day and literally did make me smile ? I love all of the gifts and am so grateful. Thank you ? you are wonderful xx”

 

“So so grateful and smiley to have received the most lovely Smile For ME gift today! What a wonderful charity, providing a much needed pick-up to those managing this tricky condition ❤️??”

 

Smile of the month

Each month we ask on social media what has made you smile this month? We love hearing the responses and hope by sharing some of your smiles it can help others to find a smile too.

What’s made you smile this month?

 

Share a story

Share a story is a segment in our monthly newsletters where we share a story from someone affected by ME to help raise awareness and remind others they are not alone. This month’s share a story is by KT King. Thank you KT for sharing your experience of ME and how you turned to your life long dream of becoming an author…

I was lucky enough to receive a smile in the post recently. The parcels were so beautifully presented it seemed a shame to open them but when I did I found that the gifts were tailor-made for me – fluffy bed socks with pom-poms, a magical jigsaw, a beautiful pen and case and a gorgeous pink notebook – perfect!

I have suffered with ME for nearly 30 years, since the age of 19, but looking back I think I always had mild ME as a child too. I suffered with tonsillitis at least three times a year and had glandular fever. Back in the 1990’s, in the U.K, there was no such thing as ME and the nearest thing to it anyone (including the doctors) had heard of was called Yuppy Flu. Not much has changed since then but there are many wonderful people advocating for us now and trying to help raise awareness for this misunderstood illness.

My ME has fluctuated wildly over the years and it destroyed all hopes of a career. I lost my home, my business, as a complimentary therapist, and my independence aged 40. My decades of battling mild-moderate ME were in vain. I never got well, no matter what I tried and in 2011 it became so severe that I was confined to my bed for more than three years. That was nearly ten years ago and I have never been able to get back to work or have a semblance of a normal life again.

Due to being unable to go out, see friends, work or play my mind turned to my lifelong dream of being a writer. Unable to physically write for the first three years I planned and wrote my first novel in my mind until I was well enough to type it up. Luckily I am able to touch type but due to having days, months, years unable to sit at my computer it takes me a long time to get them into shape for publication. Due to not being able to meet deadlines I self-publish but that means it is hard to get the word out about my novels so I am yet to break even on my investment! I have now published two novels – Little Eden Book One and Two and am just coming up to finishing the third in the series.

The heroine in my novels, Sophie Lawrence, has ME. I believe people suffer with empathy fatigue if they are bombarded by too much suffering so I wanted to weave ME into a fun, thrilling, page-turning, magical and enduring story. Sophie’s friends and family show the reader how they can support any friends or family they may have who suffer with ME. Since reading my books my own friends and family have shown greater support, empathy and understanding and I hope that this will be the same for all my dear readers.

Writing is the only thing I have left in my life and it keeps me going. I couldn’t have children, I have no partner and I can’t look after a pet so my characters are my friends and the setting of Little Eden is my escape place. I wanted to create a world in which the reader would feel safe, cosy and enlightened and I am pleased to say that one of the first things readers say to me is that ‘they want to live in Little Eden’. One reader called it a ‘sanctuary from my sofa’ and another said of book two that it was ‘like coming home again’ and another joked that she had looked on-line but unfortunately ‘there are no houses for sale in Little Eden at this time’. We all need an escape from our isolated lives in ME lockdown. Some of us spend months without seeing a friend or leaving the house.

Unfortunately many people with ME cannot read novels and struggle to read as much as I have written here but I hope that those who can read them will find themselves represented in fiction and living vicariously through Sophie who is a heroine despite her condition.

The novels are supernatural, cosy, thrillers which chart the changes to the human consciousness since 2012 and those readers who are on a spiritual journey tell me they can feel the energy in the pages even before opening the book. But you don’t have to be spiritually inclined to enjoy the novels, anyone and everyone can read Little Eden books and I hope that you will give them a go yourself and by doing so help me raise awareness for your loved ones, yourself and the millions of us worldwide who suffer with ME.

Little Eden books are truly magical – A Magic Book opens the heart and expands the mind.

Little Eden Book One and Book Two are currently available to buy on Amazon worldwide as Kindle, Kindle Unlimited and as paperbacks. You can get signed copies from my Etsy shop too. Just search KT King Little Eden or click here for links.

Thank you again KT for kindly donating your books to us to include in a Smile.

 

Support us

Smile For ME is now registered with eBay Charity. You can support us by donating between 10-100% to us from any items you sell.

Support Smile For ME on eBay Charity through selling

  1. On your eBay listing, look for the charity ribbon and select the option to “Donate a portion to charity.”
  2. Select Smile For ME from the list of charity options
  3. Select the percentage (10-100 percent) of your selling price that you would like to donate
  4. Verify the charity and donation percentage on your item by checking the information included in the item description.
  5. List your item and sell and ship to your customer as usual
  6. Then receive a donation receipt. Within a few weeks, and after the buyer has paid, PayPal Giving Fund will automatically send the donation to your selected charity and send you a donation receipt. eBay will also credit you an equal percentage of your fees.

Support Smile For ME on eBay Charity through buying

  1. Go to Smile For ME’s eBay Charity profile
  2. At the bottom of the page “eBay sales for charity: Smile For ME” will list all the items currently available which are supporting Smile For ME.
  3. Shop one of those items and we will receive the percentage of money the seller chose
  4. Don’t forget you can also raise an extra 0.5% donation on eBay through Easy Fundraising at the same time

 

Thank you’s

A special thank you to everyone who has supported us this month. We say thank you each month and we truly mean it. Thank you for your kindness and generosity which enables us to continuing sending Smiles to those affected by ME, without you it wouldn’t be possible.

 

Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter.

Smile For ME

xx