Hello everybody
Welcome to the Muffin Life blog, where you will be able to read all about Muffin's, our life and everything in between.
I (Charlie) am going to tell you a little bit about what led Muffin's to be created and how we got here.
When I was born I had an unexpected birth defect called Spina Bifida and another condition called Hydrocephalus. Huh? Never heard of it? I will explain, medically it means my nerves are damaged and I have no feeling in my legs and feet. The most common answer to this statement is, 'well how do you walk then?' To be honest, I do not know and neither do any of my doctors, a mystery that will never be solved. I am just forever thankful that I can walk. I also have fluid on my brain which does not drain away by it's self and I need a special device called a shunt to drain it away. What did this mean for the rest of my life? errr well.... the doctors were not entirely sure about that one, the picture they painted was a bleak one and the future was very uncertain.
Nothing in life is straight forward and I seemed to set out on that path literally from the day I was born. I grew up with a care free life, yes there was a lot of medical stuff going on with many hospital stays but I was a happy go lucky, cheeky little girl and have very fond memories of my childhood. Even when at the age of 9 I suffered a stroke and was paralysed I still never saw myself as different and did not want to be treated differently by anybody. Even after my stroke I took part in sports days, did ballet, horse riding and so much more. My parents never let my disability stand in the way of doing what I wanted.
It was always my dream to go to university and gain a degree. My parents were keen to see me pursue it and after finishing my A levels I gained my place and went off to university to do a degree in psychology. It was the summer after I finished uni that I began to think about the future. What was next for me? What did I want to do? For me at the time the choice seemed obvious I wanted to go and do my Masters and then go into medicine or neuroscience. It was my dream to help people and make a difference. I applied to do my masters and gained places at three different universities But life has a habit of throwing you in a different direction when you least expect it and things never do run smoothly. That summer I found myself in hospital needing major reconstructive surgery of my feet, I was going to be in a cast, bed bound and unable to walk for several months. Well that certainly put my PHD plans on hold but I was not giving up without a fight.
So there I was lying in hospital, bored stupid and I had a moment where I remembered a few years ago I had come up with the idea of 'survival kits' for children in hospital, something fun and exciting to help them survive the boredom of hospital. But I had done nothing about it at the time because I was at uni and who really would care about such a simple idea? I came out of hospital and felt inspired to do something. Yes I should have been resting but as I couldn't leave my bed technically I was. All I needed was my laptop and phone to get started. To me it did not matter what life had thrown at you it was what you did with it that counted and I saw an opportunity to use my experiences to help others. I came up with a name almost instantly Muffin is a nickname of mine so Muffin's Dream seemed perfect. I remember one evening my parents and I sat down to dinner and they asked what I had been up to that day and I told them my grand plan to send out these Boredom Buster Bag's to poorly children, They looked slightly scared and apprehensive as at the time I was awful at organisation and hear I was talking about setting up and running my own charity. But as they had always done they gave me there unwavering support in my mission.
So on the 6th October 2012 whilst I should have still been resting Muffin's Dream became a reality and we started out on our Muffin Life journey and mission to help children with illness and disability across the area. I had no idea that day would change my life forever nor did I realise at the time how wonderful and enchanting Muffin life was going to be.
