What Henry did.....

The world is watching the Olympic heroes this week; in awe of their motivation, their stamina and their sheer gutsiness to succeed in life and in their chosen field.

I’m with them, watching from a distance and being inspired by their determination. I know they are heroes and inspiration to the masses – but to me I have two other people who I chose to watch in awe and call my own heroes of the week/month/year.

Mani and Henry are two people who are categorically leading different lives, yet are connected by one single horrific word - Cancer. But this is not a tale of morbid sympathy. Not at all, this is a blog about how amazing these two people are in light of the dreaded C word.

The first is a young woman called Mani. I know her because her little boy is good friends with my son. Our boys go to school together, play rugby on Sundays mornings together, they get up to mischief, giggle and exchange stories of computer games and other “boy” things. They are normal energetic, lovely ten year old Australian boys. But enough about them.

Mani is an amazingly interesting woman. I’ve known her for a number of years through our sons connection and have always admired her energy to bring up her son alone after his father passed away. I have never heard a complaint or negative comment from Mani. Ever! I know that she just gets by but is always smiling and finding a new positive angle to view life. She has put so many things on hold in order to provide for her son and she does an amazing job. She’s intelligent, caring, funny and extremely dedicated. I have watched her hold conversations with people from every walk of life – her demeanour never changes from person to person. She treats everyone with dignity and respect.

Mani was diagnosed earlier this year with an aggressive form of ovarian cancer, one of the major killers of Australian women today. I still remember the phone call when she told me, I was absolutely speechless - what do you say to that? Here was a woman who had never asked for help, had done it on her own for a long time (and she has done a bloody good job), had remained upbeat in the face of atrocious circumstances and was now looking down the barrel of the unknown. Her greatest fear at that time was losing the battle and her son becoming an orphan at ten. I’m tensing just writing this. She was calm and stoic when telling me about her situation, but I could tell as a mother she was outright petrified. Its hard not to project in these situations, all I could think of was how I would handle this. I don’t think I could have held it together, and I really don't know how Mani did it.

The past 5 months have been incredible for Mani and her son. She has undergone emergency surgery to remove the cancer and then weekly/fortnightly chemo sessions which left her bed ridden and often with her head inside a bucket. She lost her gorgeous hair. She lost her independence. And all through this, I never heard her complain once. Her son has been there with her all along, keeping her buoyant and positive and giving her a reason to fight the C word. Every Sunday morning in the freezing cold Winter mornings, Mani was one of the first mothers at Rugby cheering on the team. And still not complaining.

The harsh reality of her situation, Mani was forced to give up her job and rely on a small amount from the government. Of course she has a wonderful family who are helping her out with emotional support, but financially she is way behind the eight ball.

This brings me to the other amazing person who is my new hero - Henry.

Henry is another one of my sons friends, a beautiful ten year old boy who shares the same love of Minecraft as my little guy does. He is just a lovely gentle soul who is always smiling and my son absolutely adores him, for good reason.

Henry decided to make a website for Mani to raise money for her and her son because they need it. Let me repeat the amazing part here – Henry is 10 years old!

You can view Henrys wonderful work here: http://helpingmani.webs.com/

Henrys mum sent an email this morning to her network of friends (she too is another lovely beautiful person) – and this motivated me to send the word to the wider community.

If you can spare a few dollars to help out a little family in need, please visit Henrys website that he made for Mani and click on the donate button. The funds raised will go directly to Mani (and yes I trust this unquestionably).

This email about what Henry did for Mani has restored my faith in humanity, and especially the next generation of people.

Both Mani and Henry are so worthy of hero status, just like the Olympians.