The past couple of days I have noticed a lot of ‘Letters to 2014’ being published on Facebook, Twitter and numerous other social networking sites. So in true Ellie Erbs style, I thought that it would be nice to sum up what has been another erbs-tastic year for me, in a letter.
Well, where do I even start? This year has, as every year must, its ups and downs. Although, I can and gladly so confirm there have been a lot more ups!!! This year I feel a lot happier within myself. I have adopted the attitude I wish that I had, had over my teenage years of ‘this is me, like it or lump it’. And, I feel like I really have learnt to love my arm that little bit more, laughing at its kooky ways, accepting the stares and questions and embracing its individualism.
Ellie Erbs has reached its terrible twos in 2014, and thankfully has gone through the year with few temper tantrums. Although, I would be lying if I said there hadn’t been one or two! There have been a few new additions, like my driving website and who can forget the online advent calendars for the countdown to Christmas! And as of the 31st December 2014, at 17:48 Ellie Erbs’ Youtube account had 125 subscribers and 32, 168 video views and far too many comments to count!
My arm hasn’t changed a whole lot, something which I honestly don’t mind. I still am lucky to have very little pain and discomfort, and any that I do get I manage to learn to live with and forget about quite quickly. My function hasn’t gained, nor was it expected to and surgery has been discussed but not carried out thankfully. Physio has pretty much stayed the same, and everyone agrees that the best course of action is for me to carry on doing what I am doing, without too much intervention (other than splints) until discomfort arises and I feel the need for something to change. My little erbs arm is still my little erbs arm, and has remained throughout the year as a significant thing that has made me the person that I am today!
This year was also home to another brilliant (and for me and my family quite memorable) Erb’s Palsy Group Fun Day! Held in Burgess Hill, my uncle and aunt were able to join the usual me, mom, dad and brother to have a day full of fun, fun, fun! We had a go on pretty much everything available, with my brother being driven around in a Porsche, which has made him the talk of his mates, me making a splatter clock, that hangs proudly on my wall, and us all visiting a Las Vegas casino! The casino was that erbs-tastic, my uncle decided to treat himself to a proper (and rather fancy) roulette table for me to practice my croupier skills on. (Gamble wisely though folks!) As well as that I got to meet some lovely erblings that I have been nattering to for a while! You know who you are! And to top off what was already a lovely day I had so many inspirational erblings and their family members nattering to me about how much my videos had helped them and asking me for tips and tricks! Your words alone made my day fantastic, without being the guest speaker and winning a young achiever award as well!
Now… onto achievements!! At this time last year I was asked to be the Guest Speaker at the Erb’s Palsy Groups’ Annual General Meeting (AGM). I was more than happy to accept, and after much speech preparation and practice, it felt like the majority of the year had flown by, before I was at the AGM, with a case of the butterflies. I stood in front of a room packed full of the EPG’s wonderful committee and inspirational members, with my brother manning the PowerPoint, showing myself to be a true chatterbox with my nearly fifteen minute long speech. I received tears (sorry again), laughter and an overwhelming round of applause! And as if that moment couldn’t get any better, I was shortly after awarded with the Young Achiever Award in my age category by the Group for my Ellie Erbs work, which to me is just a hobby but which to so many others is a massive help! Something that still two, nearly three years on is wonderful to hear!
And that’s not all to top off my year, I also had two other massive achievements that will make 2015 I hope an even better year than 2014. I was offered two places at Universities to do Primary Education teaching qualifications! My dream of (as my personal statement says) being an outstanding teacher, and in later years a SENCO to create an inclusive and fair society, where children are prepared to be independent, tolerant and respectful individuals who positively contribute to society and achieve their aspirations, is not that far away at all!! And I passed my driving test, and will in 2015 be seeing myself driving around in my very own little Toyota Aygo with all the mod cons needed to make my life that bit easier!!
2014, it is safe to say has been a wonderful year for me, as both little old Ellie and Ellie Erbs! The Erb’s Palsy community, or as I prefer to call us, family has, as ever been a brilliant support system. We have all faced our challenges, and with a little help from our fab erbs friends, conquered them.
Parents you have continued to amaze me with your strength, solidarity and supportive words this year. You are all beyond brilliant mom’s and dad’s and should be extremely proud of yourselves. As the poem we are all familiar with says, you were expecting to go to Italy, but instead went to Holland. But each and every one of you has embraced that trip to Holland and made it an even better holiday than the one to Italy would have ever been. You’ve embraced the beauty of the country, the trials it can throw at you and the nasty jibes those coming to and from Italy can bring. You’ve all realised your love for that country, and although face moments where you wonder what Italy would have been like, you wouldn’t change Holland for the world!
And Erblings. I am inspired each and every day, by you all! The achievements you have gained over these 12 months, show just how determined we as a community of individuals are! Every single one of you should be proud of yourself, no matter how big or small your achievements have been, you have achieved them all, never giving up, with those fantastic smiles on your faces, despite all the odds! You have faced more hurdles than imaginable, but have jumped over them all with ease. You have had your fair share of tantrums, and rightly so, it can be irritating being different and having challenges. But you are an erbling, you are someone so, so special to so many people. You make the Erb’s Palsy family a far better family to be part of and it wouldn’t be the same without you!
I know that 2015 will push us all to our limits again, me included. We will face even more obstacles to go under, over and around, but we’ll get through them. We will need support at times, and be there to support others. We will welcome new members to our fantastic family, and will give them the guidance to get through the battles we have all faced! We will raise even more awareness, raise even more money to help change future families lives and we as a community will together celebrate yet another year as an erbs-tastic family!
Happy New Year everyone! I wish each and every one of you all the health and happiness I can possibly wish for you, for 2015. And cannot wait to share and celebrate with you all the achievements that the New Year will bring! I have every faith that our erbs family will remain as close, supportive and fantastic as it has this year, and hope 2015 brings a little less stress and a lot more smiles for you all and your families! Here is my letter to 2014, a little something to summarise the past 12 months of Ellie Erbs life!
