Here it is! My “Moo met her favourite Doctor all thanks to you wonderful, amazing people” update!
Due to many, many meltdowns on her part, there are perhaps not as many photos as I would have hoped. Once we reached London, she had a hard time coping with the stress of all the people & noise around her. The above photo shows us still happy together before our first train 😂.
Once we got to London, I took her to her favourite place to eat. Thankfully it’s a chain which is the same no matter where you go.
Note the fact that she has DECIMATED the chicken wings. And that larger bit of chicken? That’s mine. She picked over that, too. The girl is a chicken FIEND. She also wore her Dalek top proudly and was sad that no one asked her about it. (Poor little country mouse!)
Then we went straight to the hotel. The Tube was where she really got uncomfortable and then the hotel was a no-go as well. Despite having had several offers from lovely people I know to stay in their spare rooms, she was ultimately even less comfortable with that option, so hotel it was. But obviously that’s not something you can reason/explain mid-meltdown. Neither of us slept much. I repeatedly offered for her to sleep in bed with me but she preferred to stay in her own bed and wake me up every half our or so, asking to go home. Urk.
Morning, however, did eventually come! We got to the Excel Centre bright & early and could walk straight through as we already had our passes. A WONDERFUL security guard waved me through the bag check without needing to have our bags checked, I’m guessing because she clocked Moo’s sunflower lanyard. Whatever the reason - THANK YOU to that person. You saved another potential drama!
Queue time immediately for DT’s panel. Other people were already sitting down, so I was allowed to sit down, too 😂
However it wasn’t at all long before we were allowed to go in!
We had pretty good seats & could actually see DT until there was some shuffling round in front of us. Neither of us could cope with the volume of the music, though, so Moo put on her headphones & played a game on her tablet and I popped in my Loop Switches.
After the panel it was the usual issue of finding something a ND person will eat.
Moo was excited to find & point out gender neutral toilets for me to use. She was very comfortable going in there with me & I was so incredibly proud of her once again.
Then came the time to queue up for her photo! It was all just a bit confusing but we allowed ourselves to be herded. She told me off for sitting on the floor when no one else was, and eventually I had to ask if we could make use of the Accessibility chairs - I’ve got a dodgy disc which I conveniently managed to AGAIN damage/herniate/blow/disintegrate/SOMETHING THAT SOUNDED REALLY AWFUL WHEN IT HAPPENED on Monday (or was it Tuesday? Can’t even remember. Feels like years of pain) and when it got to the point where I could no longer feel BOTH feet I thought I’d ask for help.
About 20 mins later, this happened:
My only regret is not being able to show DT my T-shirt (and my terrible posture!) but Moo said she was happy fighting the Dalek with him.
And that’s all that matters.
We went home shortly after that. She managed to pick up ANOTHER SQUISHMALLOW from Forbidden Planet (she collects them) so her day was well & truly complete.
A MASSIVE, HEARTFELT, & GENUINE THANK YOU to every single person who donated and helped in every way to help make this experience possible for Moo. You have no idea how amazing you are and how truly grateful I am.
I know that, despite the meltdowns and accusations, she loved the experience and every time she sees the photo, she’ll remember the days she pushed herself beyond her comfort levels to do that one thing she really wanted to do.
But she also knows that it isn’t something that I’ll just randomly expect of her all the time and it really is just something for a Very HUGE Moment.
Thank you ALL of you. 🖤🖤🖤
