The Diana Award

Around May 2016 I received an email from someone at Back-Up, they told me how I had recently been put forward for The Diana Award as a courageous citizen and that I had won.

Back-Up had nominated for the award after the work I have done with them over the last four-five years and the things I have overcome since my spinal injury six years ago.

Winning this award was something that came as a huge shock to me, I never realised the full impact my volunteering had on other people. In the email we're quotes from the children and their families I've worked with and it's something that completely warmed my heart, to actually see the impact I've made through volunteering is such a wonderful feeling.

Award Ceremony

The time for me to attend the award ceremony rolled around pretty fast. I was full of both nerves and excitement for it.

We traveled the night before and stayed in a hotel overnight as I live about 3+ hours from London, where it was being held and stayed in a hotel overnight with my family. We stayed in a beautiful hotel and saw parts of London I hadn't before, I mostly only visit London to go to hospital so to go for something that was for leisure it was pretty exciting.

The whole day involving collecting my award was so overwhelming. I had what felt like hundreds of photos taken and spoke to numerous people about myself, the work I'd been doing and answered their questions. I spoke to some people from the Hello magazine and was featured in one of their issues with a photo, and some quotes from me.

I had also spent a long time speaking with Princess Diana's brother, he was one of the loveliest people I've ever met. I loved the way he spoke of his sister and the work she had done before she died. He congratulated me on my work and award numerous times and spent some time talking with my family also.

When it was my turn to collect the award, I was pretty nervous. I almost bailed, I sat and told my parents that I couldn't do it, I hate going on stage in front of people but I did it and it went pretty okay. Matt Johnson, who's a TV presented here in the U.K. announced my award.

There was a small break between announcing the awards and singer called, Charley Blue sang, she was previously a contestant on The Voice. She's so talanted and I loved her style of music, my family and I spent a lot of time talking with her and even afterwards went to the train station together. Charley is one of the loveliest people in the music industry I think I've ever come across.

After the awards were all given out I had a chance to speak to Matt, I was a little star struck because I spent years watching him on my TV. He's such a lovely person and I found it pretty cool that I got to meet him.

The day came to an end pretty quickly, I ended up with a migraine and slept the whole journey home on the train but I wouldn't change it. It was such an amazing experience and I got to meet some pretty incredible people. That day I had so many messages from my family and close friends, all telling me how proud they were of me and that meant a lot. In life, I aim to make my family proud and help others because that's something that matters most to me and knowing I did so, makes me happy.

Here are some photos from the day:

#TheDianaAward #BackUp