Four Little Words

Spreading four little words with my first blog post. Please read and share fourlittlewordscampaign.wordpress.com/blog/

Thank you so much to TV’s Richard Madeley for this lovely review of Little Bird and the Sky that got Bigger. Donations are going really well and it is great to connect with schools and charities helping the bereaved. Copies are available from nicdovetherapy.co.uk ❤️

💜💜💜 #NationalPoetryDay

Grief is not weakness even though it can sometimes take our strength away with its power. It is the brave expression of love after loss. Sending love and support to you all as you walk the hardest of paths ❤️💜 #StrongerTogether nicdovetherapy.co.uk

@NAFD_UK your campaign in schools to help children deal with bereavement is fantastic. I would love to connect @sorry4yl with you on this. I have just finished a grief book for children that I am planning to donate into schools.

Never let silence worsen the pain of your loss 💜💜 nicdovetherapy.co.uk

As 2023 draws to a close, I would like to thank everyone who has supported this account. For those new to this account, a brief synopsis: Charlotte’s tumour was on the brain stem. As a result of its location, her tumour was totally inoperable. In terms of treatment, all that was on offer was the standard six weeks’ of radiotherapy and a course of Temozolomide (a drug developed in 1999. There has been little progress since). Charlotte was diagnosed originally with a grade three Anaplastic Astrocytoma with spinal diffusion. Two years later, this mutated into the deadly grade four Glioblastoma, for which there is currently no cure. Charlotte’s journey was, on the whole, pretty lonely. She had few friends and little to look forward to. She was a young adult who had, before her cancer diagnosis, suffered from Generalised Anxiety Disorder. She found daily routines incredibly hard. Getting the bus on her own, for example, was beyond her. Her anxiety always got the better. She lacked confidence, considering herself ‘ugly’ and a stranger to the world. Charlotte’s cancer diagnosis changed all that. She went from being a shy, anxiety ridden teenager, into the bravest and most extroverted of individuals. I think that the gravity of her situation – now that it was life or death – brought about a change in the way Charlotte viewed her anxiety and the world in which it manifested. In June 2014, Charlotte started her You Tube channel. She was one of the first to document her cancer journey online. After her death, in February 2016, at the age of 19, we were approached by Channel 4. We worked with a production team to make a documentary about Charlotte and two other cancer sufferers. Her channel has reached a global audience, being viewed over twenty-two million times. We are fortunate, as Charlotte’s channel is the advertisement for the charity, we have no overheads. Miles and I have worked really hard promoting Charlotte’s BAG (Battle against Glioblastoma). The charity we founded following Charlotte’s passing (the name pays homage to Charlotte’s life-long love of handbags!). We pay all our own expenses; if, for example, we attend a meeting at Charlotte’s Lab, at King’s College Hospital, London, we pay all our own rail costs. All funds raised go directly to where they should: to research at Charlotte’s Lab. If you pop a pound in Charlotte’s BAG, 100% of that pound goes to research. This month’s donations have totalled £1852.19. Tomorrow, following our meeting with the King’s team on 19th December, we will be announcing how the next round of fundraising will be spent. I don’t think many charities can give you a detailed breakdown of where your money goes. RT/Follow would be appreciated Thank you again Alex & Miles x

Grief can silence us but I think the most important thing is having the chance to say what we need to say … whatever that is 💜 nicdovetherapy.co.uk #nationalgriefawarenessweek

More and more as I meet people trying to live on with loss in their lives, I think and believe this. We have found each other here on Four Little Words and I hope more than anything, you are finding people around you who will sit alongside you through the pain of grief ❤️

Grief is the pain of absence. Doesn’t matter when or how long after, sometimes it just really really hurts. Grief and love are intertwined because they both come from wanting to be with someone. How can it be any other way ❤️❤️ nicdovetheraoy.co.uk

Grief.. the hardest language to learn 💜