Friday 6 April 2012

Royal Albert Hall!

Good evening everybody! It's been a bit of a crazy week for me! To start off with about two weeks ago someone I know who works at Teenage Cancer Trust rang me up, completely out of the blue. I didn't have her number saved so wasn't sure who it was! She offered my the opportunity of going on stage at the Royal Albert Hall and doing a speech at one of Teenager Cancer Trust's gigs. She asked if I wanted to do the comedy night with Jimmy Carr, Jason Manford, Alan Davies, Tim Minchin, Dave Spiky, Stewart Francis and Jon Richardson.  I was somewhat taken back and agreed to do it!
Roger Daltrey holding my arms up after I'd finished speaking!
April 2012
I got the train down to London on the morning of Monday the 2nd of April, I brought one of my closest friends with me as well. I have to say I absolutely love London so just going there was good enough for me, my favourite place in the world by far!
After arriving in London and having a look around the Museum of Natural History my friend and I headed to the Royal Albert Hall. We were given our access all areas pass and went backstage. We had a look around and on the stage. It was at this point I realise the Royal Albert Hall was quite big. It holds roughly 5000 people and I think all but 90 tickets had been sold for the comedy night. I was going to be speaking in front of roughly 5000 people!

Before I went on I met Roger Daltrey, one of Teenage Cancer Trust's patrons. It was amazing to meet him and I also met all the other comedians briefly before. I asked Roger Daltrey if he was going to be introducing me. He found this funny, as not many people get to ask the lead singer of one of the biggest bands ever if he'll be introducing you! Jimmy Carr also asked me what flavour cancer I had, with me replying that I had chocolate flavour. It might taste of chocolate for all I know!

I was going to be going on stage just after the interval, so I went to my seat in the audience to watch the first half of the evening. It was a night of spectacular comedy, I don't think I've ever laughed so much!

At the beginning of the interval, I dashed down to the backstage area and met up with Roger Daltrey again. We waited at the side of the stage to go on. Roger fell over an piece of equipment just off the stage, so I helped him up. I'm proud to say I helped up one of the greatest rockstars in history!

A video played about young lad with a brain tumour and how Teenage Cancer Trust helped him. Watching this nearly made me cry but I had to try not to. I was seconds away from going on stage in front of 5000 people! After the video Roger and I walked out on stage. Before this moment the biggest group of people I'd done a talk to was roughly 50 people. I also realised that 5000 is actually quite a lot!

As Roger was speaking I began to think maybe I should've thought about what I was going to say before I got on stage! I really don't know how I actually made the speech, I hadn't thought of a single word and I honestly just did it from the heart. Looking back I haven't a clue what I said but apparently I got some laughs, which is always a good thing!

As I finished Roger Daltrey came back on stage and held my arms up as everyone gave me a round of applause. Best feeling ever!

As I came off stage all the comedians said I did a really good job, which coming from such talented people was a huge compliment. I then returned to my seat to enjoy the second half. I got a good number of congratulations and pats on the back as I made my way through the audience. It felt somewhat surreal!

After the second half I went backstage to have a drink with all the comedians from the night. It was amazing to meet so many talented people and I was so grateful to them all for agreeing to do the night, all free of charge. They were all so friendly and I can't believe I met them! Talk about moments to remember for the rest of your life!
Jimmy Carr, Jason Manford, me, Roger Daltrey and Alan Davies.
April 2012
I'd like to use this last bit to say thank you to the comedians for doing the gig for free and for being hospitable. I'd also like to say a huge thank you to everyone who came to the Royal Albert Hall that evening. You're all making a big difference.

8 comments:

  1. So proud of you kiddo!!! Well done!!! Can't wait to read about more of your epic adventures like this one! xx

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  2. I have sat here and read through your entire blog, and may I say I felt moved by your courage and determination. You are an inspiration to anyone regardless of age that are fighting their own battle with cancer. I wish you well with your own fight. I look forward to reading more of your blogs and hope that you will get stronger and stronger as each day passes. Take care.

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  3. Thank you for taking the time to read them all, it is encouraging for me to see so many people reading it and sharing it! I honestly can't believe the reaction I've had from people. Thank you.

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  4. Hey, saw you at the royal Albert Hall, you where fantastic and from the way you presented I thought you'd spent hours practicing it, and it was really inspiring...
    Wish you the best of luck for your battle with cancer, and the rest of your life, I hope you achieve everything you set out to do,
    you deserve it

    :)

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  5. Aww thank you! No I probably should've done but it just came from the heart and I can barely remember anything I said! Thank you for coming to the RAH! I'm glad you found it inspiring! Always lovely to hear feedback from the audience too!

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  6. Just found your blog through Jimmy Carr's link. I can't pretend to know a lot about the Teenage Cancer Trust or cancer itself, but your blog's completely moved me. You're so brave, as everyone's said above I hope you do fight this off and achieve everything you set out to do.

    On a side note, this has actually been really useful in helping me (and many others, I believe!) in understanding this, so thankyou and I look forward to reading more. :)

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  7. Thank you for reading it! Not many people do know, especially when it's in young people. I didn't know anything of it myself until I was diagnosed. Well thank you for reading, you read the whole lot? If you have I imagine you're awfully sick of me by now haha!

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  8. Fantastic! Megan had been telling me about about your fight on a regular basis - the blog is a great way to let people know how you have got through this - a huge amount of courage and determination. The fact that you have spoken at the Albert Hall event is an amazing part of your story. An altogether inspiring and informative blog on something that I knew very little about. I will be sharing this!

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