Twice in as many days, blimey. Not much by way of news since yesterday so I thought I might as well use the time to launch the crusade.

We want to sell… oops… er… I mean tell our story to a much wider audience in the hope that the more people hear about it, the more people may want to get involved in trying to stop it happening to anyone else. We were thinking of using local and national newspapers, TV and radio as well as this blog which is obviously global.

I hope that you guys might have some ideas as to how I might do this or better still some contacts within the industry who might be able to move something forward. As I am sure you will gather time is of the essence so get those replies coming... no pressure!

Also I am sure there are people out there reading this who do not know me directly and haven't yet commented. I'd love to hear from everyone be it in regard to the above, something else, or better still, a question that no one has dared to ask yet. For example, I have been asked by a friend if they are to wear black to the funeral (apparently there may be an issue with the supply of fabric for bespoke outfits). To which I answered, "wear what you like, Noreen!" The same applies to everybody else.

I'd like to thank my friend Rhona for typing this entry.

Much love
Neil

After there being such a big gap between the two previous posts, it was a real boost to Neil to get so many comments. He knew people were out there reading, and from now on, the blog and his fundraising became a real obsession. It was good for him, it gave him something to think about other than his mortality and all that he would be leaving behind. His time was plagued by thoughts of a future he couldn't be a part of, so having goals and achievements to aim for brought relief from those thoughts.

One of Neil's greatest qualities was that he made everyone feel welcome and special. If Neil wanted to be friends with you, you would know about about it. He had an almost child-like quality when it came to making friends, he didn't suffer from the inhibitions that many adults develop when it comes to meeting new people. It was a quality that helped him be successful at work, and now he was able to use it for this 'crusade'. He was gathering and calling to action.

Neil uses 'we' a couple of times here, which is a bit uncomfortable for me to read back. I had every intention of fundraising in the future – even back then I was talking of joining the MND Association on one of their challenges, but that was a dream at this point, part of my recovery plan for when MND had finally stopped torturing Neil.

All I wanted to do was keep the two of them as protected and happy as possible but if that meant I had to help Neil gather momentum for some crusade then so be it. I was happy to go along with anything that gave Neil a sense of achievement, but I don't think I was completely on board with any grand plans at this point – I was just trying to get through each day.

It's quite difficult for me to admit that lack of support, considering how much Neil did manage to achieve with the time he had left.
I love that he joked about his funeral in this post, he knew after the tears there would be a party and this was his way of joining in.

It was this post that prompted our friend Morag McKinnon to write an email to me titled 'A thought', where she tentatively put forward the idea of getting in touch with Emma Davie to propose a documentary. The first line of my reply was: "Yes go ahead... after the day we've had, Neil is on an absolute mission to get a publicity drive going."

The day we had had will become clear in the next post. – Louise (2013)