Dear Phil

Hello lovely members,

We never underestimate the wonder of you all being these eyes and ears of kindness out in the world, spotting the needs we can help support. Thank you to each and every one of you for allowing us to be the brilliant force for good that we, collectively, are.

This week’s nomination comes from Sarah, who, along with other friends, noticed a change in their mate Phil and potentially saved his life. They are now looking our for him still – hoping to support him in his recovery from a very scary and serious health event. Good friends are so vital and this feels like a wonderful moment to offer Phil the good friendship of an extra 500 people. No better medicine!

Please keep noticing and nominating. The world needs you and you are all brilliant.

Love from your admins!

Here’s Sarah’s nomination.

I would like to nominate my friend Phil.

Phil is a dear friend of mine and an amazing person who has overcome so much in recent years. However his most recent challenge was huge and unexpected and could have been deadly.  Phil lives alone but is always in contact with his friends. His personality is engaged and interested and always funny. Some of his close friends and family noted over a weekend that his messages did not sound like him. He had been feeling unwell in week or so prior and had gone to doctors and they had advised to rest up but did not think it was anything else. But his friends really knew otherwise and had that feeling and I’m so grateful they did. They did a welfare check on him on the Monday and he was disorientated and not with it. He was very distressed. He was taken to hospital and after a few days of tests it was determined he had meningitis that caused Encephalitis. Encephalitis is a condition in where the brain becomes inflamed, and it can be life threatening. He has been in hospital for a couple of weeks and every day has got a little better, but he still has a way to go. His memory and mind are still not right, and this is an incredibly stressful and scary place for him to be. He is now back home and beginning on his road to recovery and hoping that there are not long-term problems because of this.  

On top of this Phil’s work is freelance so there is now a huge financial stress adding to this and potentially impacting him being able to rest and take the time needed to get better. With the Meningitis and then Encephalitis coming out of nowhere it means he can’t do new, or any work. Basic tasks at home such as making a cuppa are taking a lot out of him so trying to deal with clients reaching out is just too much. He said he had missed the Universal Credit deadline for January, so he has no money.

I feel like I could do Phil a lot more justice in this summary, but I really wanted to act quickly to potentially get help for him as soon as possible. I just think a little bit (or a big bit in this case!) of good news would mean a lot. The £500 would be hugely helpful but I know the idea that 500 people are rooting for his recovery would be incredibly meaningful

Thank you and please let me know if I can give any other details

Sarah