As you may be aware, last week I posted this on my blog:
Help Mummy Barrow Help Harry Moseley
A request for you to vote for Wincey Willis in the Absolute Radio “Who’s Calling Christian 80s legends” competition.
I tweeted Wincey back in September because I saw that she was tweeting support for Harry Moseley and was in touch with the family. I asked if she would enter, in an effort to win £5,000 and promised that if she did it, and won, I would donate my £5,000 too. Long before the competition had even started and I cheekily “reminded” her on the first day.
Harry was poorly at that stage but by the time Wimcey called in on Wednesday he had taken a turn for the worst. By then Harry was in a coma and we were all willing him to #wakeupharry. Hoping the power of Twitter would wake him to give his mum a hug.
Sadly Harry stayed in his coma and on Friday he went home for the last time.
It was an awful shock to read his mum’s tweet on Saturday night that said that Harry had “finally fallen asleep”.
The phone call from Wincey and the mention on national radio really brought this amazing young man to so many people’s attention and in raising awareness has also raised more funds.
I watched voting all weekend, as did Wincey. We were playing tag as we tweeted and retweeted the link to vote for Wincey. Everytime I saw a celeb with a huge list of followers mention Harry (from Tamara Ecclestone to Duncan Bannatyne) I tweeted them and said, please vote and ask your followers to do so.
Despite this it was still a huge shock to hear this morning that Wincey had done it. Beating the formidable Stephen Fry, Philip Schofield, The Hoff and Chas from Chas and Dave (not to mention the other 45 celebs who called in but didnt make the final shortlist)
With 48% of the votes, Wincey had just won £10,000 for Harry’s Charity: Help Harry Help Others.
If you didn’t hear the call it is here:
Absolute Radio AudioBoo
I had dropped J back at school and was sitting in a Tesco car park on hold listening to Wincey. I managed to hold it together long enough to speak and confirm I would stick to my word and donate my £5,000 winnings too but then Christian played this:
and I fell apart. Thinking about the Moseley family preparing to say their final goodbyes to their darling son who has done more in eleven years that many will ever achieve.
I started driving home and then the Breakfast show played Elbow “one day like this” and I had to pull over into a lay-by to cry again. As it ended, Greg the producer called to say thank you. I could hardly speak. I don’t do speechless but I couldn’t get the words out.
And so in true Hollywood “I have just won” style I would like to say a few thank yous:
To Harry for being such a remarkable young man. May we never forget you.
To Wincey for agreeing to do it. You wonderful lady. How you went to work on Sunday morning, I have no idea. Or how you spoke this morning.
To Absolute Radio for hosting a competition like this that can raise charity awareness.
To Christian, who put himself on the line everytime that phone rang and he said “Who’s this?”
and finally, to all of you who put up with my incessant tweeting of the link and voted. You did this.
Now, if you will excuse me I am going to go and have a little lie down.
MummyBarrow,
You do yourself an injustice by humbly overlooking your own work in this. Harry’s story is a quite remarkable one and as a parent it makes you realise just what we take for granted when we get annoyed with our children. Harry has as you say achieved more than most will in his eleven years than the average ‘three score years and ten’ and he will certainly never be forgotten and will live on in the hearts of those who knew who he was.
Well done to you for making the connection between Wincey and Christian’s show and well done for a remarkable gesture with your half of the money, I’ll bet Harry would be incredibly proud of how much people care about his cause.
Thank you Mark. Monday was a very humbling day.
As long as there are people like Harry Moseley, Wincey and you in this world there is light in what can be a dark and difficult place. Huge love and respect to you all for what you have achieved. xx
Thanks so much for your lovely comment. I am sure what I did was not that remarkable and that most other people in the same circumstances would do the same.
You, missus, are a national treasure. Harry may be gone but the hope and faith he leaves behind was reinforced by Wincey and you, and you brought a little ray of light into what must be the darkest days for them. Be proud, and know you’ve made a difference when they need it most.
PS I cried my bloody eyes out and am about to do it again. SO proud of you. x
Love you, Mrs. THank you. You would have done the same, I am sure.
AMAZING NEWS! I’m so pleased, and what a generous gesture to donate your half of the prize money. Harry would be proud x
Thanks so much
I followed Harry from the spring of this year and can’t believe how he touched my life. I voted and tweeted and RTd – you and the fab Wincey did an amazing job and in Harry’s words, you helped ‘Make it Happen’
Be proud – I bet Harry is xxx
We couldn’t have done it without people like you tweeting and retweeting our plea for votes. And for that we are so grateful. Thank you xxx
I can’t believe you did all this AND managed to keep me together this weekend too. I’m doubly indebted to you. You’re an inspiration, you really are xx
Pleasure to have been able to help you Ms Lippie. Us women are masters of multi-tasking!!
What an amazing thing to do; I followed Harry’s story at the time, and was so sad to hear of his passing. Well done Mummy Barrow managing to do all of this for the charity, as well as the million other things I am sure you have to fit it – you are a star.
P.S. Thanks for joining in the linky 🙂
Wow, well done 🙂 What a fantastic thing to be able to say you have done.