The Lorraine Show

What an absolutely amazing experience…I can't believe we survived LIVE TV without incident!

The night before our LIVE TV debut…. Danny, Ellie, her mum Nicky and I were chatting our nerves away with a little dutch courage at our Hotel….Danny and Nicky were giving us their advice;

so….Nicky's motherly advice to  Ellie; 'NO SWEARING'  lol!! A note 'to self' made too!… and my advice from Danny…or should I say a dare….try and sneak in a random word like 'banana leaf' into the interview. ha ha…my concern then, was that 'banana leaf' would stick in my mind and I would either blurt it out on live TV or it render me 'speech paralysed' for fear of saying it.. Thanks Son!

We woke bright and early and having popped on 'Bjorn' (wig) and 'plastered' on my #warpaint4life, we made our way to the ITV studios.

We were efficiently taken to the Lorraine 'Green Room' and prepared for the morning events. There was so many of us in the #warpaint4life entourage ', we took over the whole room. ooops!

Danny and I in the 'Green Room'

We were hooked up with microphones… and all of us except Maria, had to take off our carefully chosen 'statement necklaces' due to noise interference.

Wayne Sleep, British talent at it's best and a personal favourite,  soon lit up the room with his grace and humour. He came over to us, 'curious and interested' and chatted a while with us until he was ushered into make up!

Wayne was a Master Chef contender and was there to chat to Lorraine about that…..I hadn't realised until writing this post that it was in fact Wayne's birthday that day… so here's sending him happy belated birthday wishes…

In fact …Wayne shares his birthday with someone else worthy of a big mention…#warpaint4life's very own photographer,  Josh van Gelder celebrated his birthday too x

Happy Birthday Josh x

We also chatted a little to Michelle Heaton and saw her children.  I found her highly personable and this eased my own nerves about appearing on the Lorraine show.  Michelle spoke about some of her charity awareness raising work …and she struck me as a 'girl who just gets it '….like me…. who wants to make a positive difference out of her misfortune.

Michelle has the BRAC2 gene, and went on to talk to Lorraine on her show about the tough decisions she has made to reduce her chances of developing cancer. Sharing her story will undoubtedly help others in their own choices.

There was such an air of  familiarity when I came face to face with some of the ITV personalities that morning. In my mind, it felt as if  I'd known them personally for years, obviously because of watching them on TV or reading about them in the news and magazines.

It was really bizarre,  my instant reaction when I saw Richard Arnold (presenter/editor) was to say 'Hello' as if greeting an old friend … he reciprocated, with a smile and a greeting , but I'm sure he though 'who the hell was she!

On our way down a corridor Ellie and I, were keenly following a lady, (not sure of her official title) to the makeup area, and we were conscious of someone behind us that the lady was speaking to… we thought nothing of it , until I turned around and saw Dr Hilary Jones…. again familiarity sneaked in and I said to him 'it's Hilary Jones'…Duhh!!... of course he knows who he is!!  One of my  'I carried a water melon' moments!….. never the less a charming man, who chatted to us about our shoes!

I now actually 'get' how some people, form relationships in their own minds with celebrities and TV personalities , claim them as best friends and stalk them…. you'll be please to know that the stalker in me was kept at bay……that is until Krenna, Nikki (Ellie's mum) and I, saw the rather delicious, Ben Sheppard, interrupted a conversation he was having with Wayne Sleep and asked for a picture!

Our groupy behaviour was rewarded with a a rather blurry picture, never the less; the memory will be captured in our minds and now on this blog post! Yay!…. Just incase Mr Sheppard were to read this…(lol) and he had a thought to invite us back for a picture… just to let him know we  would gladly acquiesce! he he!

A picture opportunity with Wayne Sleep

The opportunity  to chat with Lorraine before or after the show was not there…I would  loved to have chatted to Lorraine about the award she received at the Inspiration for Women award #IAUK, last year…and get a sense of what it will be like when I go this October to fulfil my duties as a blogger! May be next time Lorraine??

The first time we spoke with Lorraine was on THAT sofa….LIVE on TV… eeeekk! ….Martin, the researcher had gone through an outline of the questions we could be asked….but any rehearsal in our minds just evaporated, as Lorraine worked her magic and drew the spontaneity from our responses in the way she only knows how.

The only pic with Lorraine ..he he!!

The interview went so quickly and we had sooooo much more to say. There were some limits about what could be said and shown about the charity and it is our hope that we did LGFB justice and got the important messages out there about the #warpaint4life campaign.

There is a clip of the interview and a link to LGFB on  The Lorraine website. We have also made it to the Lorraine face book page (please click the link, like and leave a comment - remember #warpaint4life is going for world domination!)

We were all absolutely buzzing after the interview and we were relieved to have a 'pat on the back' for a job well done from SJ, LGFB executive director and Carly, PR and communications manager!

The 'LGFB entourage', ended 'the Lorraine experience' with a breakfast treat on the south bank, where we plotted  #warpaint4life campaign world domination. lol!

The next time we shall meet will be on the 7th September at the LGFB Icon Walk- Up at the O2. LGFB will be creating a 'pink arch across the roof of the O2 to celebrate 20 years of Look Good Feel Better in the UK'. Individually we hope to raise some money too..so keep a look out here if you fancy sponsoring me! 

Kreena, Danny and I went on to enjoy a chocolate tour of London and  theatre show , before  finally making our way home that night to watch the Lorraine interview and face the email and FB message overload!!

…with Tom the chocolate tour guide!

Theatre selfie x

I went through the day on pure adrenaline, dismissing treatment fatigue and sacrificing the next couple of day's to aches and pains and tiredness ….. but I would do it all over again in a flash… for I was transported out of the 'cancer world' into a day of indulgence and diversions with my 'favourite son!'

UPDATE: My Blog is getting a complete make over thanks to Becky Dudley. You will notice some changes from Monday and you will finally be able to leave messages!! Yay!