Muddy Stories - Niki’s story…an extraordinary ordinary woman
Introduced by Claire (C1) CEO Muddy Care
Everyone who has a chronic condition or a serious illness has their own story. However, all of the stories I hear as I speak, work, interview and listen to the many people I have now met to help me understand how Muddy Care can improve support, health and wellness for this community, have common experiences and desires.
First and foremost, they are all extraordinary, ordinary people as Niki communicates so well in her podcast. Secondly there is pain, trauma and loss interwoven into all their stories and continuous challenges (as there is with my own and Niki’s stories). Thirdly, is the desire for a brighter future and sometimes when I meet these people that desire feels like an impossibility in the present situation. When this belief that brighter days can exist is absent, that is a really difficult place and reality to be in. But if you have a serious medical condition, chronic or not, we have all been there, some on more occasions than seems fair.
When we can’t see the light, look for the shadows. That is what I say to myself, when I am really struggling as my body is battered, damaged and bruised by my medical conditions and I wonder if this is where my journey ends. Because if you can find a shadow that means there is some light. And if there is a little bit of light, there is a still a little bit of hope.
Niki’s story has been told through this podcast. It not only tells the story of Niki’s physical journey of pain, of suffering, but of her emotional pain too but with that her unrelenting persistence and perseverance to find a brighter, happier and healthier her. Her journey has been beyond difficult but since I met Niki in the Summer of 2019, I have seen a significant change in her. She has come alive. She is no longer just existing. Her inner fire has been lit again.
Niki’s bravery is of the highest level and her desire to help others so that they don’t have to go through the same soul-destroying journey as herself is not only giving hope to so many others who are trying to manage pain better, but I think it has given Niki purpose again. And it is helping her get through the challenges of opioid withdrawal which is a daily challenge, sometimes of the most brutal kind.
Niki’s story also highlights the need for the patient and consultant relationship to be reciprocal, positive and supportive. That hasn’t always been the experience for Niki and wasn’t the situation for myself until I was transferred to the University of Wales Hospitals in early 2015. My gratitude and appreciation for all the professors, consultants and doctors I have met there never diminishes. The relationship between consultant, doctor or professor and patient is fundamental to how the patient manages their condition(s) and how hopeful they can feel about their future. It is these doctor’s, consultants and professors that are extraordinary ordinary people too.
Extraordinary ordinary people are not defined by income, by prizes, by grandeur. It is about a person’s integrity, humility, bravery, kindness and purpose.
Here is Niki’s story. Make a drink. Find a quiet place and enjoy.