Miscellany and detritus, from the writer of Is This Mutton?com

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Thursday, June 09, 2011

Alice's bucket list

Something extraordinary happened on Twitter last night. In between the tweets discussing The Apprentice, a tweet appeared saying that Alice, a 15 year old with terminal cancer, wanted to trend on Twitter: please re-tweet. I did - as did everyone else - because an hour or so later when I checked, #alicebucketlist was in the top 10 global hash tags.

Alice created her bucket list a few days ago: the things she wants to do before she dies. She wrote in her blog last night that she and her mum were overwhelmed by all the messages, and she had only started the blog for her friends and family, never expecting it would be seen by such a huge audience. She currently has over 2000 comments and her bucket list wishes will all be fulfilled, except the trip to Kenya which she can't do because she is too poorly now.

Her wishes aren't particularly grandiose like those in the film "The Bucket List" where Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman went round the world ticking off the items on theirs. She wants a picture with her dog Mabel; she wants someone to do her hair (if they can); she wants a purple iPAD, although her mum had told her not to post that one. She wants to go to Cadbury World and eat lots of chocolate. And she wants everyone to donate bone marrow.

If I'm ever tempted to complain or grumble I will think of Alice and her bucket list.
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3 comments

Caroline said...

I came upon Alice's blog a couple of days ago via Twitter, and you're right - it really does make you take a step back and think about all the inconsequential little things we moan about. My best friend died of cancer when we were both sixteen, and almost 30 years later, I still think about her at least a couple of times every week. Alice seem such a brave girl - just heartbreaking.

Unknown said...

I saw Alice's blog a few days ago, too. She has such amazing courage and how wonderful that her bucket list wishes will be fulfilled. Things like this strengthen my faith in humanity :)

fojoy said...

I saw Alice's tweet as well - I'm glad she's getting to check things off her bucket list.
I used to volunteer at our local Cancer Clinic and it always amazed me at how positive most of the patients, especially the children.

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