I’ve Walked The Long Road To Find Peace And Acceptance. GTL Krakow.

IamTom

I’ve Walked The Long Road To Find Peace And Acceptance. 

12 hours is not a long time. We’ve probably all had a 12 hour sleep. It takes less time than that to fly to the East Coast from London, have dinner and check into a hotel. You can drive from one end of England to the other in about 12 hours. The winners of the World Cup will play for less than 12 hours in this month’s tournament.

12 hours.

12 hours is also the longest break Veronika has had from her 4 year old daughter since she was born. Viktoria was born with cerebral palsy GMFCS V. Since Viktoria was born it has been visit after visit to the doctors, trip after trip to physiotherapists, battle after battle for support. Veronika is 39 and until four years ago she worked as an event manager, put on concerts and loved to travel with a backpack all over the world as well as being a travel guide. Today she fights to get all the care she can for her daughter. Fights hard because if you have a disabled child in Poland you have to fight and fight hard. Her life was flipped on its head with Viktoria’s arrival and it’s been a journey she never expected. In her own words ‘I’ve walked the long road to find peace and acceptance.’

Given To Live received an application for Veronika to see Pearl Jam in Krakow next month from a friend of her’s and there was no hesitation in saying yes. The only question was would Veronika say yes, be able to say yes? Or would being a single parent to a child with a severe pdisability mean she wouldn’t be able to get away? 

We arranged a Skype call saying we work with people with disabilities and would love to hear how things are in Poland. It was true...kind of! But it got Veronika on the call and we explained what GTL does and that we’d received an application from Poland on her behalf and we would like to take her to see Pearl Jam in Krakow. That we wanted to give her a break we would like her to travel into Krakow the night before the show and stay until the day after. A break. A rest. A time to be Veronika rather than a mum devoted to her child. A chance to sleep in or wake early. 

Veronika lit up. Time and space for her. To see a band she loves, to do something she loves again. To be a woman and not just a mum on her own. A mum who also has set up a Facebook group to support mum’s of children with disabilities in Poland (below). She’s tired. Her back aches with the strain of lifting Viktoria every day. 

And in Krakow she won’t have to lift, fight, support or dance the dance that is being a mum to a child with a severe disability. She’ll just dance her own dance to a band she loves, she’ll dance for Veronika. 

#BecauseYouMatter

#OneGigAtATime

#TouringTribe

#PJTour2018

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GTL Krakow - Made In Poland. 

There’s a second story to go along with this. The story of how it came about that GTL are taking someone to a show in Krakow. 

An incredible group of Polish Pearl Jam fans, the Touring Tribe, raised almost £1000 for Ewa’s walk to London and GTL wanted to be able to give back to them by taking one of their own to a show so the funds were set aside. 

It could have been any show at any time but sometimes the gods have their own plans and, perfectly, the Touring Tribe will have another member on the 3rd of July. 

Cała Naprzòd

Veronika’s group where she helps other mothers in Poland is - Cała Naprzód. Please share it, like it, it might find its way to someone who needs some support.

https://www.facebook.com/calanaprzodmpd/?fref=mentions

Link to the story on Given To Live’s Facebook page - 

https://www.facebook.com/814123041937589/posts/2235104329839446/

ST66483

This is fantastic - well done to all involved!

F Me In The Brain

Amazing.  Great work!

RunIntoTheRain

Tom, it must be amazingly fulfilling to be able to do what you do, give what you give. You have my complete respect and admiration. Bravo.

stuckinline

Wow! Beautiful!!!

PJNB

Amazing!

radar

IamTom said:

Cała Naprzód - 

I've just corrected the link to Cala Naprzod:

https://www.facebook.com/calanaprzodmpd/?fref=mentions

It's in Polish only but should anyone of you have any questions I would be more than happy to translate or explain.

Please read, like etc.

Thank you so much Tom and GTL crew.

Krakow will be an epic show:)

IamTom

radar said:

IamTom said:

Cała Naprzód - 

I've just corrected the link to Cala Naprzod:

https://www.facebook.com/calanaprzodmpd/?fref=mentions

It's in Polish only but should anyone of you have any questions I would be more than happy to translate or explain.

Please read, like etc.

Thank you so much Tom and GTL crew.

Krakow will be an epic show:)

Thanks Radar  

IamTom

RunIntoTheRain said:

Tom, it must be amazingly fulfilling to be able to do what you do, give what you give. You have my complete respect and admiration. Bravo.

Thank you so much! Yes it is. And also a struggle to raise the $ as a small nonprofit. So I decided to walk to London  

IamTom

stuckinline said:

Wow! Beautiful!!!

It’ll be very special for Veronika. 

IamTom

F Me In The Brain said:

Amazing.  Great work!

Thank you  

IamTom

ST66483 said:

This is fantastic - well done to all involved!

A lot of Polish support on this one