If you follow my mum on social media, you may have seen the buzz around Jono's Journey. Jono's Journey is a GoFundMe campaign set up by my mum recently. Here's a bit of the background story: Jono is my brother, who has Asperger's Syndrome - a form of Autism. As well as this, he also has Kyphosis (a severe curving of the spine resulting in surgery to have titanium rods inserted into his back). His condition is worsening due to our not-so-wonderful hospital waiting lists, which means he's in constant pain, finds it hard to breathe and needs help with some day-to-day tasks. Despite all of this, he is one of the most optimistic people I know, and he's always smiling and laughing.
Often, people with Asperger's Syndrome have one particular thing they're extremely interested in - Jono's is Pokémon. You may think it's just a game you used to play as a kid, but for Jono it's a way to cope, to escape his pain and take his mind off things. Long hospital appointments don't seem so bad when you have a virtual reality to escape to. At this point, Jono is so good at the game he's ranked at number 3 in his age division of the best Pokémon players in Ireland. Due to this, he now qualifies to go all the way to San Francisco to play at the World Championships - no mean feat!
Due to Jono's condition, he couldn't make it to America on his own without a little help. Because of money issues, my mum knew she just couldn't afford to go with him. It would absolutely break Jono's heart if he couldn't fulfil this dream, so my mum, on the advice of her friend, did something she never thought she'd do - set up a GoFundMe. We never ever thought it would take off like it has. The support has been absolutely overwhelming. The target was met in less than a day, and continues to keep soaring. When I read about the generosity of people, from all over the world, people we've never even met (as they say, "Strangers are just friends you've never met"), I started crying. Watching someone you love go through worsening pain every day is so hard, but watching them get the opportunity to live their dream is heartwarming, and I'm so proud of him. Because of all the wonderful people in this world, my mum and brother are now booked to head to the U.S. in August - and I couldn't be happier for them.
Many local businesses have lended a helping hand to the campaign - one of them is Sligo Hairdressing Academy, a hairdressing school located on Holburn Street, Sligo. They came up with the fantastic idea of running 'Jono's Journey Pamper Days', where you can get your hair done for a discounted price with the money going towards Jono's Journey. With prices starting from €8 for a wash and blow dry going up to €25 for a cut and colour, you can't go wrong! The work is done by experienced hairdressing students and is fully supervised, so don't let the name put you off - I promise you won't lose an ear ;-)
I headed along today for the first of the fundraising days to get a cut and a blowdry. It's not often I get my hair done so I was so excited to treat myself, and a haircut was well overdue. I was greeted by Frances, the lovely lady who runs the academy, who handed me over to David - one of the extremely talented students. He started by washing and conditioning my hair. I don't know about you, but getting my hair properly washed is one of my favourite things in the world. Then it was time to get cutting. I just needed a trim as I'm trying to grow my hair, and a restyle of my side fringe as it wasn't even a fringe anymore, just a flap of hair! For some reason my fringe grows like it's on speed.
I sat there looking like a potato with my wet hair and my hairdressing gown (you know when you go to the hairdressers and sit in front of the mirror wondering if you've always looked like an egg with hair?) while David quickly and competently trimmed my hair and got rid of all the straggly bits. He cut my side fringe back into shape so it swooped across my forehead. It's so nice to not have to keep shoving my hair out of my eyes or get a mouthful of fringe! David actually listened to how much I wanted off unlike some hairdressers who cut off too much and make you spend hours Googling 'how to make hair grow 10 inches overnight'.
Next it was time for the curls. I was looking for a wavey, curly look, so David decided to do some soft bouncy GHD curls. I used to have a GHD and this was one of my favourite things to do with my hair but I sold it *sob* so now I've become lazy and rarely do anything with my hair. I'm always a bit wary of anyone wielding a hair straightener near my head as I've had a few bad experiences of getting the tips of my ears burnt - ouch! I had nothing to worry about. David was so gentle and I didn't once have to duck under the chair.
The end result was gorgeously silky, bouncy soft curls. I was absolutely thrilled with how it turned out, and even more so that now, almost 10 hours later, the curls are still intact! That's so rare for me because my hair is quite thick so usually any wave or curl drops out after about 30 minutes. A truly fantastic job done by David.
I couldn't not show off my new hair, so my boyfriend and I headed to Sweet Beat for a smoothie bowl and then to Hazelwood for a picnic. Pics courtesy of Laurence! There's a bit of a photographer in him I think.
If you'd like to contribute to the campaign, or just treat yourself, you can find Sligo Hairdressing Academy here on Facebook, or call them on 086 400 9559. The next dates for the fundraising days are the 20th of June and the 27th of June. You can also check out Jono's Journey here. Thanks again to Frances and all at Sligo Hairdressing Academy for letting me come in and get my hair done, and for being so generous in helping Jono's dream come true.
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