Yvie Burnett

Sometimes, something just stops you in your tracks. I woke up today, opened the patio doors as I usually do, made a coffee, cuddled the cats and checked my emails. This led on to having a glance at social media to see if anything interesting was happening.

I spotted a tweet from Dawn French saying how sad she was that a YouTube vlogger she had been following for a long time had passed away. I pressed the link and realised she was talking about someone quite incredible. Someone who just seemed to radiate energy from her videos. We are always talking about people being inspirational but this young girl Emily Hayward was more than that. Her words, the positive way she lived her life even though she had a terminal diagnosis, her relationship with her wife Aisha and just everything about her really moved me.

An hour later, I was still watching her videos and reading about her.

Now, I have only heard about this lady today so I’m no expert on her story, but from what I have read she first found an unusual mole on her leg aged 17.

It started to display all the warning signs we are told to look out for, like itchiness and changing shape, so as soon as it also started to bleed she went to see her doctor. After she was diagnosed with malignant melanoma and had it removed, she was fine for two years. After that a series of tumours started to appear everywhere from her lungs to her bones, brain and liver. She fought it for eight years and during that time she blogged and vlogged about it, to not only help others to deal with a similar cancer journey, but to help her own mental health.

In 2017, she was featured on a documentary for Channel 4 talking about her online diary. At the time Emily said: “Just uploading a video is like emptying out my worries. It’s like taking part of my anxiety away.” Emily’s videos meant that so many people, whether they were going through a similar journey or a friend or relative was, could just be inspired but her truthful and matter-of-fact way of dealing with it. For me, watching Emily going to the gym when she was in pain and just wanted to sleep, made me question myself. It made me so aware of how easy it is to sit on the sofa instead of getting out and enjoying life. When your days are limited it certainly makes you grab life with both hands, and seeing Emily doing just that made me feel guilty, ashamed and ungrateful. I could live for another 50 years. I have my health. I have so much in life but despite that I moaned at drivers yesterday for getting in the way. I sighed as I unloaded the dishwasher because I couldn’t be bothered and I certainly didn’t stop to think about how lucky I was to be feeling well.

I know that Emily didn’t vlog to make us feel guilty, but I was so glad she did make me feel that way.

I often talk about counting my blessings because I do feel blessed and I do really, really appreciate the love I have for my family, but I don’t think it does any of us any harm just to stop to appreciate what we have. Emily decided just to keep living her life the way she was living it and not to dwell on the negatives.

She died this week aged 25. I didn’t know her, but I have a lot to thank her for. Today, I absolutely lathered on the sun cream more so that usual, I smiled at everyone I met, I sat and took stock while enjoying a coffee in town.

It won’t last of course, we all soon get back to taking everything for granted, but I’m going to try really hard in her memory to be appreciative of everything this week.

If you feel like you need a bit of Emily’s inspiration, the link to her channel is below. I’m praying for Aisha and the rest of Emily’s family and hope that they feel blessed to have had this incredible girl in their lives. www.youtube.com/channel/ UCa6sLJCWdaRF2yS-gd_ NkeQ

Have a good week.

Yvie X

The mezzo-soprano from Methlick and vocal coach to the stars