JORDAN SMITH SEIZES HIS NEW STORYLINE BRILLIANTLY

For those of you who watch 'Neighbours' you will know who Jordan Smith is, for those of you that don't you won't.  Sadly, the Ozzie soaps get a bit of a battering over here in the UK.  If I admit to liking Neighbours or Home and Away, then I often get 'oh god you don't do you?' So I keep my opinion to myself and enjoy them as my guilty pleasures.

The sad thing is that unlike our own homegrown soaps, the storylines in both Neighbours and Home and Away deal with issues that that people can learn from in away that is morally right, instead of using death, crime, destruction and cattiness. Take Jordan Smith's new storyline for instance.  Jordan plays Andrew Robinson in Neighbours who after a terrible crash with his friends, starts experiencing headaches, dizziness and nausea. The symptoms eventually leads to him being diagnosed with epilepsy.

The whole thing storyline is thought out thoroughly, how he believes the symptoms will pass, and it is only when he leaves the video on record by accident that he sees himself fitting that he goes to the hospital.  He had had a drop fit and not realised. Here in the UK we are at the point where Andrew is in denial trying desperately not wanting anyone find out, especially not Paul.

As Jordan told Young Epilepsy in a recent interview 'Andrew is really self motivated guy. He believes in himself and he believes that he is going places. Being diagnosed with epilepsy completely knocks him for six and changes his plans.'

Jordan has always played Andrew well, exactly as he is meant to be  portrayed that 'self motivated guy who knows he's going places' but with this new development in his character, we see that Jordan has become a mature actor.  As an epileptic, I can very easily say that  having the condition is horrible, scary, confusing and hard at times, learning how deal with the stigma attached to it. But trying to act the part of an epileptic and making it realistic is a very hard thing to do. But he has done it.  The video cam scene was cleverly done and not so violently as many programmes that I watch here such as as Casualty, for the actors who have seizures there are very dramatic. There way they shot Andrew having his seizure on the webcam was much more realistic, and not so hard to watch.  Afterwards, as I watched Jordan act the confusion, disorientation and general feeling of 'shit what's happening to me' that you feel as you experience different symptons or 'shit I've just had another one'  I wanted shout 'good on ya mate!'.

And as that determined self motivated streak rears it's head, I found myself completely emphasising that he wants to get on with his life, the way I've been doing for the  so many years, I've never let my seizures get in the way of how I live my life. I've travelled to many countries including Australia. In fact when when I was in Sydney for 2 months in I was experiencing blurred vision (sometimes called nistagmas), dizziness and sickness because i was trialing a new drug, and most days I couldn't do anything until expect drink peppermint tea until the afternoon.

And as far as the storyline goes, thats what it trying to say as Andrew tries to self medicate, showing that you don't muck around with drugs because as the nurse Aiden explains, it can changes your brain chemistry and gives you all sorts of different side effects. That, added to the way Andrew is determineed to deal with being epileptic on his own, explains why he is getting very snappy in the current episodes in the UK. Another aspect which Jordan has dealt with very well.

By bringing epilepsy into Andrew's charcater, shows that it is something that Australia is concerned with and want it is something they want to make their country aware of. It is something I have wished for a long time. We have good charities here such as Young Epilepsy, Epilepsy Action, The National Epilepsy Association but I've rarely seen them use the media to get awareness to the British Public.  They mostly use social media and youtube, which yes I grant you has a big audience, but there are still many people who I talk to and say, 'I wouldn't know what to if you hadn't told me or shown me your protocal that you carry with you.' and often I get 'people don't talk about it in schools.' Using storylines in soaps, asking celebrities to donate to charities on game shows these things make things a big difference to relate to the public who have a child with epilepsy and don't know what to do, similarly with a carer looking after a client, who has a problem - it will put them in touch with them.

So I'm looking forward to seeing how Andrew's story develops, and how he copes with it, although there is no doubt in my mind Jordan will do it justice.  I would love to meet him one day....and besides I have become quite partial to that Scottish twang........

A WORD FROM THE HEART - PLEASE PLEASE HELP FIND APRIL JONES

A week ago, five year old April Jones went missing in Wales.  A missing child, it's a mother's worst nightmare at the best of times, you have to have eyes in the back of your head to make sure they don't go wandering off when they are so young! Granted, I'm not a mother, but my friends and family are and I've been around them long enough to witness the panic that they can feel if they lose sight of a child just for a split second. And now, as an Auntie, even my own heart stops when my niece and nephew aren't with me.

Since April went missing, the police have charged a local man, Mark Bridger with three counts, 'child abduction,'  'murder', and 'attempting to pervert the court of justice.' Here lies the conundrum.  As far the public know from reports in the media, the only reason that he's charged with all three counts is because the police had 'sufficient evidence'and that he was found wandering near her home the day she disappeared. Does this mean he was staking his claim to take her?

For those of you who may be thinking, surely she is not arguing his case? No, I am just putting the two sides forward.  They have not found a body yet and we don't know the 'evidence' the police have against him.

I find it very difficult that the police can charge a man on three counts in a case that has such a high public profile, a case that is so heartrendering to the of people Britian because April has cerebral palsy. I for one want to know what the 'sufficient evidence' is.

As a young adult with cerebral palsy I would have naively said that there is no way that a man could take such advantage of a child. But it wasn't until I saw and experienced things at school, that I realised how unkind and cruel men can be.  And as I head towards my 40th birthday next summer it is still hard to except that it is a fact of life. Men have and will prey on women and children, only these days, because of the way the media works, we hear about it more often than we used to. Look at the recent  discovery about Jimmy Saville for instance - how did he keep manage to keep it all so quiet all his life? The fact that the women are only coming forward now is just dreadful. Imagine what they have suffered emotionally all their lives.

However, this is not about Jimmy Saville, this is about April Jones.  April Jones, a pretty five year old girl whose favourite colour is pink.  I do not know her but in the pictures she doesn't look like she has cerebral palsy.  And if this is the case, then like me, she may not be badly affected, even if she has to overcome difficulties with speech, physio and occupational therapies.  I would hate for her to be taken away at this young stage in her life when she could have a full a life as I have had

So please, from the very bottom of my heart, please say your prayers that she is found healthy, happy and returned to her parents safely. I can't imagine what they must be going through.

And God forbid her body is found, and Mark Bridger is found guilty......