Dear Matt Groening and the whole of The Simpsons team,
Please, please, please will you help our friend Heidi to tick an item off her bucket list?
Last year, aged 32, while pregnant with her third child, Heidi was diagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer. Obviously any breast cancer diagnosis is unwelcome, however, in case you did not already know, Inflammatory Breast Cancer is the one you really, really *really* don't want to get.
Heidi started chemo during pregnancy but it wasn't working. In order to get the cancer treatment she really needed, Heidi had to give birth prematurely at 28 weeks plus 1 day. 8 days later, she and her partner Keith lost their beautiful baby girl Ally.
As if all this weren't bad enough, Heidi has now been told her breast cancer has spread, and is now incurable.
Heidi put together a bucket list a little while ago. It's actually a Bucket and Spade List - a list of things that Heidi wants to do with and for her two little boys Noah and Tait.
One of the things on the list is a money-can't-buy item - To have her voice on The Simpsons.
Please, please, please can you help to make this dream a reality. There is nothing that will ever make up for Noah and Tait losing their mum - but there are things that can be done to give them special and happy memories of their mum as they grow up. And this is one of them.
Heidi is doing everything she can to live and to make every moment count, and we want to do anything we can to help. Please help us!
Yours hopefully,
Sarah
PS I am sending this letter in the post but also sharing online...
Put simply, my friend Heidi has been dealt a shit hand. Last year, age 32, Heidi was pregnant with her third child.
She was also diagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer.
For those of you who don't know, Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) is a horrible f*****r. If you were told you have to have breast cancer, but you are allowed to choose which kind, you most definitely wouldn't be choosing IBC.
Long story short, Heidi started treatment for her cancer while pregnant, but the treatment wasn't working.
In order to have drugs that were more likely to be effective in treating the cancer, Heidi had to give birth to her baby prematurely at 28 weeks plus 1 day. Heidi gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Ally, but had to say goodbye to her only 8 days later.
As if having breast cancer while pregnant and then losing your child is not bad enough, Heidi has now been told that her breast cancer is incurable.
I don't even know how to put in to words how utterly unfair this is. Cancer is so cruel. But I don't want to dwell on that right now as nothing good can come of sitting around feeling angry.
Heidi has a Bucket and spade list which can be found on her award winning blog Storm In A Tit Cup. I was reading through it and number 24 caught my eye.
24. Be a voice on the Simpsons
Heidi has a proper West Country accent and as she said herself, she'd make a great pirate or farmer. So I think we should all try and get Heidi on the Simpsons! How hard can it be?! (gulp).
I have set up a Twitter account @Heidi_Simpsons and the hashtag is #HeidiOnTheSimpsons.
And basically this post is to ask everyone out there to get stuck in and do whatever you can think of to help get Heidi on The Simpsons. If anyone just happens to know one of the people involved in making The Simpsons and can put in a good word, that would be ace, thanks.
UPDATE: 4th October 2016
Thank you so much to everyone sharing this. This blog post alone has had 6,300 shares already in just 3 days, and lots of people are sharing on Twitter - THANK YOU!
I'm creating some images people can use on social media to share - have a look on the @Heidi_Simpsons Twitter account.
And I am compiling a list of people to write to and approach. All ideas/suggestions welcome.
