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Is your glass half full today? Well, if it isn't, I'm here to fill it with love, hope
and inspiration. Thank you, Desiree, for inviting me here today. I'm honored to be here. To
me, NF stands for New Freedom. I have lived with NF since about the age of 13, when I
started developing small tumours on different parts of my body. It took me many years to
accept and many years to understand. People would approach me, asking me what it is and
I always felt a little bit uncomfortable. But I also understood, because it is different
and a little bit unusual. But, throughout my life, I really tried to live my life in
a positive way by reading books on loving myself and taking courses on self-acceptance.
I remember meeting up with a friend of mine, Angela, who told me over breakfast..."Nicole,
you should write a book." And I said, "About what?" And she said, "About NF....you have
so much to share and you've gone through so much, yet you are so strong...it would be
so wonderful to share your story with people all over the world!" Last year, in July, I
went to Montreal with my husband for a long weekend, and this is where my journey began.
I wrote 30 pages on the way to Montreal, sharing my experiences in writing about things I have
gone through, things I have learned and things I have accomplished. Throughout the course
of the year, I continued to write and develop different aspects of my book. Part of my book
includes some beautiful quotes at the beginning of each chapter. One of which I love is, "Life
is like photography...you need negatives to develop." Which is one of my favorite quotes.
I also included a beautiful album of memories in the center of my book. A very important
aspect of my book is the book cover...which I can so proudly say my sister Nadine painted.
I knew exactly when I made the decision to write my book.. I was going to include her
painting on the cover. Another very important aspect was the book title. My book is called,
"Bumpy Roads Have Soft Shoulders...Living with NF." I give all my credit to Dennis for
book title. I love this title because I wanted to incorporate bumps because I have them and
they're a part of who I am. But also, I wanted to have a positive twist and tell myself...despite
my bumps and the bumpy roads I have travelled, I can now live my life in a very positive
way. I'd like to share a couple of stories that are included in my book. One is when
I was in my 20s, my boyfriend and I decided to break up. He lived in France and I lived
here and we decided to part ways. After a few months, I decided to join a dating agency
when I was ready to start dating. I approached the dating agency and let them know a little
bit about myself. I also wanted them to know what I was looking for in a partner in regards
to qualities and different interests. I was comfortable enough to let her know I had NF,
but I also wanted her not to write it down in my file and not to let my prospective dates
know. I wanted them to see me for who I was and not be pre-warned that I had NF. After
a few dates, I noticed that the dates I was set up with...we had nothing in common. We
had no interests in common, there were no qualities that we had in common. But what
I did notice is that each of my dates had a physical disability. This did not necessarily
bother me, but I just didn't understand why, seeing there was nothing else in common, why
all these men had physical disabilities. So I decided to approach the agency and ask her,
"Why is it that each of my dates have nothing in common, yet they all have a disability?"
Her answer to me was, "No normal man could ever love you." As you can imagine, I was
devastated and I was heartbroken. And I really didn't know how long it would take me to get
over these harsh words. But today, I'm proud to say that I'm happily married for 15 years
with my husband, Dennis. We have two kids, 4-legged kids, Marshall and Guiness...our
dog and our cat. And we also have two successful businesses. One is aptly called, "The Glass,
Half Full" and the other, "The Guilty Dog Coffee House." I wonder who's guilty there?
Another time I was standing at the go station, waiting to go into Toronto, when a lady approached
me and asked if I was contagious. I looked at her and smiled and said, "Actually, I am!"
Of course, she was a little bit shocked and I said to her, "Do you really think I'd be
standing here in public if I was contagious?" I then gave her a card, which I designed myself,
which had a short explanation about what NF was as well as a website so she could inform
herself about what this condition was. After these kind of experiences, I decided that
it was really time to step up and live life as positively as possible. It's easy to complain
and yes, I still do...but that's part of being human. But if you look at yourself and you
want to gain self-love and self-acceptance, you need to look at your life on all aspects:
physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. One way to look at life in a positive way
is like a cloud. You can see it as fluffy and soft...wanting to jump into it...or you
can see it as gloomy and dark with no silver linings. I was never a candidate to get 20-20
vision through laser surgery, but today I see my life with perfect vision because I
realize how lucky I am and how grateful I am. A glass half full has a very special meaning
to me and I'd like to leave you with this inspirational story. Many years ago, I was
sitting at my doctor's office. When it was my turn to see him, I expressed how sad I
was feeling. He brought over a glass half filled with water and said, "You can look
at this glass as half full or half empty." I told him the reason I was so sad was because
I had lost my father. He said, "As sad as it was to have lost your father, and important
to grieve him...you need to realize how grateful you are to have your mother and that she's
alive and well. Today is a very special day as it is my father's death anniversary and
I want to continue to celebrate his life. My book is available for sale today with all
proceeds going to NF, in particular to this wonderful camp in Utah. I want to give children
the opportunity to be able to enjoy themselves, have the time of their life and share their
stories amongst each other and be able to really enjoy life. My long-term goal is to
be able to send more and more children to camp. And I hope someday that I'm able to
go to this beautiful camp and meet these beautiful children and share my story with them. I am
proud to say that this past summer, I was able to raise enough money to send one child
to camp. I invite you now to close your eyes, take a deep breath, and repeat to yourself,
"I believe in myself." If you chose to, you may hold the hand of the person next to you.
(music playing) Remember...that we are all unique and beautiful in our own way. Have
a beautiful day!