Joe Thompson - Friend, Mentor, Brother

Hello 👋

I’m currently sitting in my favourite pub in the world, The Mounting Stone in Bramhall, and using the time to do some reflection on my life over the last few weeks and months.

It’s quite a cathartic thing to do, writing your thoughts down, I find it sort of “clears the cache” to use a computing term.

I’m sitting in the same seat I was when I found out that one of my favourite humans in the world, Joe Thompson, had been diagnosed with cancer for the third time a few months back. I haven’t managed to organise my thoughts properly about Joe and the situation until recently and now I have I want to share my conclusions with you.

Joe is a radiator. A radiator of positivity. He’s the best kind of radiator too. He’s not a relentless emitter. He’s got a thermostat. His thermostat isn’t tuned to when you’re feeling down or if you’re a bit blue, it’s tuned to when you NEED positivity or guidance or perspective.

He’s got this easy way about him, he’s brilliant company when you’re on top of the world and he’s brilliant company when you’re not. He just has a gravitational pull.

When Joe told me he was ill, we were on a call with one of the other directors of Melting It, Andy Bell. Andy’s got control of his emotions. He feels them as hard as anyone else but he’s got a great way of keeping a lid on things. Not like me. I feel things hard and they spill over or I shut down and don’t feel them at all. On this occasion my sadness over-topped my emotional container. After the call was over, I cried. I couldn’t help it. Joe’s like a brother and I took it hard.

But, and here’s the thing, I’ve watched him through this. He had every opportunity to cower, hide, and let it happen to him. Joe didn’t do that. He went Front foot, 5 strikers, 2 defenders, full attack mode. Awareness, fundraising, treatment, social posts, appearances, treatment, fulfilling obligations, being a role model, treatment.

It’s an unbelievable example of how to face down the demons, battle the enemy in front of you and do it with as much energy and effort and strength as you’ve got. If you want a real-life, full colour embodiment of how to conduct yourself in the face of adversity, Joe’s a walking example.

So I’m asking, if anything in these words strikes a chord with you. If anything I’ve said gives you the slightest bit of inspiration, would you mind helping him out?

https://www.gofundme.com/f/Team-Thompson-against-cancer-again

Loads of love and positive vibes.

Liam