For the readers who followed and / or took part in ‘the Journey’, you are unlikely to have missed James and his ‘Teddy’s Tremendous Travels’. James, who is 11 and has essential tremor, took part in NTF awareness campaign "The Journey", but with a twist - he took with him his childhood teddy bear and taking photo's.

James' mother would like to thank everyone who kindly supported him and to let you know what a positive difference ‘the Journey’ made.  

James, who is 10 and has essential tremor, took part in NTF awareness campaign "The Journey", but with a twist - he took with him his childhood teddy bear and taking photo's. James' mother would like to thank everyone who kindly supported him and to let you know what a positive difference ‘the Journey’ made.  James in his school uniform For the readers who followed and/or took part in ‘The Journey’, you are unlikely to have missed James and his ‘Teddy’s Tremendous Travels’. For those who were unable to take part, James is an 11-year-old who was diagnosed with essential tremor when he started using his fine motor skills, which was when he was 3.  We found the NTF through and internet search. Following this James attended a Zoom support group with the NTF in June; this greatly increased his confidence as he knew others understood the condition and most importantly it gave him the knowledge that he was not alone. As his mum, I take this opportunity to provide feedback to all of you who kindly supported him and to let you know what a positive difference ‘the Journey’ made.   Not only did we have great fun collecting the miles as a family group, it gave James a platform to talk about essential tremor to his friends, which increased awareness with his peers.  James was very proud that there was an article on ‘Teddy’s Tremendous Travels’ together with his drawing on the NTF web page.  James forwarded the link to his friends, all of whom were really supportive and, in some instances, shared it with their parents. James is keen to increase awareness of essential tremor in children as he knows that he cannot be the only one, and that somewhere there will be other children who are frustrated at school due to ‘simple tasks’ not being ‘simple tasks’ to them because of tremor.  James is concerned that some children might just think that they are not good enough to undertake these ‘simple tasks’, which will impact their self-confidence and they might not know that they can get help, yet alone where to look for it.  Teddy’s Tremendous Travels had an unexpected yet brilliant chance to raise awareness at James’ new school, The Cottesloe School in Wing, near Leighton Buzzard.  James moved up to secondary school in September and a link of Teddy’s Tremendous Travel’s found its way to his form tutor.  James was delighted when he was asked to give a presentation on ET within 2 weeks of starting secondary school.  This was a great opportunity for James as he was able to explain to his new peers why he uses a laptop, why he needs to use two hands to drink from a cup and might still spill it, and why he doesn’t wear trainers with laces.  His form tutor noted that if the form ever does any fundraising, it will be for the NTF! We’d like to thank the NTF, all the contributors to the Zoom calls and everyone who followed #The Journey. Our experience with the NTF has been amazing, its had a fantastic, positive effect on our son. I’m sure it will continue to be so.