Wednesday, 8 May 2013

Amusing Bunni: Urgent Update


I can't believe I almost missed this.......


AMUSING BUNNI - CAROL MACKIE

Re-posted from Opie's blog.......


(5/5/13) I will be on an airplane today flying to Chicago. I look forward to meeting fellow bloggers and friends of Amusing Bunni, Carol Mackie in person. Let's give her a good send off. See you there. I have long blonde hair and will be wearing a black skirt suit and pearls. Any donations via this paypal button will go toward Bunni's final expenses. Or if you are going there in person, perhaps seek out the funeral director and make a donation onto her account balance directly.



Zilla found Carol's Chicago Tribune obituary and there is an opportunity to leave a message here: 

Legacy has Carol's obituary and a place where you can tell the world how much you loved Carol Bunni, HERE:


Update: (6/5/13) There is a place to leave messages on the funeral home website, and some info there about Carol. She was only 54 years old. :-( 


The Catholic Funeral Mass for Carol Mackie, (Amusing Bunni), has been scheduled. 

Viewing will be at 9am on Wednesday May 8, 2013 at: 

Lakeview Funeral Home 
1458 W. Belmont Ave. 
Chicago, IL 60657 

Funeral Mass will be at 11am the same day at: 

Transfiguration Catholic Church 
2609 W. Carmen Ave. 
Chicago, IL 60625 

Followed by a procession to the cemetery where Carol Bunni will be buried with her mother, who died when Carol was age 5: 

Calvary Catholic Cemetery 
301 Chicago Ave. 
Evanston, IL 60202



Rest in peace, darling, little Bunnikins

With All My Love

Thursday, 2 May 2013

Amusing Bunni: My Darling Little Friend




I'm afraid I've heard some terrible news from Zilla in the last couple of hours - it's hard to even bring myself to write this post....... but I have to do it....... I have to tell you the awful news that  our adorable little Amusing Bunni passed away on Monday 29th April - Opus #6 says that Bunni phoned the hospice on Sunday morning and asked to be taken there - she ended up losing her brave battle with liver cancer at 5:00am, (11:00am BST), the following morning.

I've been seriously dreading this day since Bunni first told me about her illness so right now as I'm writing this, I'm not in very good shape at all.

I tried to phone her just two or three hours before I heard what had happened and got her answering machine - that wasn't so unusual in recent weeks because her disease wasn't only extremely painful, it was terribly exhausting and she had to rest whenever she could because she couldn't even get a decent night's sleep.


CAROL - OUR DARLING LITTLE BUNNI

I didn't realise when we talked last week that it would be the last time...... actually, looking back now, I think she knew the end was closer than she was letting on but she didn't want to tell me because she hated making me feel  sad - and that was darling little Bunnikins all over - always putting others before herself....... she really was one in a million....... when we were saying goodbye, I told again that I loved her and she told me she loved me, too........ and that was it - the last words we ever said to each other. 

She's been such a good, gentle, kind and thoughtful friend over the years and, as you know, I grew to love her dearly even though we lived so far apart - I'm going to miss her so very much....... I already do.

I truly hope she's with her Mommy again - that was her dearest wish - it was that one thought that gave her the strength to carry on these last few months. She certainly deserves to be with her again after all these years, (she lost her mum when she was only five years old), and that she's once again, surrounded by love, warmth, completely free of pain and at total peace.

I hope Bunni and I get to meet again someday - and, of course, when we do meet, I also hope that her mom actually approves of me as being suitable company for her darling daughter.




Friday, 15 February 2013

Amusing Bunni: My Visit To The Bunni Hutch


It was one of those things I'd always imagined doing one day but since I found out about her devastating illness last November, the idea of going to Chicago to visit Bunni and Kittehkins took on a much greater sense of urgency.


PRETTY KITTY












As I said in my previous post, Bunni and I have known each other for some years online and over that time we've become very close - she's like a sister so it was really important to me that I go and meet her.

Typically, my passport had expired so I had to renew it and get my U.S. visa waiver organised before I could do anything else but, strangely enough for government organisations, it all went very smoothly and painlessly so I set out for the airport at four o'clock on a crisp January morning and headed to Chicago to spend a couple of weeks with Bunni and Molly.

Everything went very quickly when I arrived at O'Hare - I had collected my luggage and cleared immigration and customs in no time at all - I even got a cab almost immediately. I called Bunni from the cab to let her know that I'd be arriving soon and within half an hour I was being greeted by Bunni's cute little smiling face at her front door.
It was so good to meet her at long last, hugs and kisses were delivered in person to both her and Molly and there were two whole weeks to get to know them better.

From past experience, (I've been around cats since I was a kid and I rescued two great little guys from the streets in London), I know all the right buttons to push with kittehs - and they can also sense very well whether people like them or not....... suffice to say that Molly and I were getting on like a house on fire within the first day or two....... she was so relaxed with me she even came up on the sofa, cuddled up beside me and fell asleep.


I TOOK THIS ONE MYSELF











 


Oh, and by the way, just in case you were wondering, Bunni and I were getting on really well, too - our meeting only confirmed what we already knew about each other and conversation was really easy and natural.

Fortunately for me, Bunni likes good food and she likes to go out to good restaurants just as much as I do so, on the second day I was there, we went to the Viceroy Of India for some good old British food - you know the sort of thing....... tandoori lamb chops, chicken tikka massala, butter chicken, saag aloo, etc..
The following day was Bunnikins' birthday so we wanted to do something special - I'd already asked her on the phone a week or two before to have a good think about where she would like to go. Bunni did just that and decided she would like to go downtown to Lawry's......... oooh, yes....... prime rib carved at the table....... lobster tails....... all the trimmings....... nice bottle of Barolo....... yummy!

LAWRY'S, CHICAGO

After all the excitement and running around over the first few days, Bunni was feeling tired and was in pain - she'd been looking forward to my visit and her birthday and there was no way she was going to let her illness stop her if she could help it.

Anyway, we took things a lot easier for a few days until she felt a bit better - with Bunni's problem she has good days and bad days so we just played it by ear, took each day as it came and did as little or as much as she was able to do at any particular time.

I TOOK THIS ONE, TOO

We'd planned to go and see a movie one day so before the film we went to a great little Thai restaurant that Bunni knows and had an excellent lunch  there before setting off to the nearby cinema to see Les Misérables.

It was nice to see Colm Wilkinson, who played Jean Valjean in the original London stage production, in a cameo role as the Bishop in the film....... Russell Crowe, on the other hand, sounds more like a half-strangled bull with its balls caught on a barbed wire fence when he....... "sings".

"MOOOOOOOOO!"

Seriously, though, regardless of Russell Crowe's vocal shortcomings, that film and music are now indelibly etched into my mind and every time I see, hear or think about Les Miserables, I immediately think of darling little Bunnikins.

On another day we had some good old American country cooking at the Old Country Buffet - their fried chicken was easily the best I've ever had, (and I've been around a bit).

Opus#6 even phoned from California one day and I finally got to have a really nice chat with her, too.

Needless to say, the two weeks that seemed like lots of time when I first arrived went by with a whoosh and all too soon it was time to go home. That morning Bunni and I walked a couple of blocks to her local diner, (she's been going there for years), to have a damned good American breakfast....... omelette with everything in, fried potatoes and pancakes with whipped butter and maple syrup, (Bunni didn't want to leave me to the mercy of airline food)....... and then it was time to go back to the Bunni Hutch and call a cab to take me, extremely reluctantly, to the airport.

Bunni thought it would probably be up to half an hour before the taxi arrived so we were taken a bit by surprise when it showed up after about five or ten minutes. I knew we could both easily have become very sad and emotional as we were saying goodbye if we'd had an extra twenty minutes to wait around, so perhaps the cab's sudden arrival was a blessing in disguise.

Kittehkins was curled up in her little bed looking absolutely adorable and I had just  been about to take another photo of her when the cab turned up....... so I didn't even have time to get the photo or give her one last hug before I left.

GORGEOUS, LITTLE MOLLY

I would dearly love to have been able to stay for a bit longer but the short time I did get to spend with Bunni and Kittehkins is something I will treasure forever.


TO BUNNI WITH LOVE


If you would like to contribute to Bunni's medical fund you can use this PayPal button.......




  THANK YOU







Sunday, 2 December 2012

Please Help Our Friend, Amusing Bunni - Updated




I first met Bunni some years ago shortly after I finally gave in and got myself online. She was one of the very first people I met and we clicked immediately.

I quickly grew very fond of little Bunnikins and eventually came to love her like the sister I never had - that love has only grown over the years.

I even had a little hand in this.......

Kittehkins


That is why this is the most horrendously difficult, heart-rending post I've ever had to write - it's tearing me apart.

***************

Our adorable, beloved Amusing Bunni is having some very serious medical problems. 

She has been suffering extreme pain for the past few months but, like the little trooper she is, she kept soldiering on and going to work, regardless.

Eventually it got the better of her and she had to go to hospital for extensive tests.

I'll let Bunni tell you the rest in her own words.......


"There is no good way to put this, so the cold hard truth is:

I was in hospital for 8 days, after all the tests, biopsies, bone scans, mri, cat scans, ultra sounds, etc. etc.  It’s confirmed I have 5th stage inoperable liver cancer, HCC.  There is NOTHING to be done to treat it.  I have been given 3 to 6 months to live.

So, I’m terminal.  There are so many tumors in my abdomen, and the liver is enlarged very much, they can’t operate, the tumors and blood vessels are too much and too close, they can’t do chemo, or NOTHING, so I just will be seeing palliative care Dr.’s for medicine adjustments to help with the pain, and then just get my affairs in order and wait to die."

Bunni is now in no condition to be able to work but she still has to pay her mortgage and other bills plus she's going to need help with her medical expenses and god knows what else.

We all love Bunni and now she seriously needs our help - any contributions you are able to make will be gratefully received. 


This is Bunni's PayPal button....... 

 

You can also donate at Bunni's own blog and at Zilla's.



Please Help



WE LOVE YOU, BUNNI!

***************

+++UPDATE+++


For those of you who don't want to donate through PayPal for whatever reasons, you might perhaps like to contribute in this way.......



As with the PayPal contributions, all proceeds will go directly to Bunni's medical fund.


Thanks so much for all your help so far, folks, Bunni has been completely overwhelmed by your generosity.



THANK YOU.