“Alexander’s Journey: Dum Spiro Spero”

Featured / heughansheughligans / 1 Comment

Hello Heughligans! Pull up a chair, have a seat, and get your eyes ready to read this long post. 😊

I would like to talk to you about a boy I met recently who has ties to the Outlander fandom. His name is Alexander Goodwin and he lives in England.  He has a remarkable story that his father captured in the book “Alexander’s Journey: Dum Spiro Spero”. Support from the Outlander fandom is part of his story. Alex is in remission from Ewing Sarcoma Cancer that was in his right pelvis and femur. It almost took his life. Through the global power of social media, Alex and his family found themselves traveling to Kansas and Missouri for life saving treatment. During it all Alex maintained his smile and positive attitude.  If you are on Twitter, then I am sure you have seen his interactions with Diana Gabaldon, Stephen Walters, Mark Hamill, and William Shatner.

Alex and Shatner

Alex and William Shatner at Planet Comicon Kansas City March 2019

 

Along with my Heughligan duties, I am the General Manager for a coffee shop located in a public library and I am a volunteer for Planet Comicon Kansas City (PCKC) as a Lead Superhero (Manager) for the Volunteer and Information Services. At PCKC I oversee three departments, one of which is our ADA Services.  During this year’s show I went to check on the ADA Services Superhero to see how things were going and see if she needed anything. I met her out on the show floor as she was escorting someone for the day. I look to my right and THERE WAS ALEX! I gasped! I was so excited to see him but tried to reel it in so I wouldn’t scare the young lad! We have followed Alex through our HH twitter account for the last few years. He and his Dad, Jeff, were at PCKC as special guests to William Shatner. Throughout the weekend I was able to take time to assist in escorting them around the convention center to enjoy the show.  Alex gifted me with a signed copy of his book, and I cherish it.

Alex must make many more visits to Kansas and Missouri for many years to come. He must return every 3 months for blood tests and for monitoring of his leg. There is a chance the cancer could return. Of course, these trips are not free and the medical insurance the family has does not cover Alexander’s treatment in the US. All expenses are paid out of pocket by the Goodwin family. Sales from the book help pay for Alex’s continuing treatment.

 

Jeff and Alex at PCKC

Alex and Jeff Goodwin

After I read “Alexander’s Journey” I was so moved, it got my wheels turning.  Since my shop is inside a library, I have a relationship with the Library Director. I personally purchased two copies of “Alexander’s Journey” and donated them on behalf of Heughan’s Heughligans to the library to be added to their catalog and placed on the shelves for patrons to check out on their own. This is a unique situation. Not everyone can donate books to the library and have them placed on the shelves.  They are usually put in a “to be sold” pile to raise funds for the library.

AJ Book

“Alexander’s Journey” written by Alex’s father, Jeff Goodwin

And now I come to the reason for this post.  I have a challenge for you, Heughligans. We have done amazing things as a fan group and you often make us Admins proud with your support and generosity for Sam’s supported charities. I am hoping we can do more amazing things.

Here is the challenge… I want us to band together in our regional groups, go to your local library, speak/email with the Library Director about a “Request for Purchase”, and get Alexander’s Journey on the shelves of your library.

Book and library sign

Whaaaaaat? You say? Yes! I say!!…and no, this might not be an easy peasy thing to accomplish. As I stated earlier, I have a business relationship with the library my shop is in so I was able to speak with the Branch Director about tips and tricks on how make this happen. (See, I told you this was going to be a long post!)

Here is what you do:

So, GO! Get out there and work your Heughligan magic to spread the word of this boy’s uplifting and inspiring story! If you have questions, please email us at: heughansheughligans@gmail.com.

DG with Alexanders Journey Book

Picture via Diana Gabaldon’s Facebook page

Heughligans Celebrate 7 Years Strong!

/ heughansheughligans

Did SOMEONE SAY ANNIVERSARY?

Yes, that’s right, it’s time for our 7th ANNIVERSARY Celebration.

This year’s anniversary shirt shows the background of the mountains of Fraser’s Ridge, with Jamie’s Sgian-Dubh in the foreground, as a forever promise to protect those he loves.
baseball tee
Our charity this year is benefiting the Alliance of Hope for Suicide loss survivors. This is a charity that we have wanted to add to our list for some time now, as it as special meaning to several of our present and former admins.
https://allianceofhope.org/?fbclid=IwAR3EhG0nbxsWUlSF4tK9WYhGQfWWvvRpwA3EsMSUuNtNXzaSfqvqae8tTs0
Alliance logo
For our merchandise, we have regular Tee, Baseball tees, Hoodies, Totes and facemasks (the masks do not have this design on them, it has just one of our original designs). This link will take you to all of the styles available, you will just have to navigate through colors and sizes.
https://www.bonfire.com/store/heughans-heughligans/?fbclid=IwAR1JzSMLkU08H9Boz3NgMNYV1WEYsN6rnFV5x9t9r3DKIOKKBbGjK0iFZz8

 

These will be available until JULY 31st!!!!

PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT WE HAVE NO CONTROL OVER THE SIZES THAT BONFIRE OFFERS.

As usual, 100% of profits made from the sale of merchandise goes straight to our charity of choice.

 

The Price of Stardom. We Stand With Sam

/ heughansheughligans
On April 17, 2020, Sam wrote this message on his IG Story (See attached photos). The admins of HH wanted to address this statement, as a show of solidarity to Sam and to reiterate it as part of the culture in HH.
When HH began, we wanted it to be a NO DRAMA group. We never in a million years imagined that we would have to add the No discussing the personal life of Sam and Cast rule, because that would be common sense, right?
We soon learned differently when we started this group in 2013. We discovered that former members were discussing in our Facebook group where Sam was, with whom, and what they were going to do about it: i.e.: go and stalk him.
We shut that down quickly, removed those members from the group, and started the NO DISCUSSION OF SAM’S PERSONAL LIFE RULE.
We had held on to that rule steadfastly. In addition, it is also, why we typically do not allow on our Facebook group posts that ask,
“Where is Sam now?” “Why is Sam in… _______________”
Sam has a right to a personal life, just like anyone else. He owes NO ONE any information regarding his travel plans, his companions, if there are any, the status of those companions and his relationship to anyone on the cast.
Being a fan does not give you automatic access to everything that revolves around Sam. It does not automatically give you access to ANY of the cast members on Outlander or any other production that involves Sam. It does not give you the right to discuss anything but his professional endeavors. If you choose to be a fan of someone then you are supposed to be supportive and appreciative of them sharing their craft with us.
Before we allow anyone into our Facebook group we have our members clearly state that they have read the rules. One of those rules states that there is the NO DISCUSSION OF PERSONAL LIFE. We will mute and/or block people from our group for repeated discussion of Sam’s personal life.
We stand by Sam on this statement, and we applaud him for finally standing up to these people who have been harassing him for years. In addition, we will continue to support him for this. We will continue to take a hard stand on this topic, and will continue to remove and block anyone who discusses his personal life, his whereabouts if he has not discussed them himself.
While you may think you are innocent, but some of you spend hours daily reading his twitter and IG to find “CLUES” as to who he is with, or where he is. WHY? Why do you care? What business is it of yours? Put yourself in his shoes. Would you like that same level of scrutiny?
Some of you ask why we seem so tired of being admins of HH. We are not tired of being admins of HH, we are tired that we must continually defend ourselves about our strict rules of the group. From day one we have been criticized for our group rules and stance on no discussion of the actors’ personal lives. We’re tired that regardless of the fact that we have these rules, and you have agreed to abide by them, that we have to trot out ANOTHER post about it and tell grown people to behave.
We also would like to remind you that Cait’s personal life is also not a topic of discussion. Nor is her marriage and if that has “hurt” her scenes with Sam. There is to be no discussion of any of the cast members personal life.
As a final thought, we would ask each and every one of you to take a moment to reflect. Even if you do not think you are a problem, you may be. Even if you think you are not being cruel in your comments directly to him, the fact that you have to know his every movement and you are “Following” clues on IG or Twitter about his friends, shows that in fact, you may be part of the problem. You may not be bullying him, but he deserves his privacy. Think about that for just a minute. Our support as Heughligans does not give us special access to Sam. Our role as Heughligans is to be supportive. To be a Heughligan is to be kind. To be a Heughligan is to be respectful of Sam and all the cast members. If you find that we are overreacting and you wish to still treat Sam and others in this disrespectful way then please do not call yourself a Heughligan and remove yourself from our social media sites. Have a good day.
#WeStandWithSam

(photos provided from Sam’s IG account) 

Outlander Season 4

/ Heidi B. / 3 Comments

Season 4 of Starz series Outlander is scheduled to premiere in the U.S. on November 4, 2018. Watch the trailer below…

 

Join us in the Heughan’s Heughligans Facebook group for all the conversation and anticipation as we countdown to the premiere. Request to join our group here!