Heather Fell, Olympic silver medallist, writes about her life in the media and sports world.

THERE are a few necessities that we cannot survive without and certain luxuries that some of us think we cannot live without.

I hate to admit this but my mobile phone falls into the latter category. I was left in a state of panic in Egypt last week when my phone was stolen while working at the Pentathlon World Cup.

I'm aware how lucky I have been with all my travels over the years and until last week I hadn't lost anything of value. After ringing my number I soon realised it had been turned off by the guilty thief and therefore wasn't traceable using GPS. The impressive technology doesn't end there though; I discovered I was able to lock and disable my phone remotely while leaving a pleading message for its return. The sad part is that the phone is now of no use to anyone and all the information that was useful only to me has been lost. The message I sent obviously didn't appeal to anyone's conscience and now it's too late as I'm back in the UK.

Thankfully technology helped me to survive and bridge the phoneless gap as I made use of the many messaging platforms available through my iPad, until I stepped off the plane and entered a wireless void on my journey home. I managed 12 hours after landing before I succumbed to the pressure — I 'had' to splash out on a brand new iPhone 6.

At least I can now relax as I feel connected to the world again. Frustratingly the factor limiting the technology is me, the user, as it turns out I last backed up the data on my phone seven months ago. The moral of this sorry tale: please learn from my mistake and back up your essential information now —before it's too late.