I
have been a strong supporter of our NHS: our
amazing, incredible, fantastic, superb NHS
for more than forty years. My book Our
Rebekah A Story Of Love From Our NHS tells
the story.
During 2020 - The Year
That Never Was our NHS did not just go the
extra mile to protect us from the covid-19
pandemic, it went an extra one hundred
miles.
Our NHS which does not
treat its patients but CARES for them.
Throughout 2020 the fear
was that our NHS could become overwhelmed,
at the end of the year as I am writing this
page it is a scary reality that in 2021 it
will be overwhelmed. However, no
batter how things get we can be certain that
the NHS will be there not treating patients
but caring for them.
Initially when planning this
writing challenge I wanted to do so as a fund raiser
for our amazing, incredible, fantastic, superb NHS
but I simply could not co-ordinate everything and
write a minimum of one million words.
As well as hitting the world with a killer disease
covid-19 and the associated lock-down restrictions
needed to right it has brought depression and mental
health issues to a wide area of society.
Support does not always mean
money. At the centre of Kisses & Smiles is our
National Health Service. Orbiting around this is a
programme inviting friends to reach out in kindness
to all in need.
Since its introduction we
have sent copies of our SMILE card to staff
and patients in the NHS.
This will continue but at
a higher level. Every week we will send
SMILE cards to hospitals. As the year
progresses you can find out how many SMILE
cards have been sent and to which hospitals
by checking our diary.
We are working on some ideas to
go with our SMILE cards. We have a
fun quiz sheet for our NHS.
Watch this space.
Yes, I am going
to write one million words but I
need those words to inspire one
million kisses and smiles to support
people in need.
Allow
me to introduce you to a coward - ME
!
2021 will see my blood donation
sessions reach thirty pints. However
I am a COWARD - a sad. pathetic,
miserable coward ! Had I not been
such a coward that total would have
been 140 pints.
As a student in
the 1970's at teacher training
college our matron won her gold
badge after donating fifty pints of
blood. She asked we students to
start donating blood. There was no
way I was going to have a needle
stuck in me. Nobody was going to
take away one eighth of the blood in
my body. I was a sad, pathetic
coward.
When
my daughter was born with chronic renal failure she spent
much of her childhood in and out of hospital, having one
life-saving operation after another. Each operation involved
a blood transfusion and yet I steadfastly remained a
pathetic coward and refused to have a needle stuck in my arm
to donate blood.
The day I overcame my cowardice was a
special day. That does not change the fact that I was
for most of my life a coward. 2021 will see my donation
level reaching thirty pints. I am determined to live long
enough to donate to receive my gold badge as did our college
matron. That will be in the year 2018.
Part of supporting our NHS is to rise
awareness and encourage as many people as we can to become
blood donors.
Are you a blood donor ?
My 1994 book NOT THE CONCRETE
COWS, republished on Amazon in 2020 has within
it two special features celebrating the work of our
NHS. Both are reproduced in my 2020 book
MILTON DREAMS THE CITY THAT NEVER WAS.
The first is a chapter A NIGHT
OF HIGH DRAMA within which I tell the story of
small child who was flow in from Ireland to receive
a kidney transplant at Guys Hospital in England.
The second has the title A
LADY WITH A SPECIAL MISSION. It tells of
Elizabeth Ward whose son Timbo died of renal
failure.
To write the feature I spent a
day with Elizabeth Ward. She was a. she is, a lady
who does not understand the word NO.
On the death of Timothy - TIMBO -
Elizabeth founded The British Kidney Patients
Association. She then introduced the Kidney Donor
Card which became the Organ Donor Card.
Elizabeth said to me that there
would come a time when donor cards would not be
needed. It would not bee needed as organ donation
would be natural. I really though that she was
dreaming when she said that to me thirty-five years
ago.
I was wrong, Elizabeth Ward was
right.
Although
it is now written into law that organ donation is
assumed a family can opt out. Pre-pandemic we were
working with ethnic communities, with friends in the
Hindu and Islamic community to raise awareness. If I
as an old man find myself in need of an organ
transplant I will get one. But I am a boring white
man. If I were of a darker shade then my chances of
a life-saving operation then my chances are less
than 10% . Although things have been on hold during
2020, the year than never was, we need in 2021 to
raise awareness as part of support for our AMAZING,
BEAUTIFUL, FANTASTIC NHS.
Our NHS which does not treat
patients but CARES for them.
Allow
me to introduce you to a coward - ME
!
When
my daughter was born with chronic renal failure she spent
much of her childhood in and out of hospital, having one
life-saving operation after another. Each operation involved
a blood transfusion and yet I steadfastly remained a
pathetic coward and refused to have a needle stuck in my arm
to donate blood.
Although
it is now written into law that organ donation is
assumed a family can opt out. Pre-pandemic we were
working with ethnic communities, with friends in the
Hindu and Islamic community to raise awareness. If I
as an old man find myself in need of an organ
transplant I will get one. But I am a boring white
man. If I were of a darker shade then my chances of
a life-saving operation then my chances are less
than 10% . Although things have been on hold during
2020, the year than never was, we need in 2021 to
raise awareness as part of support for our AMAZING,
BEAUTIFUL, FANTASTIC NHS. 
