During that period I remember very, very distinctly a period of time where I experienced whether you would call it an out of body experience or what. But my experience is that I was in a tunnel and at the far end of tunnel was a figure that was in a white robe and I couldn’t describe the figure because the figure was so far away from me. And I was in this tunnel, my family were behind me, and the figure was actually waving me on and saying, “Come this way, come this way.” And I can remember taking a few strides... to this figure and a few more strides. And I looked behind me and my family were still behind me and this figure looked to be just as far away. And this went on for, I don’t know how long it was. But as I moved forward, the figure, now I never got any closer.

 

And my family never got any farther, further away from me. And eventually I just said, “Nah I’ve had enough of this.” And I turned around and went back. And...

 

Back to your family?

 

Yeah. Yeah.

 

So I must’ve been very comfortable with them. But yeah. My family have been like a rock to me.

I can remember when my specialist you know said to me, “It’s getting towards the time where you were leaving us.” And he called me into his office and he said, “How do you tell someone that they’re going to spend the rest of their life in a wheelchair?” And I said, “Well if you’ve any sense you don’t tell them.” And he said, “Well I won’t tell you then.” Because when I was released from the hospital I was in a, in a wheel chair. And I thought, “No, too young to be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life.” And I’ve made an effort to... you know I’ve got lots of aids. But I’ve made an effort to walk and walk as much as I can. But you know I still can’t walk very far. But I certainly you know come out of the wheelchair. So you know just keep trying, keep trying. You know. Just remember that when we were born we none us of could walk. You know we had that to learn didn’t we?

 

So... You know just learn it again.

I suppose really if I was being honest with myself, and I wouldn’t I wouldn’t say he’s a hero of mine or he gives me great inspiration but you know when I look at Professor Hawking. And I think of the things that you know, the problems that that guy has.

 

And I just think to myself, well I don’t know anything about physics or anything like that... or quantum physics or I don’t, all I know is that it deals with microscopic granules and particles and things like that. But I just think to myself now if that guy can do that... then you know I can go into the kitchen and make a cup of tea.

 

So that’s the way I look at it.

 

Douglas Bader. He had he was a spitfire pilot and had both his legs through, through his war service, had both of his legs amputated. And told he would never fly again. And he had artificial legs put on and of course he flew again. And I remember meeting him at a function and one of the officers there turned around to me and said, “This is Douglas Bader here.” And I looked up and that guy was walking as well as anybody could. And I thought, you know, well I didn’t think there and then like he’s an inspiration. But looking back then these people probably have subconsciously inspired me.

 

Acceptance I suppose. I think that’s the big word acceptance. And you know one thing that’s that that my specialist said to me, “Don’t expect to do too much at once,” he said, “Just concentrate on one thing at a time.” He said, “And if you’re breathing that’s all the concentration you need and when you feel comfortable about that, concentrate on something else.”And so it’s gone along the line and you just think, “Right well there’s no need to get confused or frustrated about this because after awhile you’ll be able to cope with it and then you move onto something else.”And all this breathing and things like that become second nature. I mean, I do have a lot of problems with breathing. And in fact I’m surprised I haven’t coughed and spluttered even now. But you know, if I try and touch my toes and stuff like that, I tend to choke. So, you know, I do have a lot of medical problems that prevent me from doing a lot of things. But yeah, generally it’s .... pretty good. Now I really do enjoy life.