My name is Andy Phillips
I am the Chair of Pontypridd Men`s Shed
My responsibilities within Pontypridd Men`s Shed include; Being in charge of the Health & Wellbeing of Members & our Social Media
I am also one of the leaders of our Creative Writing Group.
I am also the first Welsh Ambassador to sit on the U.K.M.S.A (HaWAG) Health & Wellbeing advisory Group.
I regard myself as a survivor. This is Because I have had to come to terms with quite a few life changing conditions, disabilities & impairments that I have collected over the past four decades (40 years).
My Story starts at the beginning with my father. His name was Clayton born September 15th 1942 A Mechanic by trade. In 1982. My Father suffered a heart attack on his 3oth birthday This is the first Condition that could have been caused by a hereditary link.
1984. as a 19 year old It should have been a vintage year. the year I met my wife for the very first time. Unfortunately 1984 become infamous for other reasons.
1984 was the year we found out that my father was suffering from a very rare & deadly hereditary form of pre-senile dementia. A.k.a Alzheimer's disease.
We were informed by the medical community that we were just one of 6 families in the entire world to share this faulty gene. This is the second Condition that could have been caused by a hereditary link.
Pre Senile Dementia:
My father passed away on Christmas eve 1986 at Parc Mental Asylum Bridgend aged just 46.
A year later I had returned to Parc to visit my fathers older brother Colin who died shortly after aged 51.
A couple of years later his sister Ann tragically went the same route she was 48. Out of 4 siblings only one brother William remains untouched. Although he does suffer another genetic hereditary disease called Glaucoma. This is the third Condition that could have been caused by a hereditary link.
Struck down with Stroke:
I Originally was diagnosed with having High Blood pressure in early Febuary 2003.
My blood pressure was recorded at 260/180. I was like a pressure cooker primed & ready to explode.
Saturday 18th March Easter Saturday. I suffered what I thought was my first stroke although I was later told that the C.T scan revealed that I actually had suffered 3 strokes in total.
I fell to sleep on a Saturday night only to wake on Easter Sunday unable to walk. I Had lost all feeling down my left hand side. This is the fourth Condition that could have been caused by a hereditary link.
4 months struggling to regain any sort of momentum. Eventually left hospital in a wheel chair with the aid of a stick the only support offered.
Feeling of Uselessness:
The worst feeling had nothing to do with any condition or the disability & impairment that I was left nursing, but the way I was being treated by my so called employers.
Who had unilaterally decided to place me on the disposable list, the no longer needed, never to be used again list. I was Left on the S#$T heap of life. I was determined to prove them wrong.
My body & mind was screaming out for me to slow down, My brain telling me to take it easy, Do not rush things. let your body rest & recover. Fatigue back then as it still remains today was a real killer. I had to learn how to balance my energy levels. In order to stop my body from draining energy.
Yet my head was telling me to try this & that in order to get myself back into work.
I tried everything to make myself more employable.
I spent a fortune trying in vain & it nearly
Lost everything in the process, including my wife, family & our relationship.
Anxiety & Depression:
It was not long before Anxiety turned to depression. Back in 2003 there was no such thing as counselling let alone the thought of having something so fundamental as Men`s Shed to look forward to & the benefits that membership of such a group would one day offer.
Genetic Test:
I was however offered a genetic test that would determine whether I had a future to look forward to. The test came curtesy of St, Mary's Hospital London who had inherited my fathers brain in order to run tests & research the condition further. To my utter surprise, The test came back as negative for the chromosome that had blighted the rest of my family.
Myself & my family had been saved from a quite horrible disease. Armed with this news I told the rest of my family to get themselves tested. My new found optimism however was short lived.
The return of dementia:
Spring 2014 My brother was diagnosed with having the same disease exactly 30 years after my father was diagnosed. Unknown to myself my sister Karen was also diagnosed.
Just as I thought it was safe to dip my toes back in the water & due to all the stress I was going through. Led me to experience my 4th stroke in November 2016.
This time it affected myself not to the left or right side of the brain but this time, directly down the middle. Meaning I was left with no physical impairments but mentally I was an emotional wreck.
Both my Sister Karen & my Brother passed away within a month of each other in March 2017 & there was nothing I could do to stop it happening.
I was also diagnosed as being diabetic around this time which I immediately countered by changing my diet cutting out all forms of white from my daily diet including carbs, sugars, starch etc. I am still classed as having Type 2 diabetes but 7 years on I still remain non-medicated.
Other Genetic diseases:
What is the difference between a Heart attack & a stroke. Basically a Heart attack affects the heart whilst a stroke affects the brain. Depending on the pathway taken by a clot.
75% of all Heart attacks Strokes are diagnosed and can pin point a reason for their occurrence.
25% have no diagnoses accept genetic or hereditary reasons.
Remember we were told that we were one of only 6 families in the world with this specific gene mutation. Two conditions I could not prevent happening.
I thought there was no one more like my father than myself. & no one was as shocked as I was to discover I never had the Gene.
That did not stop me from being influenced by other hereditary diseases such as heart attack or Stroke. What I could change was my attitude to life overall prevention diet, health & wellbeing etc.
Over the years I have enrolled myself on a number of counselling courses that I thought could help me to help others. I have also been interested in web design & in creative writing and this led me to come up with the idea of possibly using a communication tool to help men talk openly about their personal concerns, issues &problems,
Shoulder to Shoulder:
Women talk face to face with other women. Men on the other hand can only talk shoulder to shoulder.
If you put 12 men together in a room then asked them to talk about their health & wellbeing 6 of them would head for the door or open window Whilst the other 6 would be hiding under the tables.
However give them a broken down lawn mower and an hour to fix it. Your guaranteed to be fixed. A health through stealth strategy. This is the ethos of Men`s Shed movement.
A Communication Tool:
From the very beginning my idea was too introduce Pontypridd Men`s Shed to the creative writing process by focusing on creating our very own state of the art Podcast Studio.
Friday afternoons have become known as our regular Health & Wellbeing therapy sessions. Providing a safe & friendly space where members participating can feel at ease. Everyone has a different story to tell…
Allowing individuals to feel at ease whilst participating.
Allowing them to let go of their inhibitions.
Conquering any personal anxiety issues and
enabling members to talk openly & freely about their particular experiences or challenge(s)
If any member is feeling low. has unwanted thoughts of Anxiety, depression, Isolation, Loneliness, self harm or even suicidal thoughts and wants to talk to someone in confidence, then please do not hesitate to reach out. I am here to listen & will allow you to talk. About your thoughts & feelings...
Comments