When Mike Grayson was told he had asbestosis he thought he would never sing again…but with the support of St Luke’s, the sound of music has returned to his life.
Mike, who is 82 and lives with wife Sylvia in Hillsborough, was diagnosed with asbestosis, the chronic lung condition caused by prolonged exposure to high concentrations of asbestos fibres, in 2019.
“Eventually my consultant said he had nothing else to offer me and asked if I would be happy to be referred for palliative care and that’s when St Luke’s came into my life,” he says.
His first contact was with our Community Nurse Emily, who offered Mike a full package of support at home.
“I was a Senior Nurse Manager so I know what good nursing is like and all I can say is that St Luke’s came in with such confidence, knowledge and care,” Sylvia says.
“If we mention anything at all Emily picks up on it and runs with it and what’s really important is that she doesn’t expect me to be the nurse - she’s the nurse and that’s really nice for both me and Mike.”
Mike also enjoyed physiotherapy sessions with our Patient and Family Support Services at Little Common Lane and now he is also a regular user of facilities at our Ecclesall Road South site, where he attends weekly art classes.
“I can’t say I’d ever been a really artistic person but I thought maybe now was the time to do some art work,” Mike says.
And it was Ecclesall Road too that Mike rediscovered a love for singing he thought he had lost as the illness increasingly affected his lungs.
He had been a member of the celebrated and award-winning Worrall Male Voice Choir, performing at the Royal Albert Hall in London and being part of the line-up that took first prize at the world-famous Eisteddfod in Wales, where Worrall was the only English choir to take the top award in the face of tough Welsh competition.
“It just happens that on the same day as the art group there’s also the singing group so I signed up for that as well,” he says.
“It’s not doing too badly up to now - I’m alright with one or two tunes but then I can get a bit breathless.
“But the thing is that I am able to do it and that makes such a big difference to me because I’d thought singing would be out of the question.”
Singing, though, is just one of the many things that St Luke’s has given Mike and Sylvia.
“Apart from giving me help and advice on how to cope better with the situation I’m in, St Luke’s has also uplifted me,” Mike says.
“They’ve helped me realise that I’m not the only person in this position, that we’re not alone.
“A year or two ago I was thinking I couldn’t do this and I couldn’t do that but St Luke’s has given me ideas and hope and got me to look to the future and we are in a good place at the moment.”