On 20th April 2024 80-year old David Butland hopes to cycle from Bridlington to Bradford Royal Infirmary to say “thanks”.

On 30th March 2004 he was taken into BRI with an unknown infection and tried desperately hard to die.

The Intensive Care Unit refused to let him.

He was stubborn. On 20th April he made one more determined effort. To no effect.

Each day he was in hospital his wife, Judy, sent out an email to 2 friends who kept off all the well-meaning enquirers and distributed it.

When he got back home over a month later he read them. He was amazed. He had thought he had been in hospital for a few days. But he was most concerned that they only told half a story. There were incidents that no one else knew anything at all about.

That Christmas they produced a booklet containing an account of what went on at the same time as the email record. They gave a copy of the booklet to all people who had received the daily reports. All David’s memories were as accurately recalled as he could manage. Nothing extra for effect. They record his difficulty flying his helicopter and parking it in the garage, and conversations he had when unable to hear or speak. They are still true stories. He still remembers them clearly.

In a way.

You can now buy the 2004 booklet What Happened? All profits to go to Bradford Hospitals Social Services Unit. It makes a terrific present for anyone who needs cheering up. And it is all true.

Copies can be ordered from https://www.jbrip.uk