One of the UK’s longest-surviving cancer survivors announces new series of children's books
The inspirational South Tyneside Grandpa opens up on his life-long health battle thanks to his ‘incurable’ cancer
At the tender age of 18, John Walker Pattison was diagnosed with ‘incurable’ cancer. Now aged 64, the Tyneside native is one of the longest-surviving cancer patients in the UK.
Hailing from the seaside town of South Shields, John’s life has been anything but ordinary. He started his career at seventeen as a welder in a local shipyard, but just ten months later, he fell seriously ill.
He suffered in silence for months, losing huge amounts of weight while “pretending that everything was okay”. Eventually, weighing just six stone at the time, John collapsed at work and was rushed to hospital.
He was diagnosed with lymphoma, a type of blood cancer. His parents were informed that their son has a 50/50 chance of survival, but they chose not to tell him.
“Mum and Dad kept that diagnosis from me,” John recalls. “I think it was a coping mechanism for them, a control thing even, and while I can understand why they did it, I never agreed with them.”
It wasn’t until John required more specialist attention at Newcastle General Hospital that the severity of his illness became clear to him. He was reading an article in the newspaper about the soap opera, Crossroads. One of its stars, Richard Tonge, had been diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma.
John recognised the illness as the one he had been diagnosed with but he had no idea it was cancer until that moment.
He continues: “I thought ‘that can’t be right, no one’s told me’. Suddenly, I went on this massive rollercoaster of emotional turbulence.
“My Mum came in on the afternoon to visit, and I confronted her. Of course, she got upset and tried to justify their decisions. I became tearful and angry - by that point, I was facing chemotherapy.”
Over the next three years, Mr Pattison underwent three different types of chemotherapy but relapsed each time. He then had radiotherapy and relapsed once more. At this point, he was told there was nothing else that could be done; according to his doctors, his condition couldn’t be cured so they initiated palliative chemotherapy.
But then, after 6 months of treatment, John defied all odds and went into remission where he has remained to this day four decades later.
After recovering from several years of gruelling cancer treatment, John returned to work in the shipyard, but as a result of the treatment, John was unable to have children, so he and his wife adopted a young girl, Donna.
Tragically, Donna was diagnosed with an extremely rare adult form of leukaemia at the age of 4. The condition had no treatment - John and his wife were informed that she would not survive.
But, like her father, Donna did survive and went on to live an incredible life.
“I can never exaggerate how hard it was for me to go through chemotherapy, but despite all of that, I would have happily taken the chemotherapy for Donna if I could’ve done,” John says.
“But, like myself, she went into spontaneous remission. She ended up with a very mild learning disability and she went on to become an international swimmer. She swam for Great Britain in the Paralympic team and came back from New Zealand with two silver medals in 1996.”
After Donna’s incredible recovery, John decided to change career, going back to college to get his O-levels and an A-level before enrolling on a nursing course.
Throughout his life, John has proven time and again that no obstacle is too great to overcome. Despite leaving school without qualifications, he had a “meteoric rise” to the top. By the time of his retirement, John was the senior clinical nurse specialist in haematology at the very hospital that made his diagnosis.
The beginning of a new story
“As a young seventeen-year-old boy - if anyone can remember CSEs - I'm the one that failed,” John says with a chuckle. “I much preferred to play the practical joker, so I ended up leaving school with a handful of worthless qualifications.
“In absolute honesty, never in a million years would I have anticipated sitting here today talking about my new book release.”
But here he is. After recently retiring from a job he loved, John turned to his passion for storytelling and his talents were quickly identified by the London-based publisher, Austin Macauley.
John describes himself as an “elasticated grandpa”, telling stories to his grandchildren of climbing mountains barefoot and swimming the Atlantic Ocean in a single day. After years of taking his own grandchildren on his weird and wonderful imaginary adventures, Pattison decided to use his retirement as an opportunity to share his stories with the world.
“When I retired from my nursing post, I thought ‘well, why don't I put these stories down on paper,” John says. “That's what I did and it just grew and grew and grew from there until my first book was published this year.
“I suspect that my grandchildren have been the stimulus for my exaggerated imagination, but it's something that keeps you young as well. Writing has been a catharsis I think.”
Pattison’s book, ‘Strange Trips and Weird Adventures’ is set to take the world of children’s fiction by storm as he sets out to inspire the imagination of today’s youth.
Finding some semblance of light amidst the darkness has been Pattison’s mission throughout his 64 years. With this latest title, Pattison promises his young readers a wealth of adventure, fusing his personal experience with fantasy to produce a unique world full of joy and wonderment.
Whether you’re being taken to the moon in a sherbert-fuelled rocket, building a homemade submarine and heading across the world’s deepest oceans, or flying to the Arctic Circle in an airship and befriending a polar bear called Preston, Pattison incites a child-like sense of wonder in readers of all ages.
“The book is light-hearted, it's escapism, but it's also a little bit of fun as well - particularly in these very serious times that we’re living in,” John explains. “The illustrations are wonderfully done by the publisher, it's an all-around nice book to read.”
With his new series of books, John reminds his readers that they should never let their comfort zone become too comfortable. His stories aim to kickstart a child’s imagination and show them that adventure is always waiting for them in the wings.
As Pattison warmly states, “life is sweet,” but for him, what makes it sweeter is knowing that his books can provide children with a door into a world full of unending possibilities.
“I'm a huge believer in fate, I think when you’re born you’re dealt a hand of cards, and you have no option but to play that hand of cards. And this was my pack, and I think that I got a good hand of cards.”
Jessica Harris, Communications and Media Team Lead, at Austin Macauley Publishers, added: “John Pattison’s recently published book Strange Trips and Weird Adventures is a delightful collection of 4 short stories which capture the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren beautifully. Papa takes Daniel on fabulous adventures through the form of tales from a trip to the Moon for Cheese to a Submarine expedition to find a Humpback whale. The Ideal read for Primary School aged children contains delightful illustrations to let children’s imaginations run free.”
‘Strange Trips and Weird Adventures’ is out now & available for purchase from Amazon, and most major bookstores, as well as through his publisher Austin Macauley:
www.austinmacauley.com/book/strange-trips-and-weird-adventures
Stay tuned for your next adventure, as John Walker Pattinson’s series continues with ‘Blenkinsop Blabbermouth and the Ghost of Broderick McCaffery’, coming to a bookshelf near you in early 2022.