John Walker Pattison's Blog
February 10, 2024
February 2024
Growing up in South Shields, England, a small seaside town on the North East coast, I have lived with the legacy of cancer for almost half a century, and I remain humbled to be one of the UK’s longest cancer survivors.
Still, many would argue that is a negative life experience – but, for me, and ironically, it has made me who I am today. Lucky or fortunate - privileged or simply destined to be a survivor.
As a consequence of the salubrious treatment I received in the seventies, I now reap the consequences of ill health, (leading to my retirement in 2021), which included another cancer diagnosis in 2019, and which sadly reoccurred again in October 2023, leading to further treatment.
Therefore, inspiration is so important, whether that be during illness, or indeed, any kind of life adversity. When my mortality was confronted, music - namely space rock legends Hawkwind and the Lakota Sioux Nation were my inspiration. However, as chronic illness reared its ugly head once again, it was the music of Lukas Nelson (son of the legendary country icon Willie Nelson) and Promise of the Real (his band) that inspired me and drove my optimism forward. Music which is entirely different from what I had previously listened to. A unique and eclectic blend of rock, folk, and country music.
"Remember, life is not a rehearsal – do not allow yourself to be a prisoner of the past; that was just a life lesson, not a life sentence. Never look back on your life unless you are prepared to smile and be reflective, and never look forward unless you can dream—we all need dreams, and we all need hope."
Since the age of seventeen, I have only been out of work once since leaving school, which was for ten months during the diagnosis and treatment of my four-year-old daughter Donna, with terminal leukaemia (a legitimate excuse I am sure you will agree).
My working career began as a welder in a local Shipyard before the spectre of cancer gripped my life in a deathly stranglehold, refusing to let go. Then after Donna’s illness, I retrained as a nurse (working exclusively in cancer services), ending my career at South Tyneside NHS Trust as a senior clinical nurse specialist, the same hospital that made my diagnosis almost fifty years earlier. Now that is one hell of a twist of fate!
Today, in retirement, I have turned my focus to a passion for storytelling - writing children’s fiction. Fortunately, I am now being recognised as a serious children’s fiction book author – and I am loving it.
So, after years of taking my grandchildren on weird and wonderful imaginary adventures, and elasticated journeys from landing on the Moon to saving the King of England, I decided to use the retirement process as an opportunity to share my tales with the world’s children.
My two current titles and synopsis can be seen on www.johnwpattison.co.uk
Currently, I have just about completed my sixth title, ‘Stretchy Stories to Make the Mind Boggle,’ and although my third, fourth and fifth titles are still to be released, these should hit the shelves in April 2024, summer 2024 and Christmas 2024. More significantly, I have lots more ideas for 2025.
All of that said, I am so proud of my memoirs, ‘Me and My Shadow – memoirs of a Cancer Survivor,’ as it has given inspiration to so many, and hopefully, will continue to do so. As a consequence, I continue to travel around the North of England on a quest for inspirational speaking engagements that deliver to the audience, hope and inspiration, and to me, a catharsis.
John Walker Pattison
Award-winning author of untold inspiration.
Still, many would argue that is a negative life experience – but, for me, and ironically, it has made me who I am today. Lucky or fortunate - privileged or simply destined to be a survivor.
As a consequence of the salubrious treatment I received in the seventies, I now reap the consequences of ill health, (leading to my retirement in 2021), which included another cancer diagnosis in 2019, and which sadly reoccurred again in October 2023, leading to further treatment.
Therefore, inspiration is so important, whether that be during illness, or indeed, any kind of life adversity. When my mortality was confronted, music - namely space rock legends Hawkwind and the Lakota Sioux Nation were my inspiration. However, as chronic illness reared its ugly head once again, it was the music of Lukas Nelson (son of the legendary country icon Willie Nelson) and Promise of the Real (his band) that inspired me and drove my optimism forward. Music which is entirely different from what I had previously listened to. A unique and eclectic blend of rock, folk, and country music.
"Remember, life is not a rehearsal – do not allow yourself to be a prisoner of the past; that was just a life lesson, not a life sentence. Never look back on your life unless you are prepared to smile and be reflective, and never look forward unless you can dream—we all need dreams, and we all need hope."
Since the age of seventeen, I have only been out of work once since leaving school, which was for ten months during the diagnosis and treatment of my four-year-old daughter Donna, with terminal leukaemia (a legitimate excuse I am sure you will agree).
My working career began as a welder in a local Shipyard before the spectre of cancer gripped my life in a deathly stranglehold, refusing to let go. Then after Donna’s illness, I retrained as a nurse (working exclusively in cancer services), ending my career at South Tyneside NHS Trust as a senior clinical nurse specialist, the same hospital that made my diagnosis almost fifty years earlier. Now that is one hell of a twist of fate!
Today, in retirement, I have turned my focus to a passion for storytelling - writing children’s fiction. Fortunately, I am now being recognised as a serious children’s fiction book author – and I am loving it.
So, after years of taking my grandchildren on weird and wonderful imaginary adventures, and elasticated journeys from landing on the Moon to saving the King of England, I decided to use the retirement process as an opportunity to share my tales with the world’s children.
My two current titles and synopsis can be seen on www.johnwpattison.co.uk
Currently, I have just about completed my sixth title, ‘Stretchy Stories to Make the Mind Boggle,’ and although my third, fourth and fifth titles are still to be released, these should hit the shelves in April 2024, summer 2024 and Christmas 2024. More significantly, I have lots more ideas for 2025.
All of that said, I am so proud of my memoirs, ‘Me and My Shadow – memoirs of a Cancer Survivor,’ as it has given inspiration to so many, and hopefully, will continue to do so. As a consequence, I continue to travel around the North of England on a quest for inspirational speaking engagements that deliver to the audience, hope and inspiration, and to me, a catharsis.
John Walker Pattison
Award-winning author of untold inspiration.
October 17, 2022
Me and My Shadow
Almost 50 years in the making, ‘Me and My Shadow – memoirs of a cancer survivor’ is my brutally honest account of cancer survivorship through the eyes of an adolescent. But also, the viewpoint of a father of a daughter, diagnosed with terminal leukaemia.
The aim is to offer hope and inspiration to anyone in society touched by a cancer diagnosis. It is also intended as an educational resource for health care professionals, who, don’t always (unless they have been touched themselves by the illness) understand the psychological burden of a cancer diagnosis – a considerable load to carry.
But moreover, it was intended as a catharsis – to eliminate those demons that lay in the deep canyons of my mind. It failed to do that, and they remain firmly planted there. Fortunately, my wife is always at hand, and ready to top up my glass with optimism, and importantly pragmatism. In life, nothing is more important than family.
However, the publication is tinged with an element of sadness, as my father is no longer around to see the fruition of my life story. He would have been so proud – but his memory will live on forever, or at least, as long as I’m around.
Today, I am humbled to be one of the longest survivors of cancer in the UK.
Yet, having started my nurse training in 1989, I enjoyed a meteoric rise to the top. I finished my career at South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust as head of the service for haematology, and senior haematology clinical nurse specialist – the same hospital that made my cancer diagnosis decades earlier, a strange twist of fate.
So, as I reluctantly retire from my post, I have to pay tribute to each and every individual, and their families that I have had the privilege of caring for during my time as a nurse.
Every day is a poignant reminder of how fortunate I am – as we know, only too well, that not everyone survives the most feared diagnosis known to society, cancer.
Even in retirement, and to stay active, I have added another string to my bow, that of being the author of children’s fiction. My first book, ‘Strange Trips and Weird Adventures’ will be followed (in just a few weeks) by ‘Blenkinsop Blabbermouth and the Ghost of Broderick McCaffery.’ Both my third, and fourth titles; ‘The Fastest Water Pistol in Splodge City,’ and ‘The Kingdom of the Huckleberry Jam’ are complete and waiting in the wings. My fifth book, ‘Lunar von Buella the Mystical Mouse from Missoula’ is a third of the way complete.
So, if you are intending to purchase a copy of ‘Me and My Shadow – memoirs of a cancer survivor,’ please take from it what you can - criticise where you feel justified. It is not a prescriptive guide on how to deal with a cancer diagnosis; no such prescription exists. It is simply my experience, my coping mechanisms, and my failures (and there are many). Not only that, but it is, what the cancer experience has made me into today – without it, I may well have fallen into the abyss of emptiness, and self-destruction.
John Walker Pattison
The aim is to offer hope and inspiration to anyone in society touched by a cancer diagnosis. It is also intended as an educational resource for health care professionals, who, don’t always (unless they have been touched themselves by the illness) understand the psychological burden of a cancer diagnosis – a considerable load to carry.
But moreover, it was intended as a catharsis – to eliminate those demons that lay in the deep canyons of my mind. It failed to do that, and they remain firmly planted there. Fortunately, my wife is always at hand, and ready to top up my glass with optimism, and importantly pragmatism. In life, nothing is more important than family.
However, the publication is tinged with an element of sadness, as my father is no longer around to see the fruition of my life story. He would have been so proud – but his memory will live on forever, or at least, as long as I’m around.
Today, I am humbled to be one of the longest survivors of cancer in the UK.
Yet, having started my nurse training in 1989, I enjoyed a meteoric rise to the top. I finished my career at South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust as head of the service for haematology, and senior haematology clinical nurse specialist – the same hospital that made my cancer diagnosis decades earlier, a strange twist of fate.
So, as I reluctantly retire from my post, I have to pay tribute to each and every individual, and their families that I have had the privilege of caring for during my time as a nurse.
Every day is a poignant reminder of how fortunate I am – as we know, only too well, that not everyone survives the most feared diagnosis known to society, cancer.
Even in retirement, and to stay active, I have added another string to my bow, that of being the author of children’s fiction. My first book, ‘Strange Trips and Weird Adventures’ will be followed (in just a few weeks) by ‘Blenkinsop Blabbermouth and the Ghost of Broderick McCaffery.’ Both my third, and fourth titles; ‘The Fastest Water Pistol in Splodge City,’ and ‘The Kingdom of the Huckleberry Jam’ are complete and waiting in the wings. My fifth book, ‘Lunar von Buella the Mystical Mouse from Missoula’ is a third of the way complete.
So, if you are intending to purchase a copy of ‘Me and My Shadow – memoirs of a cancer survivor,’ please take from it what you can - criticise where you feel justified. It is not a prescriptive guide on how to deal with a cancer diagnosis; no such prescription exists. It is simply my experience, my coping mechanisms, and my failures (and there are many). Not only that, but it is, what the cancer experience has made me into today – without it, I may well have fallen into the abyss of emptiness, and self-destruction.
John Walker Pattison
July 9, 2021
Pushing and pushing.
As a new author in the world of children's fiction, I need to keep pushing myself, not just for new and future stories, but, also to promote my current title 'Strange Trips and Weird Adventures' which, so far, has had a very positive response from both children and parents. Something I respect and appreciate.
I find the writing of children's fiction so satisfying and rewarding which, perhaps, may well be down to my own identity with childhood. My wife of course, would say that at heart, I am still just a big child. My grandson, Daniel (the star of my books) on the other hand would simply say, "No, you are my Papa." which is very endearing really.
I am delighted to announce that my second book, 'Blenkinsop Blabbermouth and the Ghost of Captain Broderick McCaffery' has also been accepted for publication and is likely to available around Feb 2022. More details as the process continues, including a few excerpts.
Until later.
John.Nick SharrattNick Sharratt & Garry ParsonsJK RowlingNick ButterworthNick Butterworth; Mayumi MatsukawaNick Butterworth & Mick InkpenJacqueline WilsonJacqueline Wilson ترجمهی نگار خلیلی عراقیJacqueline WilsonováJacqueline Wilson-JordanJacqueline Wilson, The Homeschool Super FreakPhilip PullmanMaurice SendakJulia DonaldsonJudy BlumeMalorie BlackmanJeff KinneyAnne FineEoin ColferQuentin Blake
I find the writing of children's fiction so satisfying and rewarding which, perhaps, may well be down to my own identity with childhood. My wife of course, would say that at heart, I am still just a big child. My grandson, Daniel (the star of my books) on the other hand would simply say, "No, you are my Papa." which is very endearing really.
I am delighted to announce that my second book, 'Blenkinsop Blabbermouth and the Ghost of Captain Broderick McCaffery' has also been accepted for publication and is likely to available around Feb 2022. More details as the process continues, including a few excerpts.
Until later.
John.Nick SharrattNick Sharratt & Garry ParsonsJK RowlingNick ButterworthNick Butterworth; Mayumi MatsukawaNick Butterworth & Mick InkpenJacqueline WilsonJacqueline Wilson ترجمهی نگار خلیلی عراقیJacqueline WilsonováJacqueline Wilson-JordanJacqueline Wilson, The Homeschool Super FreakPhilip PullmanMaurice SendakJulia DonaldsonJudy BlumeMalorie BlackmanJeff KinneyAnne FineEoin ColferQuentin Blake
June 21, 2021
Preparing for publication.
Well, a little over a week to go before 'Strange Trips and Weird Adventures' is published. What a long road it has been; from lockdown, to writing the skeleton of the story, to a second lockdown and teasing out the narrative. All in all its been a huge coping mechanism writing 'Strange Trips and Weird Adventures' during the pandemic and without it I'm not sure how I would have coped.
It's also now some 8 weeks since I retired from my role as senior clinical nurse specialist in haematology and whilst I STILL miss the patient contact, I do not miss the political in-fighting, the posturing and the negativity from some quarters. But, I have thrown myself into writing "remarkable stories for remarkable children."
Pre-sales of 'Strange Trips and Weird Adventures' have gone quite well and now the hard work of promoting the title starts.
It's also now some 8 weeks since I retired from my role as senior clinical nurse specialist in haematology and whilst I STILL miss the patient contact, I do not miss the political in-fighting, the posturing and the negativity from some quarters. But, I have thrown myself into writing "remarkable stories for remarkable children."
Pre-sales of 'Strange Trips and Weird Adventures' have gone quite well and now the hard work of promoting the title starts.
