True Stories - Spine Condition
Around the end of 2001 the whole senior management structure changed at BNFL. Shortly afterwards I had a meeting with one of the new managers. With me were my foreman and the union convenor. I explained my situation and told him how worried I was that I might lose my job. His reply was amazing.
"I don't want to put you under any more pressure than you are already", he said. Then, with tears in his eyes he went on, "I've been watching two of my best friends - friends I've grown up with - dying before my eyes of this same thing." I already knew the condition was so far advanced that it was incurable. We had spent lots of time and money seeing various experts and they all said the same thing - "Make the most of your good days because they will get fewer and farther apart."
About this time my personnel officer suggested I try and get early retirement on health grounds. I was a little apprehensive about this, not knowing what to expect. To justify the decision, I had to have a medical report so I went to Newcastle for an MRI scan. This confirmed that my upper spine was riddled with spondylosis. After that I went to see Nick Todd who happened to be one of the specialists I had seen previously. He was in no doubt. "You're not fit for work," he said. "In fact you shouldn't have been working for some time." I tried to explain that BNFL had to make that decision. "Listen!" he said, "If I say you're retired, you're retired. You are retired." I went home feeling much happier. I didn't have to fight any more. From then on until I actually retired a few months later I gradually worked less and less. I finally finished in February 2003.
A couple of months later, Derek McDonald - the leader of King's Church - suggested I go to the New Frontiers leadership conference in Brighton. I had dismissed this idea. After all, I struggled to drive the 40 miles to Sellafield; how could I travel 350 miles to Brighton. Nevertheless, Derek was persistent so in early July I found myself heading south. We planned to camp 2 or 3 miles from the conference centre and walk there and back each day. The journey down was awful and took all day on Monday. On Tuesday I struggled through the meetings and by Wednesday morning I was wondering what I was doing there.
Around the end of 2001 the whole senior management structure changed at BNFL. Shortly afterwards I had a meeting with one of the new managers. With me were my foreman and the union convenor. I explained my situation and told him how worried I was that I might lose my job. His reply was amazing.
"I don't want to put you under any more pressure than you are already", he said. Then, with tears in his eyes he went on, "I've been watching two of my best friends -
About this time my personnel officer suggested I try and get early retirement on health grounds. I was a little apprehensive about this, not knowing what to expect. To justify the decision, I had to have a medical report so I went to Newcastle for an MRI scan. This confirmed that my upper spine was riddled with spondylosis. After that I went to see Nick Todd who happened to be one of the specialists I had seen previously. He was in no doubt. "You're not fit for work," he said. "In fact you shouldn't have been working for some time." I tried to explain that BNFL had to make that decision. "Listen!" he said, "If I say you're retired, you're retired. You are retired." I went home feeling much happier. I didn't have to fight any more. From then on until I actually retired a few months later I gradually worked less and less. I finally finished in February 2003.
A couple of months later, Derek McDonald -
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