Once upon a time, not so very long ago........

Little Leon was born with a poorly heart. This made his Mummy and Daddy sad and they decided to search for a special friend who would keep Little Leon company and look after him while he was in hospital.............

The Adventure begins..............

Saturday 30 November 2013

To Paraphrase Churchill....

Never has soo much been owed by so many to one man.




Mr Kevin watterson has announced that he is to retire in March.
Now to say I owe this man a huge debt of thanks would be something of an understatement. Waaaay back in the very early 90's he performed open heart surgery on my father, childrens work wasn;t as common in those days as diagnosis was still pretty poor, so he had time to fit the odd adult in his surgery slots, my father being one of those. fast forward 20 or so years, and he was to perform a minor miracle on Little Leon, 13 hours plus in surgery, an operation the great man called challenging and complicated, so I can only imagine how difficult it actually was.

Little Leon & Grandad discuss the finer points of open heart surgery!
Now, it's not just the surgical skills that sets this man apart, it's his dedication,  One of my overriding 
memories after Leons operation was the sight of Kevin, sat at the end of Leons Bed in PICU drinking a cup of tea, making sure everything was as good as it could be, and would not leave until he was satisfied all was well. He is a humble man, quiet spoken, a brutal honesty when discussing your options and chances when it comes to surgery, but has an aura of confidence, that just makes you feel that things will be ok. There were no guarantees, but we felt we had the best man for the job, (after all. He did have a walking testament to his skills in my dad). He has devoted a good 25 years or more to the cause in Leeds, been a great champion of of keeping Surgery at Leeds, and will be missed. We were speaking to his Wife at a Heart Ball, a lady that has (along with the rest of the family) undoubtedly taken a back seat throughout his career, it is now their time, and I wish them a long and happy retirement together,
We will be saying our goodbyes to him, along with many others at the CHSF carol service next week, it;s bound to be a bit emotional, thank you can be such an inadequate word at times.



Little Leon makes sure he has the new surgery teams numbers

Fortunately, Kevin leaves a good team Behind him, Mr Jaber was part of the team that operated on Leon, so there is that continuity, and the new head of surgery is Carin Van Doorn, no stranger to Leeds, and has established a superb reputation throughout Europe, so we can rest assure leon will be in good hands.


Little Leon has a busy few weeks coming up, so look out for the latest updates, It;s his Birthday Next week, the Carol Service, Christmas Parties, Christmas itself and daddy's birthday, so we'll have lots to share. 

If you drop by, leave us a message to say hi.

Laters people...