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Congratulations,
Mr President
Since
having his laryngectomy, Bert has done a huge amount of work to
assist other people in the same situation. He is now the President
of the National Association of Laryngectomee Clubs and has been
awarded an MBE for his services to laryngectomee. Bert's wife, Ethel,
is also heavily involved in the work of the association.
Going
to the Palace
"A
proud day for myself, my children and my wife was the investiture
at the Palace where I received the MBE.
From
my point of view one of the main things about this day was my daughter
coming from Australia and my son coming from Sweden. We got the
family all back together again for this special day.
On
the day itself everybody got dolled up in their best gear.
The
ceremony
When
we went into the Palace we had to stand in quite a long queue. We
were then separated: my wife, Ethel, and the children went into
the big hall and I was ushered to one of the main chambers where
there were some great paintings. Seeing the paintings was an experience
in itself.
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| Bert's
MBE medal |
We
watched the investiture of other people on the internal television
and then it was my turn to go.
It
was a great moment of pride for me to be in front of Prince Charles,
who was doing the investiture, and be presented with the medal.
Princely
smalltalk
After
the presentation, Prince Charles said quite a few things, which
to be honest, I can't quite remember now, but they were to do with
the services I had done for laryngectomee.
After
my investiture, I sat with my family and we watched other people
receiving their awards. One was the Victoria Cross, one the George
Medal etc.
After
the ceremony we walked through the various parts of the Palace into
the courtyard, where we had our official photographs.
Traditional
post-ceremony pub visit
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| "I
felt like a film star". Bert in a more relaxed setting
at home in the North East. |
When
we left the Palace we went to one of the local pubs.
As
we were all smartly dressed and looked as though we'd been to a
wedding, some Americans asked where we'd been. They
were very interested when we said we'd been to the Palace to receive
a medal.
We
got the medal out and everybody had a look. I felt like a film star!"
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Bert
has also made two Video Nation shorts
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Useful
information
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The
name for a person who has had a laryngectomy (surgery to remove
their voicebox/larynx) is "laryngectomee".
Handheld
artificial voiceboxes transmit voice sounds when the laryngectomee
touches the artificial voicebox to their neck whilst speaking
(see picture of Bert above and his Video
Nation shorts.)
If
you would like to find out more about having a laryngectomy
and life afterwards, contact
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The
National Association of
Laryngectomee Clubs
Ground Floor
6 Rickett Street
Fulham
London SW6 1RU
Tel: 020 7381 9993
Fax: 020 7381 0025 |
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Or use the links below for more information on health
BBC
Health
Northern
Cancer Network
MacMillan
Cancer Relief
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Help
with quitting smoking
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Bert
never smoked and was just unlucky. However, some throat cancers
patients are people who have smoked for much of their lives.
Unfortunately, some people can be quite judgmental about their
condition, assuming they have brought it upon themselves.
If
you're a smoker and want to give up, the following links might
be helpful:
Giving
Up Smoking
(NHS website)
ASH
(Action on Smoking and Health)
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