Garage helps man with kidney failure get back on his bike

KINDNESS by a garage has helped to put a man with kidney failure back on his electric motorbike.

Three times a week, Tudor John, 59, who lives off Reading Road, Henley, makes the trip by patient transport to the Royal Berkshire Hospital for four-hour dialysis sessions.

But when the former managing director of a media agency in Singapore bought an electric motorbike to travel the 20-minute route, he found an unexpected sense of freedom.

Mr John said: “Kidney failure has a way of narrowing life down to appointments, machines and the steady rhythm of necessity.

“The illness changed me and created this persona that I was a sick man.

“I went through this negative, poor me self-pity process, which was destructive as I was living in the past.

“But, about 18 months ago, I chose not to be sick and I decided to reclaim a small piece of that journey.

“The bike is nothing amazing — it only does 30mph — but it looks cool. It was never about speed or spectacle. It was about independence.

“It made the whole process and the psychological aspect of having to be bound by a machine to live easier.

“It gave me some freedom in the way I go about the journey, as it meant I no longer had to rely on patient transport

“What had been a purely clinical outing gained something else — fresh air, movement and a sense of choice.”

He added: “It brought a little freedom and even pleasure to an otherwise unpleasurable day.” That was until it fell over on Thursday last week. It was picked up by holding the throttle, lurching the bike forward and breaking it. The panels cracked, a brake lever bent and one of the footrests twisted so badly that it was unsafe to ride.

“Suddenly, my small independence was gone,” Mr John said. “I was back to relying on patient transport while I searched for parts for the Chinese-built bike, which are not easy or quick to source.”

He got in touch with David Bray Motor Engineers, in Greys Road and was invited to bring the bike down. While they inspected his bike, he took his jacket off to reveal his bandaged left arm, which bore the marks of the needles.

Mr John said: “Their reaction was not pity, it was just like ‘Yeah, we can help’. That really pleasant interaction took me from feeling sad and pretty tearful to happy.”

Sam Buckett, a classic car mechanic and an MOT tester, repaired the cracked plastic using heat staples, carefully ground down the jagged edges left by the fall, removed, straightened and refitted the bent footrest and replaced and adjusted the brake lever.

Mr John said: “He worked through each issue methodically until the bike was roadworthy again. It now carries a couple of cosmetic battle scars but my freedom remains intact.

“When I asked what I owed, they refused to take any money. There was no drama and no fuss, just kindness.”

Mr Buckett said: “We knew he had just come from the hospital and we don’t like to see anyone stranded, especially because I used to be a biker and I know how easy it is for stuff to go wrong.

“He was a really nice bloke and we were all having a good laugh with him while he stood with us. We were able to help him, make it usable, safe and tidy it up a little bit before we could get the parts. I have a soft spot for motorbikes even though my daily is a 1973 Mini and the youngest van I own is from 2005.

“I would love to jump back on one and do trips to the coast but I had an accident many years ago where I wasn’t very nearly here.”

He joked: “If the motorbike doesn’t kill me, my family would if I were to buy one.”

While Mr John has surpassed the two-year kidney transplant waiting time, he remains hopeful to find a match in the future.

He said: “To make the kidneys not reject is really hard work, so I have to wait long enough until the science works.

“Don’t get me wrong, I have no pleasure in having these knitting needles stuck into me and sitting on a machine for four hours every other day, but it keeps me alive.

“It gets me to where I need to be, which is getting a transplant and returning to a semblance and normal life.”