Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Ken Dodd saved our baby’s life
They said it could be his last night. Every phone call had my heart racing MUM FARAH ON AGONISING NEWS FROM RAEES’ DOCTORS
When Raees is older I’ll tell him who Ken was and how he and Anne saved his life MUM FARAH ON HER FAMILY’S GRATITUDE TO COMIC AND WIFE
“There’s not a day that goes by when I don’t think about what could have happened,” Farah said.
“We were so lucky he had the strength and resilience to get through it with the help of the ECMO.
“Raees is a cheeky little thing,” she continued. “He’s happy, healthy and has just started walking.
BLESSED
“He loves his older brother and they play all day. You wouldn’t think he’d been through anything like this.
“When the Covid restrictions lift, I’d love to meet Anne and thank her in person. I’ll tell Raees when he’s older about who Ken was and how he and Anne helped save his life.”
When Sir Ken died in 2018 aged 90, he left behind a £28million fortune.
The Knotty Ash comic married long-term love Anne on his deathbed.
She said he wanted to use his wealth to give back to the local services that meant something to him.
So since then, Anne has overseen donations to Alder Hey, a new church hall for St John The Evangelist opposite Ken’s old home, Shakespeare North theatre company, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital – where Sir Ken was treated before he died – and Clatterbridge Hospital, Wirral, where the comic was a patron.
“Ken did anything for anybody,” said Anne. “He started off The Ken Dodd Charitable Foundation before he died and a lot of his money has gone into that.
“It helps keep his spirit alive and keeps me going. He had no desire for the trappings of wealth and it was his wish most of his estate would go to charities close to his heart.
“The biggest thing is to do with our church hall. We’ve extended it, now it’s about to reopen. It was his first school. It will be the Sir Ken Dodd Happiness Hall for Church and Community.
“We’ve put a lot of money into the Ken Dodd Performance Garden for Shakespeare North in Prescot. They’re building an Elizabethan amphitheatre.” Sir Ken, who was renowned for his live stand-up performances, was still wowing audiences in the months leading up to his death.
“The years dropped off him when he went on stage,” told Anne. “He was 90 when he did his last show. We were still doing two or three a week, four hours on stage, in his last year.
“He’d look 30 years younger when he stepped out on stage. He thrived on it.
“He used to say, ‘I’ve been blessed with this gift’, as he didn’t think he deserved it. He loved getting laughs out of people.”
Sir Ken, who was a lifelong resident of Knotty Ash in Liverpool, started out as an entertainer in the mid-1950s.
His big break came in the 1965 London Palladium season and he even had a chart-topping hit called Tears at the height of Beatlemania in his home city. His most famous prop was his red, white and blue tickling stick. “I still have a few of them around the house,” said Anne.
This month, the normally private widow released The Squire of Knotty Ash and his Lady – an intimate biography of Sir Ken Dodd’s life.
Former Bluebell dancer Anne spent 40 years by the comic’s side and married him a low-key ceremony just two days before his death.
She said: “He was very poorly. But his voice was much louder than it had been in previous weeks. He said his vows crystal clear.
“I miss him,” she added. “He’d leave me little notes all the time, saying he loved me, which I still have. You don’t throw them away.”