A ‘band of brothers and ‘Dolly’ spread the love

Hospital staff have fixed it for a Peterborough patient to be treated to a personal performance by his sons’ band while he undergoes their care for Motor Neurone Disease.

Gary Radley, 62 is being treated by the specialist Respiratory Support and Sleep Centre team, staying at the Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge.

As a special request while enduring the degenerative condition, he asked if staff could arrange for his four sons, who are in a Peterborough band called Endeavour, to come and play for him.

Of course, the RSSC team were only too happy to make it happen.

It was a very moving moment when Brandon, 24, Shawn, 32, Garren, 23, and Shane, 33, gatheredaroundhis bed, which had been wheeled downfromthethirdfloorinto thehospitalgroundsforbetter social distancing, to play a few acoustic songs including covers of Foo Fighters ‘Wheels’ and ‘Learn To Fly’ to lift his spirits. A fifth member of the band, friend Kieran Eassom, was not present for the event.

Gary, who has been in hospital since June, first at Peterborough City Hospital and thentheRoyalPapworthatthe start of September. He said: “Seeing my boys has given me a massive boost. My aim is to get homeandspendwhatever time I have left with my partner Valerie and the rest of my family.

“I amsogratefultotheNHS for everything they’ve done for me and my family over the years.”

“Dad is the most amazing man and loves Foo Fighters too,” Shawn said. “This was a very special thing for us to be able to do and we are grateful to Royal Papworth Hospital and their amazing staff for

helping to make this happen. He has always been a very big part of the band and is a very proud dad.”

Garren added: “Our dad has been our driver, our roadie, ourengineer, ourmerchandise guy, ourmanagerandour security, but as well as that he is ourbestmate. Weknowhow much he loves music and how happy it makes him to watch us play, which is why it means the world to us that Royal PapworthHospital allowed usto come and visit and perform some of his favourite songs.”

Motorneuronedisease occurs when nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord called motor neurones stop working properly.

They control important muscle activity, such as gripping and walking. Symptoms include muscle weakness, twitches, slurred speech and difficulty swallowing. The symptomsgetworseovertime and MND is always fatal.

Thereiscurrentlynoeffective treatment for the disease.

The brothers play for their dad at his hospital bedside.