‘THE NHS TOUCHES ALL OUR LIVES, BUT WE TAKE IT FOR GRANTED’
FIRST BABY BORN UNDER THE NHS ON HER NEW BOOK:
ANEIRA Thomas’ life changed forever when her mother Edna held her breath for a minute and she became the first baby to be born on the NHS.
Named after National Health Service founder Aneurin Bevan when she arrived into the world at one minute past midnight on July 5, 1948, the moment defined her life – and gave the title to her autobiography, published this week, Hold On Edna!
Nye, 71, of Loughor, first put pen to paper 16 years ago and started writing her book in long hand, but left it tucked away in a drawer until last year when she celebrated her milestone birthday.
“On my 70th birthday everyone said I should write a book,” she said.
“But after my mother died 16 years ago I started writing about her life in London.
“My heart broke after mam. We had her until she was 95 – she was my life and my children. I was deeply grieved when she went.”
Aneira said it was her inquisitive nature as a child and a burning desire to know more about her grandparents, who were no longer around as she grew up due to a lack of a health service, which gave her the vital background for the book.
“Out of her seven children she had I was thirsty for knowledge as I never knew my grandparents – I would be envious of the other children,” she said. “I wanted to know really poignant things as, because of a lack of healthcare, they had died.
“There’s a lot of information been taken out of the book and I feel like there is another book left.”
It’s a heartbreaking story of the different generations of her family who battled to survive before the NHS was launched, with her great-great grandmother brought up in a workhouse, an ordeal she survived.
Aneira’s family went on to dedicate their lives to the service and some were saved by it, setting the scene of the story.
She herself had her life saved eight times as she suffers from anaphylaxis – a severe reaction which is triggered by an allergic reaction to some precription drugs.
“Each episode is getting worse,” Aneira, a former nurse, said. “I was walking around B&Q and ended up on the concrete. I saw the fireman who stopped and stayed with me until the ambulance came.”
And the NHS has not only helped to save her life, but that of her two children – Kevin and Lindsey – who both suffered brain haemorrhages.
Lindsey, like Nye, has devoted her life to the NHS, as a paramedic.
In 2007 Kevin, suffered the first of two life-threatening brain haemorrhages, the second being in 2013.
And in February 2015 her daughter, Lindsey, suffered an almost identical brain bleed.
Lindsey spent two and a half weeks in a coma as doctors and nurses battled to save her – in the very same hospital room where they had saved Kevin’s life.
Aneira also has the NHS to thank for the lives of her grandchildren Joe and Caitlin.
When Joe was 10 months old he slipped into a coma in Aneira’s arms as a severe bout of diarrhoea and sickness left his blood sugar critically low. He had to be rushed to the Singleton Hospital in Swansea where doctors stabilised his condition.
Aneira has previously said: “That moment will haunt me forever, seeing his face was all distorted. I screamed for my neighbour and rang 999. I thought he was dying. It was the first time I’d seen the NHS save someone I loved and it changed the way I saw the NHS forever. I was so grateful.”
And there was more drama when Lindsey gave birth to her daughter Caitlin, whose heart rate began to plummet during labour. Lindsey was rushed into theatre for an emergency caesarean at Singleton Hospital.
Caitlin was delivered just four minutes later and the emergency team immediately started resuscitating her. Thanks to their quick reactions she emerged unscathed.
Speaking last week, Aneira said: “It came down the line to my children.
“The commitment from the team of health professionals was amazing, I was shaking the surgeons’ hands and I wanted to kiss their hands.
“They have six children between them – the book is all about the NHS in the context of my family life.”
But she said giving so much away about her life within the book had been a challenge in itself.
Nye added: “It’s a bit scary,I am a bit fearful bringing this book out – but you have to feel the fear and bring it in. I feel happy but I feel nervous because I am exposing myself.
“I am older now, if it was not done now, it would never will be. You know how passionate I am about the NHS, it’s our greatest achievement, the story resonates with that.
“I did not have grandparents because of a lack of a health service. There’s nothing more important than health – the NHS belongs to the public.”
She said she hoped her book would have global appeal and that one day it could end up on either the big or small screen.
Nye said: “Wouldn’t it be nice to make a series, wouldn’t it be nice to make a film. You never know, it would be amazing, if they can get Brad Pitt to play a part, I will be patient.”
She added: “And it’s all because mam held her breath.
“I have dedicated the book to mum and dad – Edna and Willie – and the first acknowledgement is to Nye Bevan.
“When I am in Cardiff in Queen’s Street standing tall I look up at his statue and cry – without the NHS my children would not be here. It touches all our lives, but we do take it for granted.
“I think it should always be there.”
■ Nye will be doing a series of book signings. She will be in Waterstones in Cardiff on March 12 at noon and in Swansea’s Waterstones on March 21, between 1pm and 3pm.
■ Save £3 off Hold On Edna, , published by Mirror Books, with offer code RB5 (RRP £12.99.) Call 01256 302 699 or order online at mirrorbooks.co.uk (Free P&P on orders over £15).