‘I WILL DEFINITELY POP IN TO THE GARDEN, AND SIT AND THINK ABOUT MICK. IT’S A FITTING TRIBUTE’
He helped to create multi-sensory experience at hospital’s critical care garden before losing cancer battle
A NURSING assistant at Royal Stoke University has paid tribute to her late husband who helped to design a new garden at the hospital before he died from cancer.
Mick Ferns, of Harriseahead, died last June just nine months after he married Sandra.
HGV driver Mick, who was originally from Liverpool and had retained a strong Scouse accent despite living in the city for 30 years, was already suffering from prostate cancer when he caught covid two years ago and had to be ventilated in the critical care unit.
When he came home several weeks later he was suffering from aches and pains, which were put down to his battle with covid. But unfortunately in December 2020 it was found that his cancer had spread.
Everton supporter Mick was too weak to have chemotherapy and lost three stone. But before he died in June last year he and Sandra, who met three years ago on dating site Plenty of Fish, had helped to draw up plans for the critical care rehabilitation unit garden, which as The Sentinel reported yesterday is now open.
The pair made suggestions about which plants to choose, including a range of fragrant herbs to make visiting the garden a multi-sensory experience.
Speaking at the launch of the garden, Sandra told The Sentinel that it was a ‘fitting tribute’ to her husband. The 60-year-old said: “The garden is beautiful and such a great idea. As a patient, to be able to come outside and feel the wind and the sun on your face is amazing.
“As I work at the hospital I will definitely pop in to the garden, and sit and think about Mick. It’s a fitting tribute to him. He was the life and soul of the party, a really big character. He was a very, very charming man.
“We are really lucky here with the fabulous care you get at this hospital. Even if you paid privately you wouldn’t get the standard of care you get in critical care.”