Listen to an edited audio recording of the event above. Download an MP3.

Ted is a celebrated British architect. When he was brought to University College Hospital, he was barely alive. After emergency surgery for acute pancreatitis and many months spent in the Critical Care Unit, he miraculously started to mend.

He says he owes his survival to the amazing care that he received from the surgeon and the round-the-clock care he received from teams of doctors and nurses. In the end, however, it was Jenny, the physiotherapist, who became his most significant carer: when he was strong enough for physiotherapy, she took over his regime.

Jenny was the first person he remembers after the months of being semi-conscious in bed, and she became the main constant in his life as he recovered. Every day she encouraged him, giving him exercises to bring his muscles back into use. She monitored his breathing tube, gradually weaning him off it and making it possible for him to talk again. Jenny became his memory where he had none. Then she told him what had happened to him.

This event was recorded live at Wellcome Collection on 22 March 2012.

Speakers
Jenny Carter, physiotherapist
Edward Cullinan, patient

Facilitator
George Rousseau, Professor of History, University of Oxford

This event is part of the series Tell it to Your Doctor.

Image used with permission from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.