This timeline charts the year that Jason spent in Pinderfields Hospital. Inspired by the annual bumper editions of his favourite comic, The Beano, it maps the progression of his illness alongside events in the wider world. Popular culture, TV in particular, became the main way Jason kept track of time while he was in hospital. He remembers when he got his first wheelchair by recalling who was playing Doctor Who at the time, and portrays himself as a Dalek undergoing medical treatment.
1980
April
Jason gets chickenpox and he is ill. At the same time, his dad has a very bad back, so he takes the living-room door off its hinges and lies on top of it on the living-room floor. He takes the handle off first.
May
Pac-Man, one of the most popular arcade video games of all time, is released and becomes a pop-culture sensation.
After he has recovered from chickenpox, Jason goes to Knaresborough with his sister Ang and her husband Ron. He goes to visit the cave of Old Mother Shipton, England’s most famous prophetess. He starts to feel a bit ill and struggles to walk. On his return he finds out that Cliff Thorburn has won the World Snooker Championship.
BBC2 launches a computer-generated clock, which is probably the first in the world.
June
The sixpence coin is withdrawn from circulation.
Jason continues to feel unwell. His mother takes him to the doctor. The doctors say: “You are being hysterical.” The GP says: “It’s just growing pains.” He’s unable to walk and spends most days on the settee. He watches the telly and the world outside the window.
Jason is admitted to hospital. He has been unwell for weeks now. A GP comes to visit him at home and calls for an ambulance. Blue lights flash and all the children at the school that Jason attended line the fence and ask, “Where are you going, Wilsh?” They wave as the ambulance drives away, with sirens blaring. He is ‘enjoying’ the excitement.
The best-selling single of 1980 was ‘Don’t Stand So Close to Me’ by the Police (this was played on the ward all of the time!).
July
Unemployment hits a 44-year high of nearly 1.9 million.
Every week Jason has to have a lumbar puncture. He curls up in a ball and has a needle inserted into his spine. It is very painful, but the doctors are trying to find out the cause of the weakness in his legs and arms. It is a difficult time, but life on D Ward is hectic and exciting.
Telly: All of Jason’s time in hospital is measured by what he watches on telly.
July–August
Great Britain competes at the Olympics in Moscow and wins five gold, seven silver and nine bronze medals.
August
Seb Coe and Steve Ovett are about to start an incredibly exciting race, the 1500-metre men’s final at the Moscow Olympics. Jason is in bed. The TV is opposite him and he is watching it avidly. The consultant pediatrician is doing his rounds and Jason’s mum and dad are being told that Jason will not survive and will be lucky to reach the age of 16. His mum and dad are very upset, but Jason is more interested in the result of the race… Seb Coe won!
The number Seb Coe wears for the race is 254, which corresponds strangely with the time that Jason is diagnosed. Surely this is just a coincidence?
The top film of 1980 was ’Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back’.
As Jason continues to get weaker, there is a threat that he has to go into an iron lung. This is a terrible thing and he is so scared. Every hour he has to blow into a peak-flow meter to ensure that he has enough breath to keep breathing unaided. He manages to do this, as the fear of an iron lung is so great – he would miss some quality telly.
Iron Lung: The threat of the iron lung continues, but Jason fights to keep breathing. He is frightened of the thought of his head sticking out of the metal tube. Of being locked in. Of having to leave D Ward, which has now become a familiar home.
September
The US science-fiction series ‘Battlestar Galactica’ makes its debut on ITV.
Throughout all this time he is in bed and sees young people and children passing him who are in wheelchairs. They are attending the hospital special school, which is in a classroom at the end of the ward. Jason is desperate to have a wheelchair so that he can get out and about. He dreams of a vehicle that will get him out of bed.
In 1980 Tom Baker, who played Jason’s favourite Doctor, was in his last season of ‘Doctor Who’.
Jason’s time in hospital is scary but visiting times make things bearable. His days are marked by the TV, which is always on. He watches the world go by but feels very distant from it. The ward is split into men and boys and the men tell Jason stories about their adventures in World War II. The men tell rude jokes and Jason laughs.
Jason tries his first wheelchair. The nurses get him out of bed with the physios. He starts to pass out because he hasn’t been out of bed in months, but it is an exciting day. He dreams of wheels and freedom.
October
Jason has lots of visitors. His extended family, all seven brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts come to see and entertain him with wonderful stories. They always bring him lovely sweets and gifts. He feels sorry for his sister Tracey, as he now gets all the attention.
Jason is losing control of his hands. He has a bed cradle over his legs because he cannot bear for the bedclothes to touch his skin. He is getting severe sensory signals, like pulses from his feet, and sometimes feels like his feet are huge.
Super Hands: Jason loses sensation in his arms and hands. He imagines that he is an arm tree because he no longer feels that they belong to him.
December
The Rubik’s Cube puzzle becomes an international sensation and a pop-culture fad of the early 1980s.
The news headlines are that John Lennon has been shot. Jason hears ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ for the first time. It changes his life. He realises that there are other people like him, because the song represents creativity and self-expression… he has never been so excited. He doesn’t really know what an artist is, but thinks he might be one.
Leg End: Jason’s fear of being in hospital and never going home increases, but he starts to attend Pinderfields Hospital Special School and they teach him to paint with his mouth. All the ideas that he’s had, which have been locked up while he was in bed, are set free and he can put paint to paper and experience life again, a life that he is missing. He decides he wants to become an artist.
July 1981
Jason finally goes home after a year in hospital. He has his wheelchair now and is on his journey to becoming an artist.