Latest / Tom's Hirschsprung's Podcast / Episode 124 - With Denise Welch

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Episode 124 - With Denise Welch · Tom's Hirschsprung's Podcast

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Speaker 1: You are listening to Tom's Hirshprung's Podcast, a space where
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Speaker 1: we talk openly about living with Hirshprung's disease. Whether you
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Speaker 1: live with it, care for someone who has it, or
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Speaker 1: just want to understand more, this podcast is for you.
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Speaker 1: Each episode, we will explore real stories and honest conversations
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Speaker 1: about a condition that often goes unheard. Thank you for
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Speaker 1: tuning in. Hello, and welcome to episode of Tom's Hirshbrugs Podcast.
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Speaker 1: I am very excited today to be joined by actor, writer, broadcaster,
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Speaker 1: and all around national treasure Denise will help should say
1:00
Speaker 1: he's welcome to the podcast.
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Speaker 2: Thank you so much. That was a nice, nice introduction.
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Speaker 2: Thank you, it makes me sound very clever.
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Speaker 1: I do love a good introduction. I do nice. But
1:14
Speaker 1: thank you so so much for coming on. I know
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Speaker 1: this is a highly.
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Speaker 2: That's a while Tom, for us to get together, hasn't it?
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Speaker 1: It has that you are You are probably the busiest
1:25
Speaker 1: person I've ever met.
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Speaker 2: I think, I Well, the thing is I wrapped on
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Speaker 2: I wrapped on a job a couple of weeks ago,
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Speaker 2: in a fabulous job Forever Home, based on a Graham
1:37
Speaker 2: Norton novel based very loosely on a Graam Norton novel
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Speaker 2: which we filmed in Northumberland mainly, which is my home turf,
1:46
Speaker 2: so that was gorgeous to film up there. And then
1:48
Speaker 2: you know, so Lincoln, my hubby said, right, so I
1:51
Speaker 2: might get to see you that at some point when
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Speaker 2: you finish this job, and I went, well, yes, of course,
1:56
Speaker 2: it's just me. I've been doing what I've been knock
1:59
Speaker 2: and down, lock and down. I did quite a few
2:03
Speaker 2: acting projects last year and they're all being edited, so
2:07
Speaker 2: I'm getting called in quite a bit to do ADR,
2:09
Speaker 2: which for people who don't know what ADR is, it's
2:12
Speaker 2: when you have to dub your voice onto something that
2:14
Speaker 2: either they're adding and which often happens that there isn't
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Speaker 2: enough information, so they want you to add a bit
2:21
Speaker 2: to So they say a scene with me and David
2:24
Speaker 2: Morrissey and tiptoe, So as soon as the camera goes
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Speaker 2: off me and on to David, I add a line
2:31
Speaker 2: to give a bit more information. And of course there's
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Speaker 2: quite a few projects so that has been They mostly
2:38
Speaker 2: happened in London, so I've been up and down a
2:40
Speaker 2: bit doing that. But on tomorrow we're taking my mom
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Speaker 2: in law on a cruise, so somewhere nice we're going.
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Speaker 2: It's we've been asked on very kindly by elegant cruises,
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Speaker 2: and it's very different to what we've done before. This
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Speaker 2: sounds more like a huge yacht. It's for one hundred
3:07
Speaker 2: people as opposed to two thousand people, which is what
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Speaker 2: you're normally on these big boats on And so I've
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Speaker 2: read very little about it. I'm not a very good
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Speaker 2: tourist in as much as I think, well, I'll just
3:19
Speaker 2: get on there and see what's happening. But we fly
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Speaker 2: to tenerif we go to Casablanca, we go to MIAs
3:26
Speaker 2: in Spain, and we go to Palmer and so it's
3:30
Speaker 2: crumming a lot into a week. But she loves a cruise,
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Speaker 2: does gen. So we're taking her on that.
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Speaker 1: Oh sounds fantastic, sounds absolutely brilliant. But we are also
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Speaker 1: here to talk about your son, Louis. We are and
3:44
Speaker 1: to talk about his diagnosis of hirsch Brung's And for
3:50
Speaker 1: those who who've been following the podcast for a while,
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Speaker 1: Louis came on about eighteen months ago and he talked
3:55
Speaker 1: about talked about his his start with her Sprungs and
4:00
Speaker 1: then I think we got sidetracked and start talking about
4:02
Speaker 1: football a lot. Yeah it was, Yeah, I think I
4:06
Speaker 1: led him astray, unfortunately. And then there with a lot
4:11
Speaker 1: a lot of parts of that story said, well, you're
4:13
Speaker 1: probably best off asking my mum, so I will. So
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Speaker 1: I guess would you like to take us back to
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Speaker 1: back to the beginning. We'll start from there, will.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm better asked a sort of open question like that,
4:31
Speaker 2: because with Adhd as well, I go off on a
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Speaker 2: million tangents. So please don't think it's being rude to
4:36
Speaker 2: pull me back when I'm talking about something completely unrelated. Okay,
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Speaker 2: So I have two children, as you know, Mattie who
4:45
Speaker 2: is thirty seven coming up next week, Oh god, next week?
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Speaker 2: And Louis who is is he twenty four to twenty five?
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Speaker 2: Twenty five? Born in two thousand and one. That's right,
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Speaker 2: a big gap twelve years. The reason for that gap
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Speaker 2: is because I was thirty one when I had Matti
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Speaker 2: in nineteen eighty nine. I had a wonderful pregnancy, and
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Speaker 2: I had one of those pregnancies where people say, oh
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Speaker 2: my god, you look so well. Your hair's great, your
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Speaker 2: skin's great. I love the whole thing.
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Speaker 3: Of being pregnant and that was it, and you know,
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Speaker 3: the scans were all fine and whatever, and sadly, when
5:26
Speaker 3: I had Mattie, he was fine, he was nearly eight pounds,
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Speaker 3: he was fine.
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Speaker 2: And I unfortunately had severe postnatal depression and I was
5:37
Speaker 2: hospitalized and it was awful and I was the I
5:42
Speaker 2: was on a verge, apparently, on a verge of purple psychosis,
5:48
Speaker 2: going in and out of lucidity, and it was a
5:51
Speaker 2: terrifying time. And people say to me, how long did
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Speaker 2: that last? And I say, well, so she's seven years.
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Speaker 2: To be honest, because it is offen. It is often
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Speaker 2: the key to someone who has a lifetime of depressive episodes.
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Speaker 2: That can be the start. I would like to say
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Speaker 2: in case there's any people with a new baby or
6:10
Speaker 2: people who are pregnant, it's you know, I had a
6:14
Speaker 2: very severe case of it, and you know, so don't
6:20
Speaker 2: worry about it because now the help is available straight away.
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Speaker 2: It wasn't then thirty seven years ago. It really wasn't
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Speaker 2: unless you could write to an association for postnatal Illness.
6:33
Speaker 2: Doctors didn't know about it. The doctor that I saw
6:35
Speaker 2: the GP in London, So this is nineteen eighty nine,
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Speaker 2: Lean for I was in an almost catatonic state when
6:42
Speaker 2: my mom took me down and she leant forward, probably
6:44
Speaker 2: a lady about my age now maybe younger, and she said, well,
6:49
Speaker 2: with that patronizing, passive aggressive smile, she said, well, I
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Speaker 2: had five children, dear, and I just didn't have time
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Speaker 2: to get depressed. That's what she said to me. And
7:01
Speaker 2: unfortunately that was a bit of an attitude then Tom. Anyway,
7:06
Speaker 2: despite that, I've had a wonderful thirty seven years when
7:11
Speaker 2: I've been good, but I have had many episodes since then.
7:15
Speaker 2: So we myself and the boys, Dad Tim, were too
7:21
Speaker 2: scared to have another one, really, and then I felt
7:25
Speaker 2: pregnant twelve years later, and by that time I was
7:29
Speaker 2: in my early forties. I was doing Coronation Street. Tim
7:32
Speaker 2: was fifty. But I couldn't not, you know, proceed with it,
7:39
Speaker 2: and thank god I did. So. The reason I'm saying
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Speaker 2: this is because it's about the birth. So I had
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Speaker 2: a very very very dear friend who's sadly not with
7:48
Speaker 2: a now called Gordon Folkner. Gordon was a friend of
7:53
Speaker 2: We were all mom and dad friends of the school
7:54
Speaker 2: that the kids were at, and Gordon was one of
7:57
Speaker 2: the top gynecologists in the country. So he said to me, look,
8:02
Speaker 2: so that so that you can psychologically have a completely
8:07
Speaker 2: different birth than you did with Matthew, because nobody knows
8:10
Speaker 2: how many signs or hormonal, how many signs of psychological,
8:13
Speaker 2: what the triggers might be. So he suggested that I
8:15
Speaker 2: had an elective section because elective cesarean section, because I
8:19
Speaker 2: would be in incredibly safe hands with Gordon, and so
8:23
Speaker 2: that's what happened. So I had had more tests than
8:27
Speaker 2: normal because I was an old mom at forty two,
8:30
Speaker 2: deally forty three, a very old mom. So I'd had
8:34
Speaker 2: the amnios and thesis and all the scans and everything,
8:37
Speaker 2: and of course nothing showed up. And I proceeded to
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Speaker 2: have Louis with Gordon felt in very safe hands, and
8:44
Speaker 2: little seven pound Louis was born, and I wanted to
8:48
Speaker 2: breastfeed him if possible, because I hadn't been able to
8:51
Speaker 2: breastfeed Matty because my lactation process stopped as a result
8:56
Speaker 2: of the depression in the panic attacks. So I said, well,
9:03
Speaker 2: you know, I wasn't hung up about breastfeeding. I wasn't
9:05
Speaker 2: one of these women who think, you know, oh my god,
9:07
Speaker 2: you know you've got to breastfeed your child. I just
9:09
Speaker 2: wanted the experience of it, which you know mums will understand.
9:13
Speaker 2: And so we started to try and feed him and
9:16
Speaker 2: he wouldn't feed, and the nurses would come in to
9:21
Speaker 2: the room and they would put him this way and
9:23
Speaker 2: this way and upside down in all sorts of ways,
9:26
Speaker 2: and he wouldn't feed. So he wasn't feeding, and he
9:28
Speaker 2: wasn't pooing, but they said, don't worry. His blood sugars
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Speaker 2: are fine. Often when the baby hasn't been down the
9:36
Speaker 2: birth canal because you've had a section, sometimes there's a
9:39
Speaker 2: lot of gunk to get rid of, and that's maybe
9:41
Speaker 2: why he's not feeding. Anyway. By the third day, I
9:45
Speaker 2: was very anxious about this, and before you knew it,
9:50
Speaker 2: I'm trying to find something of a comparable color. Louis
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Speaker 2: projectile vomited this electric green vomit cross the room like
10:01
Speaker 2: the Exorcist, and you're aware in the hospital when everybody
10:09
Speaker 2: doesn't want to frighten you, but there is this sort
10:11
Speaker 2: of mass intake of breath that this is not right.
10:16
Speaker 2: So we proceeded to take him to special care. And
10:23
Speaker 2: I was naturally concerned at this point, but not overly
10:27
Speaker 2: worried and so yes, projectile vomiting as though. We took
10:34
Speaker 2: him to special care. And basically the hospital I was
10:37
Speaker 2: in at the time Tom was Hope Hospital in Manchester,
10:41
Speaker 2: now Hope Hospital. I didn't really know the difference at
10:43
Speaker 2: the time. I wasn't thinking about it was a medical
10:45
Speaker 2: hospital as opposed to a surgical hospital. So we took
10:48
Speaker 2: him to special care and basically they were eliminating everything.
10:53
Speaker 2: Over a period of days became two weeks and I
10:57
Speaker 2: would have to walk from my my room to Special Care,
11:02
Speaker 2: and every day it seemed like it got longer. The
11:05
Speaker 2: Green Mile I used to call it, because my anticipation
11:09
Speaker 2: of how he was going to be was growing every day.
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Speaker 2: Because sometimes I would walk down there ring the bell
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Speaker 2: and I'd get, oh, hello, come on in it to
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Speaker 2: Louise's mum and they'd say, well, he's taken a little
11:22
Speaker 2: syringe of milk, so we're gonna he was covered in tubes.
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Speaker 2: Little thing will take him out, you can have a
11:27
Speaker 2: little hug and then ah, he would bring it up again.
11:31
Speaker 2: So every day I walk there with trepidation, not knowing anyway.
11:35
Speaker 2: They did lumber punctures they you know, to sort of
11:37
Speaker 2: eliminate meningitis. They were doing absolutely everything, and after nearly
11:43
Speaker 2: two weeks, I said, look, guys, I don't know how
11:48
Speaker 2: much I can take of this. You know, every day
11:51
Speaker 2: it's well, it's not this, it's not this. I said,
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Speaker 2: I really need to know what it is. And they said, right,
11:57
Speaker 2: we're going to send you with him too. Older Head
12:00
Speaker 2: Hospital in Liverpool, as many people will know, one of
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Speaker 2: the most brilliant teaching hospitals in the world. All I
12:09
Speaker 2: was thinking about was make my baby better. And it
12:14
Speaker 2: was tough as well, Tom because Matthew was twelve now.
12:17
Speaker 2: In many ways, as the time went on, that was
12:19
Speaker 2: actually a very useful gap. I could go and have
12:22
Speaker 2: a shower, Louie could watch the baby on like a
12:25
Speaker 2: two year old is probably sticking pens and his eyes
12:27
Speaker 2: are off his bomb or you know what Louie used
12:29
Speaker 2: to do with the dog sadly, but that's another story.
12:33
Speaker 2: And so but Matthew needed me as well, and I
12:39
Speaker 2: was very torn. He had his dad, but he needed me.
12:42
Speaker 2: But I couldn't be away from the baby. There was
12:44
Speaker 2: something physically keeping me with Louis that I because they
12:47
Speaker 2: kept saying, you know, missus Healy, which I was at
12:50
Speaker 2: the time, he'll be all right, you know if you
12:53
Speaker 2: want to go home and spend a night with Matthew,
12:55
Speaker 2: and I just couldn't do it because the tie was
12:57
Speaker 2: so strong. So anyway, we got him up to older
13:00
Speaker 2: Hay and then there was a big process of things
13:04
Speaker 2: went on. Anyway, in case people are falling asleep listening
13:08
Speaker 2: to this. I they diagnosed hirschwrong disease after when he
13:17
Speaker 2: was three weeks old, and I had never heard of it,
13:21
Speaker 2: as most people haven't. They told me that it was
13:24
Speaker 2: a condition, and I'm not sure if the statistics are
13:27
Speaker 2: still the same, but they said it was about one
13:28
Speaker 2: in five thousand children would have Hirschbrung And they also
13:34
Speaker 2: told me, I remember this so clearly that the first
13:37
Speaker 2: operation was I think in Sweden in nineteen forty eight,
13:42
Speaker 2: and before nineteen forty eight Hirschbrong children would have been
13:47
Speaker 2: a child that didn't thrive, so there was no surgery
13:51
Speaker 2: for this condition. And so that's only ten years before
13:54
Speaker 2: I was born. And to think that ten years before
13:57
Speaker 2: I was born, he would have been a child didn't thrive.
14:01
Speaker 2: I mean, it's it brings a lump to my throat
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Speaker 2: every time I say it. Not only were we at
14:08
Speaker 2: this brilliant hospital, there were also can you believe this,
14:13
Speaker 2: three Hirshprung research projects going in by three worldwide experts
14:21
Speaker 2: at her at the hospital being done at the time
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Speaker 2: Louis was in and we were allocated this incredible surgeon
14:30
Speaker 2: called Graham Lamont, who I will obviously be eternally grateful to.
14:36
Speaker 2: He was a top of his game Hirshprung specialist. I mean,
14:43
Speaker 2: it was just unbelievable. But at the time all of
14:47
Speaker 2: this wasn't registering. It was just please make my baby better.
14:50
Speaker 2: They also explained as unless there's been changes, they can't
14:56
Speaker 2: tell how big the affected bowel is until they go in.
15:03
Speaker 2: So they said, we don't know, but we had learned
15:08
Speaker 2: to do the pull through, so we would put the
15:11
Speaker 2: little tube up his little bottom and then we'd have
15:14
Speaker 2: to sort of do the technique to pull it all out.
15:17
Speaker 2: And I remember his little face with the relief, and
15:20
Speaker 2: they said, look, there's a few other things we need
15:22
Speaker 2: to do, so if you would like to take him
15:25
Speaker 2: home for a week, because you're very adept at doing this,
15:28
Speaker 2: I'm doing this maneuver and we did so we were
15:32
Speaker 2: able to bring him home. I didn't sleep at all.
15:35
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, I didn't sleep, but at least
15:37
Speaker 2: we had him home and everybody could meet him, and
15:40
Speaker 2: I was all right because that would have been for
15:44
Speaker 2: everybody involved, a complete nightmare. It didn't mean that I
15:48
Speaker 2: didn't go on to have subsequent episodes. I did, but
15:50
Speaker 2: they weren't necessarily related to the child. But it's just
15:54
Speaker 2: that it started a pattern. So so there we were
15:58
Speaker 2: and he was rated on at six weeks. To be honest,
16:02
Speaker 2: I can't quite remember what the gap was about, but
16:04
Speaker 2: I remember he was six weeks old and he went
16:08
Speaker 2: in and my grandson Theo went in to have his
16:13
Speaker 2: tunsils out a couple of weeks ago, a simple operation
16:17
Speaker 2: as we know, but the little bear sat there with
16:21
Speaker 2: the robe on, going to have general anesthetic. It's just
16:24
Speaker 2: it's the smells and the noises and it just takes
16:27
Speaker 2: you back there. Anyway, he had nine inches of his
16:34
Speaker 2: small bowel was affected, and I remember it's between God,
16:40
Speaker 2: I haven't talked about this for so long that trying
16:42
Speaker 2: to explain it to people, it's that they say between
16:46
Speaker 2: the fifth and the twelfth week of pregnancy that that
16:50
Speaker 2: part of the bowel doesn't fall. That's when all of
16:53
Speaker 2: that happens and they don't know why. I don't think
16:56
Speaker 2: to this day anyway. So he had nine inches taken.
17:00
Speaker 2: So any hurshful mom will know that you go from
17:03
Speaker 2: no nappies to sort of.
17:06
Speaker 4: Twenty five a day. It was, oh my god, But
17:13
Speaker 4: we took him to Cypress. Was I crazy? We took
17:17
Speaker 4: him to Cypress just after the surgery, obviously with permission,
17:20
Speaker 4: Oh my goodness, with mom.
17:22
Speaker 2: And dad and my sister and the kids. We all
17:24
Speaker 2: went off there and they said it's a very successful operation.
17:31
Speaker 2: When he is a teenager, they said, beware of any
17:37
Speaker 2: stomach canes. They said, it will likely be a hangover.
17:41
Speaker 2: With a teenage boy, it will likely be a hangover,
17:44
Speaker 2: but don't risk anything. Just be a bit more vigilant
17:47
Speaker 2: and bring them up. Being a bit more vigilant, they said,
17:50
Speaker 2: he will probably all be slightly windier than maybe some
17:54
Speaker 2: other boys, which Louis has relished all of his life.
17:57
Speaker 2: Though I've had the qan Sainsbury's with the very loud
18:01
Speaker 2: loud noise send him going, Mum, you're embarrassing me. You know.
18:04
Speaker 2: He's learned that very very early on, and whenever he's
18:08
Speaker 2: annoying me and blowing off a lot and this is
18:12
Speaker 2: now and I'll say, oh my god, Louis, you're disgusting.
18:15
Speaker 2: He goes, how can you say that to a hirshbrum child.
18:21
Speaker 2: So he's like very clemor at using it. All is
18:24
Speaker 2: all is light. So after that it was everything was fine.
18:29
Speaker 2: You know, we were taking him for his checks and everything.
18:32
Speaker 2: And then when he was twenty months he got poorly,
18:38
Speaker 2: and my mum's voice was always ringing in my ears
18:41
Speaker 2: of when they get poorly, it doesn't matter if they
18:44
Speaker 2: go off food. They've got enough reserves to last them
18:46
Speaker 2: a week, don't worry, worry about that. But if they
18:49
Speaker 2: stop drinking, that's when you've got to worry. And it always,
18:52
Speaker 2: you know, the old stage comments. Your mum makes it
18:55
Speaker 2: you never forget, and he did. He wasn't taking his juices,
18:59
Speaker 2: and so we called a GP friend again. And we
19:02
Speaker 2: were so lucky that this school that Matty had gone to,
19:06
Speaker 2: quite a few of the parents were doctors, so we
19:08
Speaker 2: did have this pool of pals who were doctors as
19:11
Speaker 2: well that we would go on this school ski holidays
19:14
Speaker 2: and whatnot with. So David came around, felt his tummy
19:17
Speaker 2: and he said, oh, okay, I think it's really bad
19:20
Speaker 2: gastro ententritis. So I think you should take him down
19:24
Speaker 2: to your GP now, So we did. He again agreed
19:29
Speaker 2: that it was, but he said, tummy's very very hard.
19:31
Speaker 2: I think you should take him up to Michaelsfield Hospital.
19:35
Speaker 2: I thought, oh goodness me, but I didn't worry because
19:37
Speaker 2: Tim and I had both had gasta and tritis, so
19:40
Speaker 2: there wasn't any doubt that that's what it was, but
19:42
Speaker 2: that we all know, you've got to be more careful
19:44
Speaker 2: where it's you know, little ones involved. So if we trooped,
19:48
Speaker 2: they said, yes, it is gastroentritis, but we're going to
19:51
Speaker 2: keep him in. You can stay with him, but we
19:53
Speaker 2: would just like to keep him in for a few hours.
19:55
Speaker 2: So this was midday, went on and on and on,
20:00
Speaker 2: and you know, you can tell your own child when
20:02
Speaker 2: they're getting better, and you can tell when they're not.
20:05
Speaker 2: And it went into the evening and he was very
20:08
Speaker 2: very still and floppy and wanted me, but but wasn't drinking.
20:16
Speaker 2: And it got to midnight and I'll never forget this instinct.
20:19
Speaker 2: So again, Michaelsfield was a medical hospital, not a surgical hospital,
20:24
Speaker 2: but at this time surgery didn't come into our minds.
20:28
Speaker 2: It got to midnight, and I got this instinct that
20:34
Speaker 2: I wanted to get him to Older Hay. I had
20:37
Speaker 2: no medical knowledge. I was not in a position to
20:40
Speaker 2: diagnose anything but mother's intuition. And I remember saying to them,
20:45
Speaker 2: this is midnight. Remember I'd really so at midnight. I
20:52
Speaker 2: said to them, listen, I'm not I'm not trying to
20:56
Speaker 2: be a clever clogs. I just would really really feel
21:00
Speaker 2: safe if we could get him to Older Hay. And
21:02
Speaker 2: you know, I'll always be grateful, not one person, And
21:06
Speaker 2: believe you me, I've had run ins with the NHS
21:08
Speaker 2: subsequently of the many things, you know, right when my
21:11
Speaker 2: dad was sick. But this time I said I'd like
21:14
Speaker 2: to get into Older Hay. And without a question, they said, absolutely,
21:19
Speaker 2: if that's what you want, we'll get an ambulance ready,
21:22
Speaker 2: We'll get you in there within half an hour. Within
21:24
Speaker 2: half an hour, we got him into an ambulance. I
21:27
Speaker 2: remember the random conversation with the paramedics about where they
21:31
Speaker 2: trained in, you know, and these things that you remember.
21:35
Speaker 2: We got him too Older Hay and they took him
21:40
Speaker 2: off and the doctor came out and said, right, okay,
21:45
Speaker 2: he's gotten straight to the top of the emergency surgery list.
21:49
Speaker 2: We think it's a cute appendicitis, which is very rare
21:52
Speaker 2: in a child so young. And I said, okay, how
21:58
Speaker 2: long will he be away? And they said, well, I
22:00
Speaker 2: would say maximum an hour and twenty minutes with appendicitis.
22:03
Speaker 2: Four and a half hours later, he wasn't back, and
22:07
Speaker 2: there was no news from surgery, and they kept saying
22:11
Speaker 2: if there was something to tell, they would come out
22:14
Speaker 2: and tell you, you know, and Tim had come up
22:18
Speaker 2: at this point and joined me. And anyway, five hours
22:22
Speaker 2: later he came out. They said he's in intensive care,
22:25
Speaker 2: but don't worry. That's where they've got to go after surgery.
22:28
Speaker 2: And they said that he'd had adhesions caused by the
22:32
Speaker 2: previous stomach surgery, not anybody's fault, but the scar tissue
22:37
Speaker 2: had addeared. And they said to me, excuse me, I
22:44
Speaker 2: just get They said, if you hadn't got him here,
22:52
Speaker 2: you probably would have lost him within two hours.
22:57
Speaker 1: Wow.
22:57
Speaker 2: And I had no idea, and nor did Michaelsfield. You know,
23:02
Speaker 2: I had just something in me said he wasn't any sicker,
23:06
Speaker 2: he just wasn't getting better, And something in me I mean,
23:11
Speaker 2: if they had said, oh, you know, I'm really sorry,
23:14
Speaker 2: we can't just get an ambulance to this time, you know,
23:16
Speaker 2: did it and they didn't, and they said you got
23:19
Speaker 2: him here. He went straight to the top of the
23:20
Speaker 2: list and he had two hours and need just to
23:26
Speaker 2: say another Older Hay saved his life twice. And he's
23:33
Speaker 2: now twenty five. You've met him on here. He's an actor.
23:37
Speaker 2: He's doing brilliantly. And God, when you don't talk about
23:43
Speaker 2: something for a while and then you remember how close,
23:48
Speaker 2: how close he was, and how that instinct on both occasions,
23:51
Speaker 2: the instinct to get him to Older Hay the first time,
23:54
Speaker 2: well to another hospital, and the instinct to get him
23:57
Speaker 2: there again. And Graham Lamont did the surgery again. He
24:02
Speaker 2: just happened to be there to do the surgery. I mean,
24:05
Speaker 2: what are the chances of that? Uh, anyway about I
24:11
Speaker 2: would say ten years ago, my god, yeah, he was fifteen.
24:14
Speaker 2: I think ten years ago we got asked to go
24:18
Speaker 2: to Older Hay to visit some new bloc and I said, well,
24:23
Speaker 2: I'll bring Louis. He's fifteen. You know, he'd probably loved
24:27
Speaker 2: to come. And so we went to Older Hay and
24:33
Speaker 2: when we were there looking around. They said, oh, we've
24:35
Speaker 2: got a little surprise for you. And mister Lamont was
24:39
Speaker 2: retiring that day.
24:43
Speaker 1: No, that's incredible.
24:47
Speaker 2: Mister Lamont was retiring that day. And you came out
24:51
Speaker 2: and met Louis and I said, this is the doctor
24:54
Speaker 2: that saved your life on two occasions. And he said, well,
24:56
Speaker 2: I did have help with another couple of surgeons. I said, well,
24:59
Speaker 2: it was you that I dealt with. Ungrateful to you all,
25:02
Speaker 2: and it was so incredibly moving, and so I'm a
25:08
Speaker 2: patron of older Hay. Louis is going to become a
25:11
Speaker 2: patron as well. And about Goosh before he went into
25:16
Speaker 2: stranger things, so you know, half yeah, two years ago,
25:20
Speaker 2: I guess. And we went back up there because they're
25:23
Speaker 2: building a new neonatal division Ward and we went up
25:28
Speaker 2: to have a look at it in progress, and we
25:32
Speaker 2: were I was saying to Louis, God, it's it's different.
25:35
Speaker 2: But the smell it was not an unpleasant smell. It's
25:39
Speaker 2: a neonatal ward smell. And it was, funnily enough, it
25:46
Speaker 2: was a reassuring smell this time, because in the past,
25:49
Speaker 2: whenever I'd sort of smelt something like that, it would
25:53
Speaker 2: it would make me feel a bit uncomfortable, and it didn't.
25:56
Speaker 2: It was like a reassuring smell. Anyway, I'm walking along
25:59
Speaker 2: the cor all with all the probably about half a
26:03
Speaker 2: dozen sort of people on the ADMIN side of the hospital,
26:06
Speaker 2: and we're walking through and this nurse an older leg
26:11
Speaker 2: and older I think everybody's older than me, probably ten
26:14
Speaker 2: years younger than me. But anyway is there and she went, oh,
26:19
Speaker 2: my god, is that Anise? And I went Hi. She went,
26:23
Speaker 2: I man, I was your Louise nurse? Maybe? And I said,
26:32
Speaker 2: and I said, She went, how old's Louis thou? Is
26:36
Speaker 2: he about fifteen? I said no, he's twenty three. And
26:39
Speaker 2: he stood here and she started to cry. She remembered
26:43
Speaker 2: Louis and I said, you remember you used to put
26:47
Speaker 2: oh u I e a Bobby's bed and I used
26:50
Speaker 2: to go, Annie, it's l o u s like Louis
26:53
Speaker 2: the fifteenth, like Louis Armstrong. We used to have a
26:55
Speaker 2: laugh about it. But one of the first sentences, little
26:59
Speaker 2: expressions that we would say, is did you though don't
27:03
Speaker 2: deep because the nurses like Cahn would go to him.
27:06
Speaker 2: But the doctors are going to make you a Bethel
27:09
Speaker 2: Louis because they do though, don't deep what we would go?
27:13
Speaker 2: Did you don't dump? And his little SKUs accent, Oh
27:17
Speaker 2: my god, it was emotion overload and and and and
27:24
Speaker 2: that's that's the story of where he is till now.
27:28
Speaker 2: And we are in touch with them. With older Hay,
27:33
Speaker 2: we're going to do as sort of a Hirshbroung type
27:36
Speaker 2: of you know, Q and a sort of thing that
27:40
Speaker 2: they're going to get us to do for the for
27:42
Speaker 2: the hospital. If there's anything Hirshbrung related going on up there,
27:46
Speaker 2: I will involve you Tom, of course, absolutely, I definitely will.
27:52
Speaker 2: I told them, we told them about your podcasts. But
27:54
Speaker 2: I'm sure that you're in you know, touch with people.
27:57
Speaker 2: But Jennifer, who looks after the sort of more Charry
28:00
Speaker 2: Tea side, if there is anything because just at the
28:04
Speaker 2: time I was then going off to film, so Jennifer
28:06
Speaker 2: and I said, we'll talk when I've finished, which'll probably
28:08
Speaker 2: be this week, and I can find out exactly what
28:11
Speaker 2: she wants from us. And of course if there's anything
28:13
Speaker 2: that would benefit you or your community, I'll definitely bring
28:16
Speaker 2: you in.
28:17
Speaker 1: That would be amazing that that's incredible, Thank you so much.
28:22
Speaker 1: And on Lewis story, I mean, it's it's an incredible story.
28:26
Speaker 1: And there's one one point that you made there about
28:29
Speaker 1: mother's instinct and saved my life. My mom's instinct saved
28:33
Speaker 1: my life when she realized that.
28:34
Speaker 2: Tell me about that.
28:36
Speaker 1: Well, I was not feeding, and you know, everything was.
28:41
Speaker 1: I was told everything was perfectly normal. It was, funnily enough,
28:45
Speaker 1: it wasn't on an Easter Monday, as today is Easter Monday.
28:49
Speaker 1: It was on an Easter Monday. And yes, and the
28:55
Speaker 1: I don't think I'll celebrate it.
28:59
Speaker 2: You've got a laugh. I will go back.
29:01
Speaker 1: Oh absolutely, and the GP, you know it was Easter Monday,
29:06
Speaker 1: didn't necessarily want to come out because it's an Easter Monday.
29:09
Speaker 1: And he went, okay, fine, I'll come out.
29:12
Speaker 2: And then this point were you knew born.
29:15
Speaker 1: It was three weeks. Three weeks so probably a little
29:18
Speaker 1: bit later than because usually about forty eight hours I
29:23
Speaker 1: think now.
29:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was it was about three days when the
29:26
Speaker 2: green extaor cyst bile happened. Yeah, three weeks, yeah, yeah,
29:30
Speaker 2: it was.
29:31
Speaker 1: And yeah, and and wasn't feeding, was lethargic, basically body
29:35
Speaker 1: shutting down, you know, And it was it was my
29:39
Speaker 1: mum's instinct that that saved my life, and and she
29:44
Speaker 1: you know, and then I was rushed into surgery and
29:47
Speaker 1: adding Brooks and it was yeah, and then kind.
29:50
Speaker 2: Of it was yours dite those quite quickly then when
29:53
Speaker 2: you when you.
29:53
Speaker 1: Went in, yes, fairly quickly, and then sort of got
29:56
Speaker 1: sepsis and then heart rat was going through the roof.
30:01
Speaker 1: And yeah, I think things weren't brilliant at that time.
30:05
Speaker 1: But you know, thirty four years later, I'm all healthy,
30:09
Speaker 1: no more surgeries. He died.
30:11
Speaker 2: You know, I just think that anybody listening to your
30:14
Speaker 2: podcast generally, I mean, you know, how how reassuring would
30:18
Speaker 2: I have found something like this, because of course, apart
30:20
Speaker 2: from you and I were you know, your mom, and
30:23
Speaker 2: I am lucky to have these amazing hospitals. But there
30:26
Speaker 2: was so little known about the condition. I mean there
30:29
Speaker 2: still is when I say to people, because I remember
30:32
Speaker 2: what they thought it was with Louie at first was
30:34
Speaker 2: croned because of course we're all of a similar family
30:38
Speaker 2: and crones. I mean, my mom, my late mum, has
30:43
Speaker 2: three siblings. All of her three siblings had crones, and
30:48
Speaker 2: her brother Tony was a very late diagnostic case and
30:54
Speaker 2: he nearly died. And now the boy's dad, Tim, obviously
30:59
Speaker 2: unbiologic related to me, has crones, and my step son,
31:03
Speaker 2: unbiologically related to me, has crones. It's like bloody Bowley
31:08
Speaker 2: Bowels family, My god. Honestly, yeah, so that's you know,
31:15
Speaker 2: so that they thought. So I'm very well empathetically quite
31:20
Speaker 2: knowledgeable about crones as well, because so many people in
31:24
Speaker 2: the in the family have got it, and obviously there
31:26
Speaker 2: are quite a lot of similarities, you know, with that
31:30
Speaker 2: with that condition. I'm sorry that sun shining in so much.
31:34
Speaker 1: No, it's all good, But then owns it's an interesting
31:38
Speaker 1: one because I had a chat with some called Georgina Merkle,
31:41
Speaker 1: who has She's fantastic. She's just created Hirshprung's Disease dot
31:47
Speaker 1: co dot uk. Uh just yeah, a new a new website.
31:52
Speaker 1: It's all my podcast is up on there. There's loads
31:55
Speaker 1: of really really good info, not just for new mums
31:58
Speaker 1: you know we've got children you diagnosed, but lots and
32:01
Speaker 1: lots of just really good info on there. She's absolutely fantastic.
32:05
Speaker 1: But she was doing some research the other day into
32:10
Speaker 1: and finding papers linking chromes and hirshprungs. So it's really
32:14
Speaker 1: interesting that you bring that up.
32:17
Speaker 2: Well. I just found that certainly with Lewis, because my
32:20
Speaker 2: stepson is he's between the two, So twenty five, I
32:24
Speaker 2: think Lewis is thirty four and then thirty seven and
32:28
Speaker 2: two years ago he was rushed into not Guys King's
32:34
Speaker 2: Hospital in London and that was that was the other
32:40
Speaker 2: side of them. The NHS, you know, just wasn't working
32:44
Speaker 2: and I had to I had to step in because
32:48
Speaker 2: he was going to have three times. He was down
32:52
Speaker 2: to have surgery and it was major surgery. There was
32:54
Speaker 2: a huge amount effected of chromes and three times the
33:00
Speaker 2: message that a blue light had come in and stopped
33:02
Speaker 2: the surgery hadn't got to the nurses, so he'd been
33:06
Speaker 2: kept nil by mouth or twice the amount of time
33:10
Speaker 2: three times. It's a condition that I would say, from
33:16
Speaker 2: what I spoke to a very very qualified doctor unrelated
33:19
Speaker 2: to Lewis's case, is that with something like chrones, the
33:25
Speaker 2: surgery is very very very important and serious, but it's
33:29
Speaker 2: not often an emergency. So if your child or a
33:33
Speaker 2: loved one is in full chrome surgery, be more vigilant
33:38
Speaker 2: because they will be the ones who keep getting put
33:41
Speaker 2: down and put down, and malnutrition can get in there.
33:45
Speaker 2: But yes, so just a little tip, you know, as
33:49
Speaker 2: I say, that was just sadly a lack of staff
33:51
Speaker 2: and a laugh of communication. But I have been told
33:54
Speaker 2: that it is one of the conditions that will keep
33:56
Speaker 2: getting fought back and put back. Oh yes, so now
34:01
Speaker 2: of course all is well Touchwood and he is and
34:06
Speaker 2: he's he's thriving. But I will.
34:09
Speaker 5: Always be indebted to Older Hay and will always be
34:13
Speaker 5: a part of their team to raise money and do
34:17
Speaker 5: whatever I can in this small way that I can
34:19
Speaker 5: as as Will as Will.
34:20
Speaker 1: Louis brilliant, absolutely brilliant. And I know you mentioned about
34:25
Speaker 1: being a patron of Older Hay there, but there's someone
34:28
Speaker 1: else or somewhere else that you also heavily involved in,
34:31
Speaker 1: which the Abilities in Me foundation with Gemma. And I've
34:35
Speaker 1: had Gemma on this podcast before and I talked to it.
34:39
Speaker 1: I talked to her quite a lot. I've become quite
34:41
Speaker 1: good friends over years, which is lovely. And she's she's
34:46
Speaker 1: obviously done a book. I think it was about a
34:48
Speaker 1: year ago that her Hirshbrung's book came out, which is
34:51
Speaker 1: which is fantastic, which I have a copy of here,
34:55
Speaker 1: and I think that's brilliant but remember talking.
34:58
Speaker 2: Well, I met Jemma Kire and Max through my brother
35:02
Speaker 2: in law because Lincoln is from London originally, but when
35:05
Speaker 2: he was little one they all moved to Stephnitch, where
35:07
Speaker 2: of course Gemma and Max live, and Duncan said, oh,
35:11
Speaker 2: my friend Emma has got these books. You know. The
35:14
Speaker 2: family always do that, you know, because you can imagine
35:17
Speaker 2: a lot of people like you to be involved, and
35:19
Speaker 2: a lot of people want to send you things. In
35:22
Speaker 2: much as you would love to be a patron of
35:23
Speaker 2: every charity in the world, Tom, you just can't, you know,
35:27
Speaker 2: for your own mental health, you just can't. And anyway,
35:31
Speaker 2: I said, get her to send me the books. At
35:33
Speaker 2: this point, the hershebum book wasn't out, but I was
35:36
Speaker 2: just blown away with this incredibly simple but hugely effective
35:40
Speaker 2: idea of all of these range of conditions that children
35:44
Speaker 2: can have and an easy to understand book. Because I
35:48
Speaker 2: don't know about you. I'm sixty eight this year, and
35:51
Speaker 2: I say to people a lot of the time, talk
35:53
Speaker 2: to me like I'm five. Talk to me like I'm
35:56
Speaker 2: a five year old, and then I'll understand it. That's
35:59
Speaker 2: what my account and says, how old are you today?
36:01
Speaker 2: And I go six, because I don't understand if he
36:04
Speaker 2: doesn't talk to me like I'm six. So these books
36:06
Speaker 2: are just incredible and I just was blown away by them.
36:10
Speaker 2: So I said to her, look, my time is limited,
36:13
Speaker 2: but I'll do, you know, whatever, I whatever I can.
36:17
Speaker 2: I mean, I know that she'd love to get some
36:19
Speaker 2: kind of animated series off the ground, but I have
36:22
Speaker 2: said to her, you know, it's a very very tricky
36:26
Speaker 2: process to do that. But I'll always support them and
36:29
Speaker 2: do whatever whatever I can. Because he's got twenty two
36:32
Speaker 2: Q now, I mean mean even I don't know what
36:35
Speaker 2: that disability is, you know, except that obviously Logan has
36:39
Speaker 2: physical and mental disabilities. He's a lovely boys. He's a lovely,
36:43
Speaker 2: lovely boy. But it's very hard being the mom of
36:46
Speaker 2: a severely disabled child. Now twenty two Q. That sounds
36:50
Speaker 2: like something from Question Time. Who would know that that's
36:53
Speaker 2: a condition. But to be able to go into school
36:58
Speaker 2: and take each of the children book about Logan's condition,
37:01
Speaker 2: which they can read with with mom and dad or
37:04
Speaker 2: their Cara, you know, at home, in this glossy picture book.
37:08
Speaker 2: I think it's absolutely incredible. I got a bunch sent
37:11
Speaker 2: to older Hay as well. Up there so actually I'll
37:15
Speaker 2: check in on Gemma. Now you've said that it's been
37:17
Speaker 2: a few months since I've spoken to hers, So yeah,
37:19
Speaker 2: I'm glad that you're involved with her. I am.
37:22
Speaker 1: She's fantastic and I love the fact that all the
37:25
Speaker 1: books because she's really good with rhyming words and there
37:27
Speaker 1: are some people who do it, and there are some
37:28
Speaker 1: people who just I couldn't. I couldn't do that. It
37:31
Speaker 1: would take me years to work out what rhymes with what,
37:34
Speaker 1: but she can and she is. She's brilliant. She's brilliant.
37:38
Speaker 1: But now I do chat to her quite.
37:40
Speaker 6: A lot and her life's work, you know, and the
37:45
Speaker 6: way that Max and her are involved in, you know,
37:48
Speaker 6: in the community choirs with the kids, and yeah, they're great.
37:52
Speaker 2: I up until last year have had a charity ball
37:55
Speaker 2: for another charity called the gem Appeal, which is for
38:00
Speaker 2: kids with chromosomal disorders. And my friend's kids both had
38:04
Speaker 2: Hunters syndrome and they both died before they were sixteen.
38:07
Speaker 2: And with the work that the gem Appeal have done,
38:10
Speaker 2: they have been part of extending the life of these
38:14
Speaker 2: hirshborn kids, maybe into their thirties and forties. Just with
38:18
Speaker 2: with the work that we're able to pay for a
38:20
Speaker 2: researcher at Manchester Children's Hospital. And we've always had these
38:25
Speaker 2: amazing balls and bringing cabaret and everything. And Max is
38:29
Speaker 2: a singer as well. They met at Disney, the two
38:31
Speaker 2: of them, so I had Max come up and he
38:33
Speaker 2: was one of the turns as well and he did
38:35
Speaker 2: a few songs. So that was great being able to
38:37
Speaker 2: sort of like merge all of the you know, the
38:40
Speaker 2: charities to get together.
38:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh, I love that. I love that. I love
38:44
Speaker 1: just anything that sort of raises awareness or anything that,
38:49
Speaker 1: you know, and anything you can have a bit of
38:50
Speaker 1: fun with as well, because obviously a lot of these conditions,
38:53
Speaker 1: you know, maybe there's not them, maybe not the things,
38:57
Speaker 1: but too.
38:58
Speaker 2: But also in order for people to heart with money,
39:01
Speaker 2: you've got to make it, you know, you've got to
39:05
Speaker 2: you've got to make it fun as well. You know,
39:08
Speaker 2: there's a lot of pressures on people. They want to
39:10
Speaker 2: go out and have fun and you you give them
39:12
Speaker 2: a good time and they'll give you the money, you know,
39:14
Speaker 2: some of them will.
39:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely, yeah, No, I think yeah, I
39:20
Speaker 1: think what Gemma does is amazing and I think you know,
39:24
Speaker 1: what you've done also to help as well, because I
39:27
Speaker 1: know there's a video I think it's pinned on Gemma's
39:29
Speaker 1: Instagram of there was a I think it was in Stevenage.
39:33
Speaker 1: There was a choir because there's also the abilities in
39:36
Speaker 1: the a choir as well. I think you you were
39:38
Speaker 1: there for that as well.
39:39
Speaker 2: I was, and we had a bit of a we
39:41
Speaker 2: had a bit of a hussle with the council last
39:44
Speaker 2: year and so I stepped in and did one of
39:47
Speaker 2: my Instagram rants. And unfortunately, sometimes when nothing is being done,
39:53
Speaker 2: the one thing that will frighten people is public exposure.
39:58
Speaker 2: And I don't throw that a around a lot.
40:01
Speaker 1: But Louis, yes, now he has followed you into showbiz
40:08
Speaker 1: and acting and it's obviously been in in Everdale and
40:12
Speaker 1: been in Coronation Street.
40:15
Speaker 2: And I guess he hasn't been in Coronation Street.
40:18
Speaker 1: Oh, Coronation Street ever died.
40:20
Speaker 2: Donation Street was when he was in my tummy behind
40:22
Speaker 2: the bar, So technically yes, So technically technically yes, because yeah,
40:31
Speaker 2: so Matty was when I was pregnant with Louis. I
40:35
Speaker 2: was leaving, not because of that, to be honest, I
40:38
Speaker 2: was offered to stay, but I'd done four years and
40:40
Speaker 2: I was, you know, ready to move on. And and
40:43
Speaker 2: so I was pregnant with Louis, so Louis was in
40:45
Speaker 2: my tummy, and they very kindly said that they would
40:48
Speaker 2: write the pregnancy in so I didn't have to hide
40:51
Speaker 2: my bump with you know, spreadsheets and things. So I
40:54
Speaker 2: was able to be pregnant in this show as well.
40:57
Speaker 2: So that was great for me. And so Louis was
41:00
Speaker 2: there in there. We did the fortieth anniversary when I
41:05
Speaker 2: was there live, it was the first live since they'd
41:08
Speaker 2: been black and white days. It was the most terrifying
41:10
Speaker 2: thing I've ever done. I thought I was going to
41:12
Speaker 2: give birth in the Rovers living room, assisted by Jack
41:16
Speaker 2: and Vera. That's honestly how I felt, because I was
41:18
Speaker 2: so nervous, and I love doing live television as a presenter,
41:24
Speaker 2: doing live drama is different. Your line affects what that
41:27
Speaker 2: next person says, and if you dry, it's a nightmare.
41:31
Speaker 2: And I was terrified. Anyway, that was that, and then
41:34
Speaker 2: but the opening scenes of the live episode, they wanted
41:39
Speaker 2: two boys on bikes to be going underneath the viaduct
41:43
Speaker 2: and to go from black and white into color. And
41:45
Speaker 2: Mattie was twelve and he was one of the boys
41:51
Speaker 2: on the bikes going under the viaduct, and then he
41:53
Speaker 2: was in the cafe in the background, and in the
41:56
Speaker 2: cafe for one scene with Jack Shepherd who played David
41:59
Speaker 2: play and then Kim went and did some Coronation Street.
42:05
Speaker 2: And my dad, my late dad, Vin, my beloved late dad.
42:10
Speaker 2: He played my father in law. When Phil Middlemus, who
42:16
Speaker 2: was Des Barns died, it was the funeral episode and
42:20
Speaker 2: my dad played Des Bonds his dad in that episode.
42:25
Speaker 2: So keep it in the family.
42:27
Speaker 1: That's at Easter Egg, isn't it if you ever go
42:30
Speaker 1: back and see if anybody goes back and sees that,
42:33
Speaker 1: they will now know who's.
42:35
Speaker 2: Hold well, you know, because Matty was an extra in
42:38
Speaker 2: Waterloo Road twenty years ago because him and the boys
42:41
Speaker 2: had started the band then, you know, you know, the
42:44
Speaker 2: nineteen seventy five, So they'd started the band in our
42:46
Speaker 2: garage at the old house and when they were thirteen, thirteen, fourteen,
42:51
Speaker 2: and then so when they were seventeen, they were obviously
42:54
Speaker 2: broke because after much cajoling, you know, they they to
42:59
Speaker 2: get other jobs. They didn't didn't have any money, and
43:03
Speaker 2: so they would come into Waterloo Road, the four of them,
43:05
Speaker 2: and they would get fifty cred a day for being extras. So,
43:08
Speaker 2: of course, now that the band's so huge, every single,
43:11
Speaker 2: every single feating glimpse of Matty or George's left eye,
43:16
Speaker 2: you know, is all over all over the internet with that.
43:19
Speaker 2: But I don't know if I've said that about Corey now,
43:21
Speaker 2: So maybe, yeah, maybe the Easter Egg Hunters will be
43:25
Speaker 2: after that one as well.
43:26
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, absolutely, there will be someone. Absolutely, absolutely when
43:31
Speaker 1: this release is, they'll absolutely vie with someone, but Louis.
43:36
Speaker 1: I think the last time I spoke to Louis, he
43:39
Speaker 1: was just about to go into Stranger Things and we
43:42
Speaker 1: couldn't we couldn't talk about it on the podcast, so
43:46
Speaker 1: we had to allude to it really subtly, and I'd
43:50
Speaker 1: had to say good luck for the thing that's happening soon.
43:56
Speaker 2: It was incredible. I saw it when he was in
44:01
Speaker 2: it for a year twenty three times. Now. I'll admit
44:06
Speaker 2: I'm a proud mom, but believe you me, there are
44:09
Speaker 2: many shows I have seen that my son could be
44:13
Speaker 2: in that I would have seen once. I would have
44:16
Speaker 2: been very proud, and that would be it. It's my
44:21
Speaker 2: boredom threshold in theater is very small. Stranger things. I
44:26
Speaker 2: could not bear anybody else seeing it that I knew
44:31
Speaker 2: without me being with them, because people's faces. I took
44:36
Speaker 2: Matthew Kelly, you know Matthew Kelly Yatta brilliance. Yeah, And
44:41
Speaker 2: I did a play with him two years ago, and
44:42
Speaker 2: I took Matthew to see it with several other people,
44:46
Speaker 2: and bearing in mind Matthew's seventy seven, I would say,
44:52
Speaker 2: now theaters changed a lot, you know since when he
44:55
Speaker 2: was the boys regards what they can create on stage,
44:58
Speaker 2: and I can honestly say I've never seen anybody before
45:02
Speaker 2: sit like this for three hours. He kept going to me,
45:10
Speaker 2: and because I knew all the bits, so I knew
45:12
Speaker 2: all of the bits that would make people literally nellishit
45:14
Speaker 2: themselves because they were in a hirshbum sort of way,
45:16
Speaker 2: because they were terrified. Bits that they would be you
45:19
Speaker 2: cannot believe what you're seeing is happening on a stage.
45:23
Speaker 2: And I would be going down the aisle, so I
45:26
Speaker 2: couldn't bear anybody seeing it without me. It costs me
45:29
Speaker 2: in fortune going to see that lay thousands, you know,
45:33
Speaker 2: because you have to pay the your tickets. Everybody thinks
45:35
Speaker 2: you get free tickets, No you don't. Is a sellout show.
45:37
Speaker 2: You pay for them. But he was incredible in that incredible.
45:43
Speaker 2: I couldn't believe why it was might Well, I've always
45:46
Speaker 2: known he was good, but you know, unbelievable. And his girlfriend,
45:49
Speaker 2: So he got his girlfriend, Edie Edie Wright when he
45:54
Speaker 2: was in the show and they're still together and they're
45:56
Speaker 2: very happy. And Edie was playing Karen, who was in
46:00
Speaker 2: the ensemble right, so she had a little part in
46:02
Speaker 2: the ensemble, but she was understudying Joyce Maldonado, who is
46:07
Speaker 2: the m we're known a rider part. Because for anybody
46:10
Speaker 2: who hasn't seen Stranger Things the show, it doesn't matter
46:13
Speaker 2: if you've never seen one episode of the series because
46:16
Speaker 2: it's a prequel. So it happens in Hawkins in nineteen
46:20
Speaker 2: fifty nine when they're all teenagers, so it's the start
46:23
Speaker 2: of the weirdness and Henry Kreole is number one and
46:27
Speaker 2: so that's when it all starts. So it doesn't matter.
46:30
Speaker 2: Most of the people I took had never seen Stranger Things.
46:33
Speaker 2: It's just this incredible world that's in anyway, now in
46:38
Speaker 2: year two and louis out of it. Edie is playing
46:42
Speaker 2: Joyce Moldonado, so she's one of the leads. Now, so
46:44
Speaker 2: that gives me another opportunity to go another twenty three times.
46:49
Speaker 1: Spend another one thousand pounds.
46:51
Speaker 2: Oh, it's incredible. It's an incredible show, you know, if
46:54
Speaker 2: people haven't seen it, so, yes, that's what he was doing.
46:57
Speaker 2: That's right, and he wouldn't have been able to say
46:59
Speaker 2: too much.
47:00
Speaker 1: No, no, we could chat about it off air, but
47:03
Speaker 1: we just couldn't vented it on air. But it was.
47:07
Speaker 1: I was so pleased for him when he got that,
47:09
Speaker 1: because he got that.
47:11
Speaker 2: People up for that tom hundreds of people. It was
47:14
Speaker 2: five auditions, workshop auditions. He loved the auditions because sadly
47:21
Speaker 2: since COVID it's all about sending self tapes in now
47:26
Speaker 2: you know, you very rarely get to go and have
47:30
Speaker 2: the audition process, and to me heartbreaking because I probably
47:36
Speaker 2: got most of my jobs on. Obviously, you've got to
47:39
Speaker 2: have the talent. But there's loads of people got talent.
47:42
Speaker 2: But if there's five of you that are all equally
47:44
Speaker 2: in a position to play the role, they go for
47:46
Speaker 2: the one they bond with that they like the best.
47:50
Speaker 2: You can't get that on a self tape. You can't
47:52
Speaker 2: get the chemistry between two people, you know, but Louis says, yeah, Momy,
47:57
Speaker 2: that was the black and white days. You know, things
47:58
Speaker 2: have moved on, that's all, you know. But when he
48:00
Speaker 2: went for the Stranger Things audition, I remember him saying
48:03
Speaker 2: at the beginning, mom, if I get it, if I
48:05
Speaker 2: get something in it, brilliant. If I don't, I am
48:08
Speaker 2: loving this audition process, just being with other actors and workshopping,
48:12
Speaker 2: you know. So he's a proper jobing, working actor. Both
48:17
Speaker 2: my kids never ever, ever were turned on or impressed
48:23
Speaker 2: by fame because having two famous parents, they saw some
48:28
Speaker 2: of the perks, but they saw many at the downsides.
48:33
Speaker 2: And I was played with being hacked and tabloid nonsense.
48:37
Speaker 2: And you know, I'm not saying I didn't deserve some
48:39
Speaker 2: of it. You know, I've spoken publicly about that, but
48:44
Speaker 2: they they saw a lot of the downsides of it.
48:49
Speaker 2: So they know that in both their careers success means
48:54
Speaker 2: that you won't have an element of fame, but that
48:56
Speaker 2: has never been a driver for them ever. Yeah, they're
48:59
Speaker 2: both verymitted to their to their work.
49:01
Speaker 1: Definitely. I see that through you know, some of the
49:04
Speaker 1: posts that they do and then some of the posts
49:06
Speaker 1: that you do about about their lives as well, and
49:08
Speaker 1: how I mean.
49:09
Speaker 2: They're not allowing you this very much? Obviously, you know
49:12
Speaker 2: I'm not God forbid. I've posted a photo of us
49:15
Speaker 2: all in together.
49:16
Speaker 1: Well, Louis did say, you know, if you want to
49:18
Speaker 1: keep up with me, I don't really do too much
49:20
Speaker 1: on Instagram. If you want to keep up with me,
49:22
Speaker 1: go on my mum's Instagram. And then I'd probably be, oh, yeah,
49:25
Speaker 1: this says.
49:25
Speaker 2: That, and then I get mom, can you say that down?
49:29
Speaker 2: Can you take mind? It's not only me. It's not
49:33
Speaker 2: only me when I do loose women, and I haven't
49:35
Speaker 2: done it for ages because I've been busy doing my
49:37
Speaker 2: acting stuff. But when I do loose women, you know,
49:40
Speaker 2: with the girls, and we've all been doing it on
49:42
Speaker 2: and off for twenty three years. All our kids were little,
49:45
Speaker 2: so we could talk about them and they would never know.
49:47
Speaker 2: Now of course they're grown up, and Kay will say, oh, oh,
49:51
Speaker 2: I'm not allowed to talk about it, you know. Bonnie
49:53
Speaker 2: won't let me say this, Charlie won't let me say this. No,
49:56
Speaker 2: you can't show a bad photo of them when they
49:57
Speaker 2: were nine. No you can't. You can't. They'll go mad,
50:00
Speaker 2: all go back. So it's not just me. The kids
50:02
Speaker 2: just don't want to be associated with it.
50:06
Speaker 1: But I think it's I think it's brilliant like that,
50:10
Speaker 1: you know. I think it's great that you so supportive
50:13
Speaker 1: of them, Like I know.
50:14
Speaker 2: It is a lot of you know, kids get to
50:16
Speaker 2: a certain age and they don't want to be you know,
50:18
Speaker 2: the kids go, you know, oh so you picture oud,
50:21
Speaker 2: you know all of that stuff, you know what they're like.
50:24
Speaker 2: I think, to be honest, my kids are through that now.
50:26
Speaker 2: But I am very sensitive as to what I post
50:28
Speaker 2: because they're both doing their own thing, of which I
50:32
Speaker 2: have nothing to do with it, you know, except just
50:34
Speaker 2: being a proud mother. So I just kind of let them,
50:37
Speaker 2: let them crack on and do their thing. As long
50:38
Speaker 2: as they're saving for my rest home in Beverly Hills,
50:41
Speaker 2: I don't.
50:41
Speaker 1: Mind absolutely, just just on that.
50:46
Speaker 2: Just bidely as well.
50:49
Speaker 1: In terms of I know, Louis been in strange things
50:52
Speaker 1: and it's done quite a lot of acting how work
50:55
Speaker 1: as well. But I guess what do you hope for
50:57
Speaker 1: for Louis and for Matty's.
51:02
Speaker 2: Well, I think, like any parent would say, it would
51:05
Speaker 2: be it would be for them to be happy. They
51:09
Speaker 2: have both followed careers unprompted by us, completely unprompted by us.
51:15
Speaker 2: You know, they were surrounded by actors and musicians growing up,
51:20
Speaker 2: you know, and I'm glad that they've both gone into
51:23
Speaker 2: music and acting separately. They're both incredibly supportive of each other.
51:27
Speaker 2: Mattie lives in Los Angeles as well, so you know,
51:30
Speaker 2: the boys aren't in each other's pockets, but they're there
51:32
Speaker 2: for each other. Mattie gets married in July, which we're
51:36
Speaker 2: very excited about, and I'm very excited about that, and
51:40
Speaker 2: that's wonderful. It's more to me whenever I watched them
51:43
Speaker 2: in something, whether it's Mattie at Glastonbury or Leuian Stranger things.
51:47
Speaker 2: I'm incredibly proud of what they're doing, but I'm more
51:51
Speaker 2: proud of the men that they have become. And you know,
51:57
Speaker 2: despite lots of things, you know, we all do our
51:59
Speaker 2: best as parents. There's no rule book. We all make mistakes,
52:02
Speaker 2: you know, blah blah blah. But I'm very proud of
52:05
Speaker 2: the men they've become. But what I am mostly looking
52:07
Speaker 2: for is are they okay? Are they mentally okay? You know,
52:12
Speaker 2: I just because I've had such a run in with
52:14
Speaker 2: my mental health and life is a lot sometimes for everybody,
52:20
Speaker 2: and I am just are they okay? Are they enjoying this?
52:24
Speaker 2: Are they okay? And they seem to have their head
52:27
Speaker 2: screwed on. I'm very lucky that from being little sometimes
52:31
Speaker 2: they could be little shit to me, of course, and
52:34
Speaker 2: continue to be so. But I've never had anybody not
52:38
Speaker 2: say they will a joy to have. Whereas when I
52:42
Speaker 2: talked to Lincoln's mom, Jenny, and she says, I say, so,
52:49
Speaker 2: what was Lincoln like as a child, Jenny, you know,
52:51
Speaker 2: and she'll go, well, on you, I ad him, put
52:55
Speaker 2: it that way on you. I ad him right. And
52:59
Speaker 2: when his dad had sadly died young Lincoln was only
53:04
Speaker 2: fourteen and his brother was only seven, and his mum
53:09
Speaker 2: really had nothing. She'd never worked, you know. She was
53:13
Speaker 2: from a very working class family in the East end
53:16
Speaker 2: of London. And so she said that Lincoln was going
53:20
Speaker 2: to have to leave school at the earliest opportunity and
53:22
Speaker 2: get a job. You know, that's what you did to help.
53:24
Speaker 2: And she said that she went roun this school and
53:27
Speaker 2: said that this awful thing had happened, and could Lincoln
53:30
Speaker 2: leave at the end of time? The head master said
53:34
Speaker 2: he can go today, missus Tanley.
53:39
Speaker 7: Went to the school and he was still at the
53:41
Speaker 7: gates with all stun uh, so you know she whenever
53:49
Speaker 7: he went to play at a friend's house, he very
53:51
Speaker 7: often wasn't asked back.
53:52
Speaker 2: Put it that way, but I have two children that
53:55
Speaker 2: were always asked back, So I'm quite pleased that they're
53:57
Speaker 2: still getting asked back asolutely.
54:00
Speaker 1: No, Well, what I bet I spoke to Louis and
54:04
Speaker 1: Well eighteen months ago, two years ago. He was absolutely fantastic.
54:08
Speaker 1: He was absolute joy to have as have you been
54:11
Speaker 1: as well?
54:11
Speaker 2: Oh thank you, Tom. I know I've gone off on
54:13
Speaker 2: a tangent, but I know that if I listened to
54:16
Speaker 2: a podcast, it starts being about one thing and the
54:18
Speaker 2: ones I enjoy or when they when they go off,
54:21
Speaker 2: you're very very easy to talk to. So I probably
54:24
Speaker 2: said too much.
54:25
Speaker 1: No, No, everyone likes it when I don't talk, so
54:28
Speaker 1: I don't.
54:30
Speaker 2: Well, that is well, that is always that is always
54:34
Speaker 2: the way that That's what Lincoln always says. He always said,
54:38
Speaker 2: because he's a salesman as well as an artist. You know,
54:41
Speaker 2: he sells his own stuff. Very few artists can sell.
54:45
Speaker 2: And he says, you know, if you're going for a job,
54:48
Speaker 2: don't say anything they want, let them, let them talk,
54:53
Speaker 2: let them talk, let that you know you'll get more
54:55
Speaker 2: out of you. So yeah, sure, yeah, well done, you
55:00
Speaker 2: do this.
55:00
Speaker 1: It's great, thank you. And I guess just finally, I mean,
55:03
Speaker 1: people will probably obviously know, probably follow you more than
55:07
Speaker 1: they follow me. But where can people find you? Keep
55:11
Speaker 1: up to date with everything?
55:13
Speaker 2: They can find me? I'm mostly an Instagram person, so
55:16
Speaker 2: I think I'm easy to find. I don't understand. I
55:20
Speaker 2: say to my friends who've got these ridiculous handles, we
55:24
Speaker 2: can't find you. If you have a ridiculous handle, we
55:27
Speaker 2: can't find you. I am at Denise underscore Welsh Welsh's
55:31
Speaker 2: with this C, not an S. I'm very easy to find,
55:35
Speaker 2: and that's where most of my social world goes on
55:39
Speaker 2: the occasional rant on X but not very much. I
55:44
Speaker 2: don't do Facebook, but my Instagram goes on to Facebook,
55:48
Speaker 2: but I there's too much about someone at school who's
55:53
Speaker 2: just got divorced, who I don't really care about, so
55:55
Speaker 2: on Facebook. So I'm happier on Instagram, and I have
55:59
Speaker 2: times well there's a flurry of activity and then times
56:02
Speaker 2: I'm not so busy on there. But I do seem
56:05
Speaker 2: to spend two hours in the morning scrolling. I mean,
56:08
Speaker 2: I've got to stop. It's a dash bad tell you man,
56:12
Speaker 2: it's it's you know, it's it's true. You know you're
56:15
Speaker 2: driving in a car for two hours, and it seems
56:17
Speaker 2: like forever. You look at your watch, AT's eight in
56:20
Speaker 2: the morning. In the next minute it's ten, and you've
56:23
Speaker 2: watched other people's toddlers running around a house saying funny
56:27
Speaker 2: things for two hours. I mean, it's just bizarre. But anyway,
56:32
Speaker 2: oh well.
56:34
Speaker 1: But thank you, thank you so so much for coming
56:37
Speaker 1: on and doing this. I know you've been incredibly busy
56:40
Speaker 1: with everything.
56:41
Speaker 2: I'm so glad that we've we've done it.
56:43
Speaker 1: Thank you so so much.
56:45
Speaker 2: You're welcome.
56:49
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening and being part of this growing community.
56:52
Speaker 1: If you have enjoyed the episode, don't forget to subscribe,
56:55
Speaker 1: leave a review, and share it with someone who might
56:58
Speaker 1: need it. You can connect with us on social media
57:01
Speaker 1: via Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok under the name Tom's Hirsprung's Podcast.
57:06
Speaker 1: See you next week.