John Brogan

Even though I was born at an early age it took a while for me to get into writing. When I say a while I mean 74 years. Yes a real slow starter.

So why leave it this late in life to start? First of all I have seen plenty of life so I have plenty of memories or so you would think.

Yes I had plenty of memories, HAD, being the operative word.

You see at the age of 57. One September morning while preparing to go to a meeting I had a brain haemorrhage​. No prior warning, but in a split second my "normal life" was to change forever.

The good news. Thanks to my wife, daughter and the staff at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital I did not die. But it was a direct result of this event that got me into writing.

I still do not know how long I was in hospital it was and still is just a blur. My wife says she was given a touch and go 48 hour warning.

My recovery was slow but I was recovering. There was just one fly in the ointment. And it was a bloody big fly. My memory, or to be more specific, the lack of my memories.

Both my long and short term memories were in tatters. The best way I can explain it, is that if you imagine your brain as a drawer in a filing cabinet and someone comes along, takes the memory drawer out and tips the contents of your orderly life memories onto the floor and the returns memory files back to the drawer in no particular order, you have an idea of what my memory was like. All the memories were in there but in no particular order. Names, places, times, dates, events. just one massive jumble with no order.

They always say "You don't know what you've got till it's gone". Believe me when I say "I do".

So what does have to do with my writing? Well everything.

Six months after leaving hospital I returned to hospital for a review of my recovery so far. The surgeons prognosis went something like this. "Well John you have made a good recovery but as far as I can see you have reached a plateau and you are unlikely to see much change in the future, so I am happy to say you are now discharged".

WHOA!

What about my memory? His reply was heart stopping. "Where you are now is where you will be".

My memory was still shot, my business depended on my memory, my staff depended on my business, my family depended on me.

It may be just my Yorkshire upbringing but my reply was "We will see abart that". To say I was despondent would be an understatement.

After I got over the shock I was determined to prove the doctor wrong. I am after all from Yorkshire and we are NEVER wrong.

I started writing about my exploits as a proper yorksher lad in a proper Yorsher way on a local Facebook site. The response was terrific and as the stories progressed I remembered more and more stories and then some daft bugger suggested I write a book. And the rest is as they say is history.

My memory has not fully recovered but it's a damn site better than it was and I am in a happy place.

Please enjoy my books