Patient recovering from amputation puts smiles of colleagues' faces with kooky caricatures
Staff on Samuel Johnson Community Hospital’s Darwin Ward have helped to bring a smile back to a patient’s face by encouraging him to pick his drawing pens back up and create caricatures of the ward team.
Andy Gilbert, who said he was in “bad place” following a procedure that saw his left leg amputated above the knee, has seen his spirits lifted dramatically after staff suggested that he draw them in a bid to improve his mental wellbeing.
67-year-old Andy, who lives in Stretton, says that his journey has been a “rollercoaster” after initially visiting A&E at Queen’s Hospital Burton with unbearable pain in his leg.
He said: “For the past three – six months, I’ve been getting a pain in the back of my knee which progressively worsened and I was struggling to walk. I put down to varicose veins or a lack of movement during the pandemic.
“However about a month or so ago, the pain became excruciating and the team in A&E very quickly identified it as a vascular problem and immediately referred me to the specialists at Royal Derby Hospital.
“From here, I had a bypass operation which we initially thought had had some success, but then the pain returned and my leg went numb so they carried out a second investigative procedure which is when they discovered that my leg was in a bad state.” 
It was at this point that the severity of Andy’s condition, the cause of which is still unknown, was explained to him:
“The consultant told me the sad news that I would need my leg amputating said to me ‘it’s either your leg or your life’.
“My life changed overnight and it’s been a lot to take in. I’ve never even had a stay in hospital as an inpatient, so it’s been a huge deal for me.”
Following his procedure, Andy spent time recovering on the ward in Derby before being transferred to Darwin Ward at Samuel Johnson Community Hospital where the impact of what he’d been through started to hit home.
Andy explained: “My mind went to a bad place. I was trying to put a brave face on things, but I wasn’t coping well at all.”
It was at this point that Jessica Knight, Housekeeper on Darwin Ward, and a few of her colleagues noticed that Andy was struggling and decided to do something to help him.
Jessica said: “I remember speaking to Andy and he said he was feeling really down, and we found out that he’s a caricaturist, so we came up with this idea to get his equipment brought in for him so he could start doing some drawings.
“When I came in the next day, he had completely changed. I was greeted by his beaming smile and he just looked totally different.”
Word quickly spread about Andy’s artistic talents - which usually see him booked for weddings, parties and events, as well as taking stints on P&O cruises delivering cartooning workshops – with staff lining up to have their drawing taken, which made a huge difference to Andy and the ward team.
Andy continued: “It’s given me such a boost, helped get my mind back into a good place and I’ve absolutely loved every minute of it. It has been great therapy for me. 
“I’ve done more than 30 drawings now and the requests keep flooding in. I think they’re bringing colleagues in from all the other hospitals to get theirs done!”
Jessica said that Andy’s drawings will be taking pride of place on the ward, with plans to make a new ‘meet the team’ display: “Andy’s drawings have given both him and everyone on the ward a massive boost. We’re incredibly grateful to him for bringing joy and smiles to everyone’s faces.
“Lots of colleagues have had their caricature done so we’re going to make a display on the ward of all of the drawings as a new ‘meet the team’ display!”
Andy is still inundated with requests, which he’s trying to get through before he’s discharged home, but has said he is so thankful to everyone involved in his care and is looking forward to continuing his recovery and getting back to work:
“I really cannot thank the people who have been involved in my care enough. They have looked after me so well and it’s been an incredible journey. I might have lost my leg, but it could have been so much worse and I’m still sitting here today and you cannot put a price on that.
“I'm very determined to get back to doing caricatures at events and I want to do something for the Trust’s charity as soon as I’m able to give something back and say thank you to all the wonderful people here.”
