Charity golf day at Eastbourne golf club held for doctor with motor neurone disease raises £9,000

Retired Consultant Urologist Graham Watson was diagnosed with the condition two years ago but is continuing to travel the world teaching kidney stone removal procedures with medical charity the Medi Tech Trust.

His symptoms forced him to retire from performing surgery last year, at the age of 73.

His friends organised a golf day at the Royal Eastbourne Golf Club on September 6, which raised £9,356 for the Motor Neurone Disease Association through a tournament, dinner, raffle and auction.

Graham, who worked at Eastbourne DGH, said: “I worked beyond the age a lot of people work until, but I did it because I was in love with what I was doing and it was good for my soul.

“One of the things with motor neurone disease is it leaves you wiped out - your energy to do anything is seriously affected.

“But I can still go out and teach; yes, I might need to sit down for long periods of time, but I can teach.

“I'm delighted that I can do anything and when I'm teaching somebody, and I'm seeing them make progress and flourishing, that's just great.”

Motor neurone disease progressively damages parts of the nervous system, leading to muscle weakness and affecting functions such as gripping, walking, speaking, breathing and swallowing.

Graham explained: “I started noticing that my muscles were twitching and then they slowly disappeared, so I've got a form in which my hands are very weak and almost skeletal.

“My breathing is affected, so I pant a bit, and if I lie down flat, I have a BiPap machine [which pushes air into the lungs] to help me.

“But sitting up, I'm fine, and I can walk as my legs are still really strong.

“I'm delighted that my swallowing is still good, because that's one of the awful areas that motor neurone disease can hit, and, inevitably, repeated pneumonias.

“I'm very lucky because it's been very slow, but it's still slowly progressing.”