Jen Whitington - Fixing Dad: How to Transform the Health of Someone You Love

Theres a picture of our dad in 2013, and theres a picture of dad a year later. They are the classic before and after photos. From our first appearances on television in 2014, every press agency wanted these two pictures. Because a picture is worth a thousand words, isnt it?

Well, we grew to dislike those two pictures and Ill explain why. Unfortunately, if a picture can tell a thousand words, it can also mute a thousand feelings behind a moment, the truth behind a snapshot and where it came from.

Fat man gets thin just isnt our story, and we know we wouldnt have got here if it was.

At its heart, Fixing Dad is a story about taking personal responsibility for our health and the health of those close to us. But in our two and a half years of Fixing Dad we discovered something else too.

Its quite simple: we have a food industry that pays too little attention to health. And not by coincidence, we have a healthcare system that pays too little attention to food.

As a result, our National Health Service is under huge strain. This is a medical system which does what it says on the tin: it medicates people from one point in time the point of diagnosis to an indefinite point on the horizon. Very rarely does it look over its shoulder at what might have caused the problem, and whether we could be brave enough to fix it (or at least attempt to fix it), rather than manage it to death.

My brother Ian and I set out to fix our dad properly in 2013. We also decided to make a film about it, documenting our dads journey from dire medical prognosis he was facing an amputation, and his health was in decline right through to the incredible moment when he was pronounced free of type 2 diabetes.

The process opened our eyes to things we hadnt been prepared for. When it came to health, our beliefs and expectations were tested; we came across methods we had never considered, and might normally have been resistant to trying. Thank God we eventually did try them.

Fixing Dad is the mental, emotional and physical before and after. Its the Before Man who was getting his affairs in order versus the After Man who is in disbelief at his own achievement as he crosses that line, opens that letter from his consultant, and puts his pills in the bin because he no longer needs them.

And on the subject of that After Man One of the key milestones on dads road to recovery was when he completed the 100-mile bike ride from London to Surrey. Two years on, we travelled to the Olympic Park to do the same again. Lots of friends asked why? Wed proved our point, they said. We had our medals, so why on earth would we bother?

The truth is that cycling had become much more important for dad than we could possibly have imagined; it was much more than just managing his diabetes. For dad, cycling was the renewed use of his own two feet. It was the wind in the trees, the rain in his face and the sun on his back; it was pedalling along with his wife Marilyn by his side, and spending more time with his grandchildren. It was more time with us a mixed blessing, Im sure but it was, quite literally, the world back at his feet.

Having been buffeted down a catastrophic path of diabetes management for 10 years, he had found a new reality; a new Geoff. And, funnily enough, it was the old Geoff; the one we remembered and missed so much, right in front of us like the cine footage we had compiled for the start of the film we were making about him.

So what will the world make of Geoffs journey? We know there are lots of stubborn mums and dads out there who are facing the same problems Geoff was facing, but for us there are three important things wed like people to remember.

First, theres nothing special about us. We had the same resources as the next person an internet connection and blind hope. So anyone can do this.

Secondly, we believe family is the key to unlocking the After Man and the After Woman, the real picture that often only our closest families are privy to. We all need to learn how to ask for the support of those closest to us. And if we dont have anyone, then we must ask our doctors for their support; not in managing, but in fixing our health and finding the support we need. If the doctor isnt supportive, we should consider a change of doctor, just as Geoff had to do.

And finally, we believe the best way of mobilising others to join this cause is simply by raising the question that eluded our family for ten years, but which should matter most to all of us right now: who will I miss when theyre gone? And could I help fix them now?

We hope Fixing Dad can inspire you on your own journey. Good luck and please stay in touch.

Anthony Whitington
June 2016