NAME: Gary
FROM: Middlesbrough
ABOUT: Mental health - depression
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MY #BOROMANCAN STORY
"When we see the mental health campaigns, for a lot of people the barriers go up... it's the first word that people can't get over"
NAME: Neil
FROM: Middlesbrough
ABOUT: Mental Health - Depression
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MY #BOROMANCAN STORY:
“We had so much going on, and because I didn’t want to put any more pressure on my family, and I thought it was probably my Crohns disease anyway”
NAME: Ted
FROM: Marton, Middlesbrough
ABOUT: Volunteer Sporting Chance | Teesside Stroke Club
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MY #BOROMANCAN STORY:
I’ve been involved with Sporting Chance since 2013, when the project first began in the Middlesbrough area. I like the range of activities, and definitely feel that it’s improved my health and well being, and I feel that the social side is important too, especially for men who live alone.
NAME: Barry
FROM: Priestfields, Middlesbrough
ABOUT: Prostate Cancer
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MY #BOROMANCAN STORY:
I was diagnosed with prostate cancer about 11 years ago. I had a PSA of 1,300 (normal reading 3-5) and cancer that had spread to my bones in 3 places and to my lungs. I started hormone therapy which was the only treatment available. I also decided to try to fight the disease by making changes to my diet and lifestyle. I stopped eating and drinking all dairy products, all red meat and stopped all alcohol. My PSA today is 1.3 and I am fit active and healthy
NAME: Jeff
FROM: Pallister Park, Middlesbrough
ABOUT: Resilient with a great sense of humour
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MY #BOROMANCAN STORY:
I was employed at British Steel at the blast furnaces, when I had a serious accident, causing permanent injuries, leading to long term mobility issues and effectively ending my career. I was in and out of hospital for years. My mobility improved for a time, and I was able to get out and about.
NAME: Matthew
FROM: Middlesbrough
ABOUT: Mental Health - Depression
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MY #BOROMANCAN STORY:
“We’ve got to get away from the belief that recovery isn’t possible”
Matthew decided to visit his GP after long periods of low mood and finding himself struggling at work. Taking action from his mum, Matthew accessed his GP who advised medication which he found part of the solution, but counselling has twice been his salvation and focus to fully understand his condition.
NAME: Gary
FROM: Middlesbrough
ABOUT: Weight Loss/Exercise for Older Men
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MY #BOROMANCAN STORY:
“Being part of a group doing sports has helped me to lose nearly 6 stones”
Gary admits he had an unhealthy diet, from working nights, lacking the knowledge and often comfort ate fatty foods as a result. He develop diabetes which became worse. When his fitness was holding him back in life, he took action after seeing a Facebook advert for walking football at Albert Park.
NAME: John
FROM: Middlesbrough
ABOUT: Mental Health - Anxiety
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MY #BOROMANCAN STORY:
“I make sure that I take time for myself, I took back control and have worked to understand myself and become comfortable in my own skin as well as making good diet and exercise a full part of my life”
NAME: Omran
FROM: Middlesbrough
ABOUT: Weight Loss – Diabetes Prevention
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MY #BOROMANCAN STORY:
“My dads got diabetes, I’m a South Asian male, I was very overweight and was going the same way. A healthy Heart check set me on the right course”
NAME: Shaun
FROM: Middlesbrough
ABOUT: Addiction Recovery | Mental Health - Schizophrenia
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MY #BOROMANCAN STORY:
“I knew there was something wrong, but I preferred the stigma of bad, rather than mad”
Shaun developed mental health problems that unrecognised in early life in his twenties when the stigma around Mental Health was much greater than today. He found himself in and out of trouble with the law, and was dabbling with drink and substances early on to ‘unknowingly’ cope with a range of symptoms common with schizophrenia including hearing voices and paranoia. At the time, he thought everyone experienced these things. Over a period of 30 years, Shaun has received a whole range of complex support therapies, often group therapy to sit alongside others who have had similar experiences.
NAME: JP
FROM: Middlesbrough
ABOUT: Alcohol | Drugs Recovery
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MY #BOROMANCAN STORY:
“If it wasn’t for recovery, I simply wouldn't have everything I have today”
JP, short for John Paul, grew up in a family where drugs was common use, and tells the story of living in state of constant fear. Without realising it, to cope with this pain, he found it easy to slip into drink and drug use with older friends around him. Slipping into a life in and out of trouble with the law, he found himself in a spiral which he couldn’t dig himself out of.
NAME: Darren
FROM: Middlesbrough
ABOUT: Drugs Recovery
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MY #BOROMANCAN STORY:
“I think I was born an addict, a product of the environment I was in, I didn’t like myself and rebelled”
Darren tells of his bullying at 13 year old, outside of school, from so-called mates he spent his time with. His teachers told him he was smart, and could really achieve, but he saw ‘good, smart’ kids who did their work standing out, and not as a good thing. He didn’t want to get bullied and wanted to fit in with the ‘hard kids’; he got into drug use, cannabis, others and later Heroin.
NAME: Patrick
FROM: Central Middlesbrough
ABOUT: Process worker and shed lover!
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MY #BOROMANCAN STORY:
The ‘Grandad’ of the FRADE Men's Shed is Patrick, a retired carpenter who worked in the Art Department of McMillan College for 15 years. Patrick has been coming for 2 sessions a week for 5 months after seeing a leaflet in Age UK. Asked why he came, he replied “It’s the satisfaction of seeing a job finished.
