Jim Hutchins: Living with MND
Jim Hutchins was a vibrant, energetic, gregarious and fun-loving 59 year old when he was diagnosed. He had an insatiable thirst for life (especially good food & wine!), was an eternal optimist with infectious enthusiasm, dogged determination and a school-boy like sense of humour.
He was also a devoted husband to Briony, a proud father to Matthew, Chloe and Johanna and loving grandpa (“Gumpy”) to Ollie and George. He worked for Texaco for 30 years and started a second career in his 50’s as a property developer/landlord.
Ever the hands-on entrepreneur, he loved his new-found profession and built up a number of properties in Guildford, France & Spain during this period. He was born in Havant, lived most of his married life in Nottingham and then Grayshott (Hampshire).
In Autumn 2005, Jim’s family began to notice subtle changes…his movements had become clumsier, his strength was weakening and his speech had begun to slur. Reluctant to go to the GP, eventually he was persuaded to seek advice and underwent tests in Dec 2005. In January 2006, Jim was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease at St George’s Hospital in Tooting, London.
The news, clearly devastating to Jim and his family, brought little hope for treatment or quality of life. He was prescribed with Riluzole, the only drug currently available to treat MND in the UK, by slowing down the progress of the disease by a couple of months.
At this time, his walking had become noticeably stiffer; he walked aided with a stick; his fingers were clumsy, his grip extremely weak and his speech was very slurred. In spite of the physical changes and the bleak prospects, Jim remained admirably positive throughout and amazingly never lost his sense of humour. His mind was active and open in finding treatments that might prolong his life and he even offered himself up for research.
By March of 2007, physically, he was totally paralysed – short of being able to move his eyeballs and blink. Mentally, he was still as bright as a button, had an unwavering will to live and took great pleasure in being surrounded by those he loved most. Jim and his family fought for him to be cared for at home and his wife, Briony, never wavered in her devotion in caring for him throughout this period.
Fourteen months after diagnosis, on 12th March 2007 Jim passed away during the night, at home at the age of 61.
