Pat's Story

Pat struggled with Agoraphobia and addiction for many years, but with the support of her family and GP managed to overcome her issues. Now she writes poetry about her experiences to give hope to others in a similar position - to send out the message that it is possible to recover as she has.

You can read her poems on this page - and she has also written a brief introduction to her work below, talking about what inspired her to write each piece.

Hi, my name is Pat. I am a 62 year old wife, mother and grandmother who spent 20 years of her life on tranquillizers while also suffering from Agoraphobia, life was hell, hell on earth - then I turned it all around. After my recovery from the fifteen-a-day tranquillizer addiction, and the horrendous battle to beat the Agoraphobia I started running a help-line for others, I did this for ten years.

I also started writing poetry in the nineties. The poem about Cherie Blair I wrote in 2002 after meeting her at the Oyster Awards run by Camelot for people showing true grit and determination, I was entered by my husband. 

I have also been on television three times to talk about my illness to give others hope, because without hope we have nothing. One tv show I did involved a three hundred mile round trip, then I finished the show reading a short poem I wrote myself, a thank you poem to the Doctor who pulled me through and gave me back my life, hence the poem "Moving On, Singing a Song".

It was written in 2008 because now with two adorable grandaughters under the age of four years old, most of my time is spent with them at toddler groups, rattle rhyme classes, adventure playgrounds doing all the things I never got to do with my own Son because of the Agoraphobia.

Today I am hardly ever in, last week I was at a farm feeding the animals  with the grandchildren all hands on, racing round in a go-cart, climbing the climbing wall, doing everything, because the Doctor who pulled me through, not only gave me back my life, she gave my husband back his wife, my son she gave him back his mum, Everything I have and everything I do is all thanks to her.

Pat's poems...

THE DAY I MET CHERIE BLAIR

When you have spent most of your life,
Suffering from panic attacks, Agoraphobia, and strife,
The last thing you need to happen to you,
Is for your glasses to suddenly break in two.
Only an hour before you meet Cherie Blair,
Help, what a total nightmare.
Then on the next table you spot DAVID BLUNKETT,
As you sit there filling your face with junket.
there is always someone Worse off than you,
Especially at this type of do.
Then she comes over, CHERIE BLAIR, and starts to talk to us.
It feels like a dream, we are chatting to the Prime Minister’s wife,
Telling her all about my broken glasses and strife,
Telling her how we can hardly see.
She is so nice, as nice can be.
She’s done her homework, She knows what we were all about,
She impressed us, without a doubt,
I just hope I didn’t stare,
The day we met CHERIE BLAIR.

MOVING ON, SINGING A SONG.
She read one of her poems on  TV.

For all the world to hear and see.

She also spoke softly of all her pain,

To show all the world what she had gained.

To the magazines she told her story,

To show the world, the before, the after, then the glory.

On the radio she told what it was like,

She told the world while she held the mike.

For ten whole years she answered letters from far and near,

From others who also had the fear.

Then one day she just gave it all up, and said no more.

AGORAPHOBIA, you won’t come back to my door,

It’s time to put you in the past where you belong.

While she goes off to sing a song,

At little Ps, the Methodists or J.A.M.

Singing nursery rhymes, just being NAN,

And maybe in her spare time,

She will still write the occasional rhyme.

Skegness
Today we walked together, hand in hand,

for miles and miles, we strolled in the sand.

We had the beach all to ourselves, not a soul to be seen.

It was like being in paradise, a dream,

The sun shone brightly, the sky was blue,

A couple of days with nothing to do,

We picked up pebbles , and threw them into the sea,

What a great place this is to be,

Time to switch off from the worries and cares of life.

Time to be, just a wife.

Then off to the café, for our bacon, eggs, tomatoes, coffee and toast.

This really is the best value on the coast,

It cost£1. 99p each person for the lot,

It was even served piping hot,

Where is this place, where I’ve had so much fun?

The place for me, come rain or sun,

The place that helped so much when my life was a mess,

The Tranquillisers, the Agoraphobia causing distress.

For me paradise on earth is SKEGNESS.