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Keep Taking the Pills

This anthology of irreverent odes was published to raise awareness - and money - to benefit kidney patients.

Ian's interest in kidney disease came from personal experience. He became a renal patient the day his kidneys failed following an emergency triple by-pass. Haemodialysis got them going again, temporarily. Within a few months regular dialysis was necessary until Ian was lucky enough to receive a kidney transplant.

Despite life-saving heart surgery and a 'new' kidney, Ian's health was erratic and he needed to go back into hospital whenever there was a blip.

On one of these occasions, he was much amused by the doctor's suggestion to cure his neighbour's constipation. It appealed to his schoolboy sense of humour and he instantly penned a rude ode and stuck it on the loo door. Everyone who saw it laughed.

Every time something else entertained Ian, he wrote an ode until they were papering the walls of the ward. Encouraged by his regular nurse, he resolved to put the collection of verses into a book, which was published as "Keep Taking the Pills".