My Brother Mike

I’ve had this blog post in my head for a while now and I’m finally ready to tell you all about my brother Mike. Unfortuantly he is no longer here so this post is very bittersweet and also something for Myself to look back on in years to come. So let’s get down to it.

Mike was born on December the 7th at the John Radcliffe in Oxford. He was named after my gramp who sadly passed away when mum was pregant with him. Funnily enough my dads name is also Michael so we had 3 Michaels in the family! I don’t remember much up until he was abit older because I was only a baba myself. There’s something you need to know about Mike. Unfortunately he suffered from very severe asthma and eczema from a very young age. And my first real memories of him are being plastered from head to toe in his eczema cream and wet wraps. He really did have it rough bless him. His skin was red raw all over his body I remember mum would sew gloves onto his clothes to stop him scratching till he bled. He used to lay on the carpet and roll around just to scratch his skin. If my memory serves me right I’m sure he was classed as one of the worst cases of eczema in the country and he actually had a little information book made about him which showed other people how to apply the creams and wet wraps. Below are some photos from that book that I’ve kept all these years.

And so he grew, his eczema getting worse as he got older, mum and dad had terrible trouble once he started primary school, the cunt of a head teacher didn’t want him, they didn’t want to deal with his needs and my mum had to fight tooth and nail to get him the help he needed to apply his creams at school and give him his inhailer when he needed it. He couldn’t play outside at playtime with the other children in the summer, during swimming lessons mum had to attend to hold him because he was so slippery because of all his creams he had to wear. He also had a slight nut allergy and milk allergy. Mum used to take all the chocolate out of his advent calender and replace it with gummy sweets or haribo. But don’t underestimate him, he didn’t let his struggles hold him back My God he was clever, witty funny and bloody bright! He’d sit and write stories and make his own comics. He loved computer games and he was so dam bright. Not only that he was funny! I remember once he told a rude joke to his teacher. “Miss why was there a que of men outside the pub called the ladies legs, because they were waiting for the ladies legs to open”bear in mind he was like 5 or 6 haha! He was just so much more than his illnesses. My lord did we used to bicker though! One time I remember cutting all the furr off his teddies! Naughty sister.

Anyway let’s move on, Mike went to the same secondary school as me. His eczema was still very bad but it did get better I think for a few years. Mike thrived at secondary school. I’m pretty sure he got A’s in most of his subjects, he even set his blazer on fire once with a buson burner. He didn’t have a lot of friends and he wasn’t the kind of person to go out. He kept himself to himself and that’s how he liked it. We had a lot of asthma scares over the years . The night of my prom I came home to an ambulance taking him away because of an asthma attack, a few years later I had a call in the middle of the night saying Mike was seriously unwell with his asthma and he spent a few nights in hospital. I guess it was always in the back of my mind how serious his asthma was but never did I actually think he would be taken away from us because of it.

Mike was that clever he ended up getting accepted into university to study law!! My little brother studying law I was so proud! But also very nervous for him because of his nature how quiet and reserved he was. But off he went bags packed and ready to go. I’m not 100% sure how long he stayed at uni but what I do remember is how he really struggled being away from home and unfortunately he ended up coming back home which he was quite happy to do. So he moved back into mum and dads. He got a job in the local co op and that’s where he stayed. As long as he was happy who were any of us to judge. As well as being a brain box he loved learning new languages!! He taught himself Greek and was in the prosess of learning Japanese!

So I guess we are almost up to present date. The Mike I remember as he was before he went is just the loveliest guy. He was very reserved we’d be lucky if we got 2 words out of him at the dinner table. He lived in his pyjamas and grunted more than he talked. He spent hours on computer games to anyone else he could come across as rude, but to us this was just Mike. He was a man of few words, he loved Christmas and spoiled us all rotten, every Christmas morning he’d pull the couch across the living room to make space for us all to open our pressies, one of many things that will never make Christmas the same again, he spoiled his nephew Rex always buying him dinosaur stuff. He also liked the really tacky Christmas tree decorations, like burgers and umbrellas. Which my mum hated but he used to hide on the tree. So now I collect the most tackiest and mismatched decorations I can find in his memory and I actually love them. He wasn’t a child person, I only have 2 photos of him holding Rex and I will always treasure those. I miss my brother every day, his wicked sence of humour, his cleverness and just him. The last time I ever saw him we enjoyed a Chinese round at mums house little did I know that would be the last time I would speak to him or see him. If I’d known my god I would have never left. Every night before I’m about to go to sleep I always tell Mike I love him and part of me hopes he can hear and knows. He was robbed of his future and I feel robbed for no longer having my brother but his legacy is all in the money we raise for the Wiltshire air ambulance he would be so proud. And I will continue to raise money for them till the day I die.

I love you Mike and I will never forget you ❤️

Z

Xxx