You’ll Never Walk Alone

You’ll Never Walk Alone

I have always loved this anthem of my favourite football team, sung by the legendary Gerry and his Pacemakers from the sixties. When I hear it played, I get goose bumps and the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

But in this last year it has meant much more to me than ever before. The day after Liverpool won the Carling Cup my world changed when my father took a massive stroke and had to be rushed to hospital.

Now I am a forty- one year old man, married to a lovely wife and fortunate to have 3 beautiful kids, but I am so close to my dad and we share a drink and watch footie and listen to the same kind of music and he is my best friend, so this shock hit me like a sledgehammer and since last February I had to visit him every day in hospital for 16 weeks to encourage him in his recovery.

He was lucky to survive, and could have ended up a lot worse than he is, he is confined to a wheel chair because his left side is very weak, but he can see and can speak and his personality  has not been affected and I feel very lucky still to have him.

He is not able to go back home because he is incontinent and my mother is not fit enough to look after him, so he lives in a nursing home now, but he has settled in very well and I visit him every day and take him out walks and watch football on TV with him and I still enjoy his friendship.

It has been a really tough year with so much stress and not much rest and I have to credit Gerry’s anthem for helping me through this tough time. I have found the lyrics so poignant and inspirational in my year of struggle, and every night before I go to sleep I have sung this song to myself to inspire me to keep going.

I have walked through a storm and tried to hold my head up high and I have been scared of the thought of darkness that death brings.

At the end of the storm , is a golden sky, and the sweet silver song of the lark, those lyrics have gave me hope that things will get better.

Walk on through the wind, walk on through the rain, if you live in the west of Scotland like me, then you will know that you get plenty of both in this part of the world. But seriously, I felt like there was no sunshine at this time.

Though your dreams be tossed and blown, meant that all the nice things I yearned for were blown away.

Throughout this tough time in my life I just walked on through life and held my head up high and ignored the dark with the hope that my dad survived.

My dad is still with me today, not as fit as he used to be, but he is happy and I feel lucky to still have him, and I feel lucky to be a Liverpool supporter because I have used the club’s anthem to give me strength throughout this nightmare year and I encourage anyone who is facing adversity and sadness to use this tremendous song to help them.

Gerry and the Pacemakers You Will Never Walk Alone and thank you for keeping me sane and for saving my dad, thank you.