Bonfire burns MP to donate book royalties to the NHS

20th February 2017
Bonfire burns MP to donate book royalties to the NHS

The Member of Parliament who last year was badly burned in a bonfire accident is to donate half the royalties of a book he has written to the Queen Victoria Hospital (QVH) in East Grinstead as a thank you to the NHS hospital’s burns unit in which he was treated.

Gordon Henderson, who represents the Kent constituency of Sittingbourne and Sheppey, wrote the book during the weeks of convalescence that followed an accident, which led to him spending over a week in the burns intensive care unit at the QVH.

Mr Henderson explained:
‘The treatment I received at the QVH was fantastic. During those long painful days that I was in the intensive care unit I was able to witness at first hand the dedication and hard work of the medical staff who are on the front line in the NHS.

‘Despite being under pressure and working under the financial constraints faced by all NHS hospitals, the staff made bearable what would have been a very traumatic time, if it had not been for their exemplary kindness and care.

‘Blowing myself up by stupidly using petrol on my bonfire did have one silver lining. During the lengthy, enforced convalescence that followed my release from East Grinstead, I was able to write the novel that I had been meaning to write for years.

‘That book has now been published and I have decided to donate half of any royalties that I receive from sales to the QVH as a thank you for the wonderful treatment I received from them.

‘We all know that the NHS is under financial pressure, despite the billions being pumped into it by taxpayers, so I am hoping that this gesture will encourage other people, who are in a position to make a contribution, to follow my lead.’

Mr Henderson’s book, entitled Operation Seal Island, is an adventure story set in South Africa during the Apartheid years. It is available from Amazon in both paperback and Kindle versions.