66 years on, pensioner is reunited with nurse who saved his life

A MAN has traced the senior nurse who cared for him as a baby more than a half century ago – to thank her for saving his life.

Bill Douglas has tracked down 91-year-old former ward sister Margaret Ancell who “loved and cared” for him in his “darkest hours” more than six decades ago.

Incredibly, despite the passing of the years, the former health professional remembers baby Bill well – and has even kept a remarkable picture from their time together in the ’50s.

Last night Bill, a semi-retired chartered surveyor, said he owed everything to the senior nurse.

“There’s no doubt about it, she saved my life,” said the 66-year-old who will be reunited with Sister Ancell for the first time in decades later this month.

Bill was just a few days old when he was taken to Dundee Royal Infirmary in 1950 for emergency care.

The first-born son of Kincardineshire farmer Denis Douglas and wife Dorothy, Bill was plagued with health problems and refused to feed.

Born in Montrose, Bill was transferred to specialist care at Dundee’s main hospital within days of his birth.

He was kept there for five months while doctors struggled to diagnose his condition.

Frantic medics resorted to feeding Bill via a tube.

All the while, doctors carried out medical checks and his care was supervised by Margaret, the starched “angel” in charge of his ward.

With his condition failing to improve, hospital bosses made the heart-breaking decision to send him home without any medical support.

Bill, who now lives in Edinburgh, said: “Doctors told my parents in no uncertain terms that I would die as a baby.

“Yet here I am – now 66.”

Plucky Bill refused to surrender to the mysterious condition that plagued his infancy.

He battled bad health for the first two years of his life, even suffering a stomach haemorrhage.

But he eventually overcame the deadly prognosis his baffling condition had given him.

Bill said: “It’s funny, but after the stomach haemorrhage my condition improved dramatically.

“I don’t think I’ve had a day’s illness since!

“They still don’t know what was wrong with me.

“My family always said they put my survival down to some of the nursing I got while in Dundee, especially from sister Margaret Ancell.

“There was a limited amount they could do, medically, in those days – but the care was second to none.”

In the last two years, Bill has lost both his mum and dad to illness.

While going through their paperwork he noticed they had kept a collection of paper cuttings, and one caught his eye.

It was from our sister paper, The Courier, in 1952, reporting on the Dundee marriage of Margaret Ancell to Dr Ronald McInroy.

It turned out his grateful parents had kept an eye on sister Margaret’s life after Bill had been released from hospital.

Bill said: “When I saw it I just knew I had to try and see if Margaret was still alive.

“The cutting had an address from her home in Dundee at the time.

“It was a long shot but I was determined to thank her for the chance she gave me.”

From the cutting, Bill was able to track down a former neighbour who remembered the McInroys and Ancells.

She was able to put Bill in touch with Margaret via relatives of Dr McInroy, who went on to become a respected pathologist in his career but died, aged 93, in 2011.

Fortunately Margaret was still in fine health at 91 and living in Yorkshire, where the family had moved in the 1950s.

Bill admits to being extremely nervous before making contact with Margaret, adding: “My heart was in my mouth when I phoned her but I was able to thank her.

“I didn’t think she’d remember me – but she did.

“She was able to describe what my mum looked like and her mannerisms like it was yesterday.

“It was a remarkably emotional conversation.

“It transpired Margaret even shared the same birthday as my mum.

“I’ve now adopted her as my honorary mother – she even phoned me on my birthday in December and sang Happy Birthday.”

Margaret, who has two daughters and three granddaughters and now lives in Sheffield, said: “When Bill got in touch, I couldn’t believe it.

“He didn’t believe that I remembered him, but I did.

“We had lots of children passing through the hospital in those days but they would normally just stay for a couple of weeks.

“It was unusual for a baby to be there so long. I got quite attached to baby Bill, I even kept a picture from all those years ago.

“We never got to the bottom of what Bill suffered from.”

Margaret added: “I often thought about him over the years. I’m so glad he got in touch.”