AN ANGLESEY man who feared he may never swallow again has praised the Speech and Language team who have helped him regain his independence.

Bob Bendall, from Valley, underwent surgery for an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm in May 2018 and spent six months on the Intensive Care Unit at Ysbyty Gwynedd.

Following the operation, Bob was diagnosed with dysphagia, a condition which makes eating, drinking and breathing difficult as it affects the ability to swallow.

His wife, Linda, said: “When the doctors first tried to bring Bob around it didn’t work out well, he wasn’t able to breathe by himself so he had to be kept on a breathing machine.

"It was a very frightening time for the family, we nearly lost him on a couple of occasions but Bob was determined to get better."

During his time in hospital, Bob was put under the care of the Speech and Language Team where he met Nicholas de Mora-Mieszkowski.

The 65-year-old began to receive intensive swallowing treatment to help him learn new techniques to regain his independence.

Nicholas, a Clinical Specialist Speech & Language Therapist, said: "I used an approach with Bob called the ‘McNeill Dysphagia Therapy Program’ which I was lucky to attend training on last year.

“Therapy was carried out after completing a video swallow examination which showed some but generally very little movement of the muscles used to swallow.

“While in intensive care Bob had been referred to the nutrition support team for a gastric feeding tube and it was agreed with his consultant that while he was waiting for the feeding tube we could try this therapy.

"We completed almost daily therapy over a few weeks and then repeated the video swallow exam. Therapy has continued since and I am really pleased to hear that he is continuing to make gains.”

Bob left hospital in October 2018 and has since been making progress at home with the help of his wife and Speech & Language Therapist Anna Dent.

"I have slowly been building up to trying more challenging foods but it’s all about being brave enough to try different things," Bob said.

"I could only eat pureed food to start with but I am now able to eat food such as chicken, casseroles or stir fry’s – I even managed a Christmas dinner!

“It has taken a lot of determination to do the therapy as it’s learning how to eat and drink again but I’m really pleased with the improvements I’ve made."

Bob, who is sharing his story to help mark Swallow Awareness Day which took place on March 13, has thanked the team for their continued support.