Joe in his last year at the St Thomas Hospital. He spent many months there, some of them bed bound, suffered through 17 operations, was diagnosed with diabetes and was discharged in December 2006. After some difficult time at home (he had several short stays and emergencies visits to the hospital and yet another surgery) and in spite of the care his friends doted on him, he once again became desperately ill nearly a year later and died within a week of being newly hospitalised.