A POPULAR entertainer who has brought joy to lives throughout his career is aiming to raise awareness of a rare illness he’s been diagnosed with.
Andrew ‘Simmo’ Simpson, 63, a former children’s entertainer, was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy, or PSP, earlier this year.
PSP is a rare neurological disease that causes progressive damage to brain cells.
This has the possibility to cause problems with movement, speech, vision and swallowing.
At first, his illness was mistaken for Parkinson’s disease, with the two sharing similar symptoms.
Because of he rarity of the disease, many people may get misdiagnosed at first.
Since his diagnosis, Andrew has progressively gotten more unwell, faced with the prospects of losing his mobility and speech.
The well-loved local, who was a prolific fundraiser, is unable to live normally, losing his ability to drive or even cook for himself.
He said: “It’s a horrible disease.
“It affects almost everything and it causes me a lot of pain.”
Andrew is looked after by his caring wife, Gillian, who self-admittedly does ‘everything’ for her husband since his devastating diagnosis.
His wife, Gillian, shared the struggles of Andrew’s disease, detailing the impact on their family.
She said: “The diagnosis was a bit of a shock.
“At first we were led to believe it was Parkinson’s, then we saw another neurologist and it turned out to be PSP.
“Unfortunately, here’s not a lot of doctors and consultants that know much about PSP.
“Not many people have it so there’s not a lot of research.
“It’s not just affecting Andrew physically, it’s affecting the rest of the family emotionally and mentally.
“A couple of weeks ago we’ve had a baby grandson born.
“We’ve got three grandchildren now, but Andrew’s not always well enough to play with them.
“Because he’s had two new knees we were hoping that he’d be up and walking and able to play with the grandkids.
“The PSP has flipped everything on its head.
“He used to do all the cooking and baking but not anymore.
“It’s also affected his anxiety so he’s not always that good around groups of people.
“It’s a shame because I’m sure that there are more people out there that are misdiagnosed.
“I think that the NHS and the government need to look into it.”
Despite his upsetting prospects, Andrew keeps a positive attitude, especially when remembering brighter days from the past.
Throughout his life, Andrew dedicated his career towards brightening youngsters’ days - now he’s asking for locals’ help to bring back his smile.
Andrew has requested that anyone who may have footage of him entertaining to get in touch, so he can relive his favourite pastime.
He added: “It’d feel nice for people to send videos in.
“It would mean a lot.”
For now, the former entertainer looks forward to his ‘good days’ - when his symptoms are less severe and he is surrounded by his loving family.
