The life of Dr William Tudor-Thomas – chairman of Dorset ME Support Group until his death at the age of 66 on August 1 – was celebrated this afternoon at a thanksgiving service held in St John’s Church, Wimborne.
Dr Tudor-Thomas, who had to retire as a Swanage GP when he was 41 after falling ill with M.E., worked behind-the-scenes to help the group’s then chairman Dick Patterson set up a trailblazing ME/CFS clinic at Wareham, which was officially opened by the Duke of Kent in 1999. He was also a lay canon at Salisbury Cathedral and was Bishop’s Adviser on the Wholeness and Healing Ministry.
He worked closely with Dorset group vice-chairman Sue Ticehurst on running what had become, after Mr Patterson’s dynamic 17 years as chairman, one of the largest, full-service, local ME Support Groups in the country.
Sue said this week that Dr Tudor-Thomas struggled throughout with his M.E., admitting some days that he was “fit for nothing”. She said she shared his management style which was to sort out any problems quietly before they developed into fully-fledged crises.
Dr Tudor-Thomas died after failing to recover from emergency surgery on a perforated bowel. The funeral service, which was private and for family members only, was held earlier today.
Dr Tudor-Thomas leaves his wife, Debbie, two sons, two daughters and six grandchildren. He met Debbie while she was a nurse at the Middlesex Hospital and he was a medical student.
The family have asked that donations, if desired, should be given to the Dorset ME Support Group, tel: 01305 777670.