Growing up, Anthony and Ian Whitington’s father, Geoff, was an energetic and committed dad. Having divorced from the boys’ mother when they were 10 and eight respectively, Geoff, then a BT engineer, gave up his weekends to allow the boys to do whatever they fancied – be it sports or day trips.
Like most men, Geoff was always quick with a joke but grew stubborn as a mule in middle age. When he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2003 at the age of 51, both he and his sons (by then grown up and moved away) thought little of it.
After all, they were told at the time the disease was 'manageable’ by tidying up Geoff’s diet, prescribing some pills and keeping a keen eye on his blood sugar. He did this, attempting every fad diet available but never quite managing to keep the weight off and never quite seeing that as a problem.
fixing dad
Geoff Whitington with his sons on a family holiday Credit: Christopher Pledger
Over the course of the next decade Geoff’s weight ballooned to 20 stone, exacerbated by excessive snacking during sedentary night shifts in his post-retirement job as a security guard.
"They were asking me to sign a contract that said I’d do everything they told me. I had no idea what I was letting myself in for"Geoff Whitington
By 2013 complications had set in: he contracted Charcot Foot – a progressive and gory destruction of the joint – which, in addition to diabetes-related ulcers on his other foot, meant a grave risk of amputation.
He fell into near-depression, withdrawing from visiting his sons and grandchildren. Consigned to an early death from diabetes, he even took to writing a will.
“He was retracting. He wasn’t the same Geoff, no jokes, no banter,” recalls Anthony, now 38. “Reading up, we found out that people who have a foot amputated are expected to live for about two years beyond that. Something needed to be done.”
geoff whitington
Geoff's foot prior to his sons' interviention Credit: Christopher Pledger
Anthony, a freelance filmmaker, and Ian, 37, a cameraman, hatched a plan to help their father. The pair also decided to make a documentary, Fixing Dad, to chart Geoff’s progress, which airs on BBC Two tonight.
“I thought they were just calling my bluff,” says Geoff, 64. “They were basically asking me to sign a contract that said I’d do everything they told me. I agreed, but I had no idea what I was letting myself in for.”
The brothers researched the disease - which affects more than 3.6 million people in the UK - drew up a three-pronged attack on Geoff’s fitness, nutritional and mental hurdles, and set a daunting target: that the three of them would complete a the 100-mile Prudential RideLondon-Surrey cycling event in July 2014.
Fixing Dad: meet the brothers who reversed their fathers diabetes Play! 03:52
“Dad could barely walk, so running was immediately out, and he wasn’t keen on the body image of swimming, so that left cycling,” Anthony says. “It turned out to be the ideal exercise for him, exerting far less pressure on his feet and easy to get in to.”
They joined him at every turn. On Geoff’s daily cycles, Anthony would either run or ride with him, while Ian filmed. They’d eat together too, measuring their sugar levels after meals. Kebabs and pub lunches were replaced with lean, carbohydrate-free meals.
“The key was taking dad out of his environment, to break his cycle and make him realise what was at stake,” Anthony says. “We organised a group camping trip to Spain, with our bikes, and at the end we sat him down and showed him a load of family photos, of him as a young man and of his grandchildren.”
What is diabetes? In 60 seconds Play! 01:05
In the documentary, Anthony and Ian express guilt at having let their father deteriorate for so long as they focused on their careers, while Geoff appreciates all he could lose by refusing to change his life.
“The grandchildren were a big thing,” Geoff concedes. “In the past I didn’t really have a close relationship with them at all. The threat of never having that was a huge driving factor.”
"At the end of the film we pose a question: who would you miss most when they’re gone?"Anthony Whitington
The journey wasn’t always easy – various explosive arguments are captured at points where the pressure felt too much – but just nine months after he began the programme, Geoff completed the 100-mile ride through London.
Then, in February last year came the news they’d always wished for. The diabetes had been successfully 'resolved’. Geoff was fixed.
fixing dad documentary
Anthony and Geoff in training Credit: Ian Whitington
“It was amazing. They told us that as long as he stays on this course, he’d have no need for the pills,” Anthony says.
Today Geoff stands at a lithe 13 stone – having lost seven - and says the project has brought the whole family together.
“Marilyn, my wife, has lost three stone coming out on the bike with me. My step-children and Ian and Anthony’s families have caught the bug too. I’m the fittest I’ve ever been and completely addicted.”
geoff whittington
Success: Geoff and Anthony crossing the finish line Credit: Christopher Pledger
Now employed helping his sons’ film work, and a regular speaker at diabetes conferences around the world, Geoff’s life has been entirely transformed.
“Without a shadow of a doubt,” he says, “my boys saved my life. I wouldn’t be here with the family if it weren’t for what they did.”
Plans are now afoot for a follow-up to Fixing Dad, focusing this time on other diabetes sufferers across Britain.
“At the end of the film we pose a question: who would you miss most when they’re gone?” Anthony says. “Until you’re proven otherwise, diabetes is a condition that’s entirely fixable.”
Fixing Dad will be shown on BBC2
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