In 1933 he accepted the position as manager of and veterinary surgeon to the Hook kennels belonging to the G.R.A. at Northaw in Potters Bar. There he was responsible for up to 1,300 greyhounds who were needed to supply White City and Stamford Bridge as well as provincial tracks owned by the company. J. K. was a great loss to our profession and to everyone who had the pleasure of knowing him when he died suddenly in '64 at the age of 67.
In 1957 a small bitch who joined the G.R.A. kennels and raced at White City was to make the name Bateman and her own "Hare Spy" famous wherever there was a track. Like several hundreds seen by Bateman she broke her hock. He had operated on many of them with disappointing results but for this case he was prepared to try a revolutionary aid. He had a few plastic Scaphoids made to the same shape as real ones and of different sizes. He removed all the fragments of Hare Spy's Scaphoid bone and inserted a plastic one that fitted. After five months of careful nursing the bitch ran three trials which were fast enough to qualify her for a race that she won. The feat was widely reported and our profession honoured Mr Bateman with the award of a special medal. I telephoned our famous member and congratulated him. He told me that the replica was made by the London Splint company. I immediately ordered a few.
Scaphoid is on the inside of this joint Here it is on the front
C is on both views of the Calcaneus This is the largest bone in the joint
Over the following months I had cases with this fracture whose owners abandoned them after seeing much damage in clear x-rays.
After removing the fragments from one of them I inserted a replica. Then I put a plate over it with one screw into the Talus above it - and another into the Cuneiform below it - to maintain it in position. The limb was in a plaster cast for six weeks and the dog confined to short slow walks for another six. For the next eight he gradually moved faster on my circular walker.
Then when allowed daily free gallops on my straight he moved soundly and I was optimistic for him. After three more weeks I took him to Hinckley - my local track for the vital trial. He flew up the straight but after two strides - as he leaned in on the turn - he checked and cried out. The lower screw had been displaced and the implant was avulsed.
I telephoned Mr Bateman about my disappointment and he invited me to come and see his x-rays. They showed two spicules of callus that had developed and grown upwards from the Cuneiform bone. They secured his implant in position. Small fragments detached from this bone are often associated with more conspicuous damage to the Scaphoid.
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Dear Mr Sweeney - I am J K Bateman's grandson, the son of his youngest daughter. I was doing some digging around to find some information on him for my daughter's history project on recent family history and am delighted to have found your apparently very recent comments! My grandfather died when I was very young and it is wonderful to read such kind words from someone who knew him in a professional capacity. My mother will be delighted. I wish you all the best with your blogging; you have made my day.... With my best wishes
ReplyDeleteMike MacKeith
Dear Mike MacKeith, An overdue reply to your comment and my apology.....
ReplyDeleteOur middle son Warwick who is a professional photographer in London drove here and took me with my wife Jane and our Jack Russell Charley on a 10 day tour of Ireland. Our primary aim was to sail from Holyhead to Dublin and see my brother
Owen who though nearly six years younger is in a nursing home there. We also enjoyed the hospitality of our special friends Tony Doohan and his good wife Bridie who visit Owen every week and care for his needs. After three days Warwick drove us to Falcarragh in north Donegal where I grew up. There we had warm welcomes from Mary a sister to Tony and her husband Danny, from a brother to Tony - Josie and his wife Teresa and from another brother - Alfie and his wife Pat. The mother of Tony, Mary, Josie and Alfie was my much loved cousin Brigid. When ten years older than me she helped to rear me by wheeling me to the seashore in my pram. On a visit home I was shocked to find her dying at the age of 56 when she had so much goodness to give to all of us.
Too late to say 'Hi' Mike!!!! (He's my cousin, my mother was the 2nd of the three Bateman Girls)
ReplyDeleteMr Sweeney, did you know that 'Poppa' as we called him, had a hole in his skull from a serious car crash near The Nag's Head pub in Cheshire in 1933, as a result of which he gave up large animal practice and was offered the job in Northaw. I am so delighted to have found someone who actually knew him all those years ago.