Confessions of a Junk Dealer

September 2016

Edward Patnick, long standing Tommy’s supporter and grandfather to stillborn baby Isaac, has decided to use his life experience of being a junk dealer to fundraise for Tommy’s.

Edward was encouraged to turn his tales from years of buying and selling discarded or secondhand items into a book which he has done and donates all profits to Tommy's. So far this book has raised over £2000.

Here is Edward's story

Like every other family we didn’t think it would happen to us, but it did. In 2002 my daughter Lisa gave birth to my first grandson, Isaac, who was stillborn.

Naturally they were, and remain, devastated by his death. So many hopes and dreams dashed and a lifetime of wondering what Isaac would have achieved – all gone in a moment.

We still don’t know why he died

As grandparents, my wife and I grieved for our grandson and also witnessed our much loved daughter and son-in-law going through the most terrible time in their lives.

We wanted to make it all better but of course life isn’t as easy as that

I’m proud to say that my daughter wanted to make sure that this didn’t happen to other parents and decided to give money to Tommy’s, who fund essential research into preventing stillbirth, miscarriages and premature births – and so the family decided to get behind Tommy’s too.

In 2004 my son, Simon, raised money for Tommy’s running in the London Marathon, something I was unable to do.

I realised however that I could speak about my life as a Junk Dealer so I began to give talks to local groups and asked them to make a donation to Tommy’s.

People are, of course, very generous and kind and so I started my new career as a Tommy’s fundraiser! 

People who heard my story said I should write a book, which I have now done. “Confessions of a Junk Dealer”, the profits of which go entirely to Tommy’s.

So far I have raised over £28000.00 from giving my “Talks”, and Tommy’s have received over £2000.00 from the sale of my book.

If you are interested in reading Edward's book and supporting Tommy's you can purchase a copy of his book here.