A PENSIONER who was given the last rites after contracting diphtheria as a boy has made an emotional return where his life almost ended 70 years ago.

Grandfather-of-six Bryan Naylor, 75, now plans to leave money to the hospital in his will, to allow them to build a playground as a tribute to the staff who saved him.

Bryan was just five when he was admitted to Queen's Park Hospital, Blackburn, on Christmas Day 1934, suffering from diphtheria - an acute infectious bacterial disease which affects the upper respiratory tract.

His school pal, Tom Egan, also five, had been admitted to the hospital two weeks earlier with the same condition but sadly died.

Bryan, who spent six weeks critically ill, had to have poultices on his neck to stop his throat from closing up and was treated with culture developed from a horse because there were no antibiotics.

Retired Bryan, who used to work in home improvements, grew up in the Shear Brow and Wensleyfold area of Blackburn but now lives in Southport with his wife, Eileen, 77.

He said: "I am very fortunate that I am here to tell the tale.

"I don't remember a lot about it but I was very poorly. I was given the last rites by a priest and my parents could only see me through a window.

"They weren't allowed to come into the hospital because the condition was so contagious.

"They injected me with a culture they got from a horse which had been given depleted diphtheria germs. I was eventually released after six weeks and allowed home."

The hospital also has another close connection for Bryan.

His great-grandfather Richard Webster was involved in the construction of the Blackburn Fever Hospital, now known as Queen's Park Hospital, during the mid-1800's.

Bryan said: "I've come back to pay my dues to Queen's Park Hospital and I intend to make it a beneficiary in my will and to thank everyone both past and present for a life that so easily might never have been.

"Without the dedication and superb skills and nursing care of all the staff at the hospital I would not be here.

"I will always remember Tom who didn't make it and I hope I have lived a life that in some ways was for both of us."

Diphtheria is an acute infectious bacterial disease which affects the upper respiratory tract and very occasionally the skin.

Immunisation was only introduced on a national scale in the early 1940s.

In 1940 there were 46,281 cases and 2,480 deaths compared with 37 cases and six deaths in 1957. There have only been two recorded deaths due to diptheria since 1972.