he was grossly obese, with significant cardiac pathology. Toxicology report following death showed 10 times therapeutic level of codeine . He was 42. FORTY-TWO years old. A lost soul.
...............
As ELVIS PRESLEY battled obesity, prescription drug abuse, loneliness and the heartbreak of losing the love of his life Priscilla, his nurse Letetia Henley was there beside him *holding his hand, attempting to raise his *spirits, singing gospel songs with him and trying to stop him from killing himself.
"I saw the ups and downs," says the nurse, who the King of Rock 'n' Roll lovingly called Tish. "He was not only my patient but a good friend. In the end he was depressed, overweight and lethargic with a passion for pills. But his death came as a complete shock."
Before dying at the age of 42 at his Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1977, Elvis pined for his ex-wife Priscilla. "He was very miserable," says Letetia. "He was depressed about ageing and not having a woman he loved. He missed Priscilla. His friends kept pimping him with pretty 17 and 18-year-old girls but he had *nothing in common with them.
"To the world he seemed to have it all but he had things missing in his life and that pained him."
Suffering high blood pressure, liver damage, glaucoma and an enlarged colon Presley died of a heart attack in his bathroom, his body pumped full of prescription pills, many administered by *Letetia.
"Strangers gave him pills to get on his good side and Elvis hoarded them. His access to medications was overwhelming and I couldn't catch them all. There were no street drugs just prescription
drugs but it was a nightmare. It was sad."
Letetia may have supplied the last pills Elvis ingested claims Dr Nichopoulos, known as Dr Nick, who lost his medical licence in 1995 for over-prescribing medications. "He had trouble going to sleep," says Dr Nick, 87. "Elvis called my office eight o'clock in the morning and I wasn't there yet. But Tish was there and Elvis talked to her. She told her husband where there were sleeping pills."
"You always think there was something you could have done, that he might still be alive today," she says. "That haunts me.'
'Elvis and I spent a lot of time together talking, walking the estate and in the meditation garden. We would sing gospel songs together. He was intelligent, witty, kind and caring. There was nothing romantic between us.
"I tried to monitor his medications and make him eat healthily but it was a lost cause. If I gave him yoghurt for breakfast he'd eat six."
"Elvis was extremely *generous and loved to make people happy," she says.
Letetia treasured a book about spirituality he gave her: The Impersonal Life, inscribed in blue ink: "To Tish, with sincere thanks for your friendship, Love E.P." But loyalty has its *limits and in January this year she sold the book at auction for £2,000. Now her memoir tells all.
Person of Interest[/h]</header>
<figcaption style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; color: rgb(169, 170, 172); font-size: 18px; ">Singer & Cultural Icon
