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Last October I went on a holiday to Turkey for 2 weeks with my family, during the time on holiday my dad took poorly and was in a lot of pain with his back, was struggling to walk and had flu symptoms. We all noticed a change in my dad- he was really tired, grey looking and had lost his appetite, we was all concerned and decided to take a visit to the emergency doctors, the doctors was unsure of his condition and just gave him some pain killers until we got back home in England.  

Once back home and after Numerous blood tests, biopsy's and CT scans doctors told my dad he had got secondary cancer in his spine and had a tumour which was pushing on his spinal cord causing him to loose the ability to walk, at this time they was unsure where the primary cancer was and wanted to do more tests . I can remember thinking at this point how fast everything was happening it almost felt unreal everything I was hearing! it was only a month ago my dad was pottering around in the garden and doing jobs around the house! despite all this we all stayed strong and supportive for my dad.

December 2013... further test had been carried out and doctors had told us that they had found more secondary cancer cells in his lymph nodes around his neck and throat but still had no signs of where the primary cancer was. at this point my dad had lost over 4 stone and couldn't walk or get out of bed. he wasn't strong enough to have any chemotherapy so he started having sessions of radiotherapy.

Whilst he was having this treatment he stayed in Ashgate Hospice, my dad was in the hospice for over 6 weeks before he was allowed to come back home we couldn't thank the staff enough for how they looked after my dad. even though we all knew my dad was terminally ill with cancer we never asked for a prognosis as we was unsure if we believed in someone predicting how long someone had left to live. and my dad didn't want to know either so we followed his wishes  

February 2014... after staying so positive my dad took a turn for the worse, his emotions went from being so high to having panic attacks and almost hitting rock bottom, after speaking to a number of doctors we all decided it would be best if my dad went back in to he hospice where he could receive the best care possible. On Wednesday 5th February doctors had decided to tell my family that my dad had started to deteriorate and his time was short - as you can believe we was all heart broken to hear this news

My dad was put on a constant morphine syringe driver and was made comfortable all my family was around him and we didn't leave his side so he wasn't alone or in any pain. On Tuesday 11th February my dad lost his fight to cancer and passed away even though it was a really awful time we didn't want him to suffer any more.

My dad had only been diagnosed with cancer just over 3 months before his death so I want to make people more aware about cancer and raise money to help others suffering.. Ashgate Hospice is a amazing charity they have such caring, friendly supporting staff and with out them my family would have been lost! they do so much for cancer patients and their family's 

I am going to be doing some serious training over the next couple of months because I am planning on running the 10 miles for Ashgate Hospices Moonlight Miles in June  

Please sponsor me for this no matter how little it is, every little helps and most of all I will be doing this in the memory of my dad "Bertie Topham"

Thank for reading Elaine xxx    

Ashgate Hospice is an independent registered charity that provides specialist palliative care (care to relieve pain rather than cure) both at the Hospice and within the community, for adults and their families across North Derbyshire. Everything we do at Ashgate Hospice gives patients and their families all the help and care they need to continue living for every day.

 

It costs Ashgate Hospice £5 million a year to provide these valuable services, of which over £3 million needs to be raised purely through voluntary contributions and fundraising. 

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