Updated on Oct 2nd 2012 at 6:39 PM from the JustGiving API

Thanks for taking the time to read my story behind why im raising money for Lancaster oncology unit, part of Morecambe Bay Hospitals.

In September 2009 my fantastic dad Terry Haworth got admitted to Lancaster infirmary with suspected pneumonia. After tests and treatment we were told the devastating news that he had lung cancer. Dad hadnt smoked for well over 20 years so the shock was immense.

I still remember the phone call, mum crying and the shock and sick feeling when she mentioned the ‘c’ word.

My dad remained very upbeat and said on more than one occasion that cancer would not beat him and he would fight it with everything he had. 

Dads cancer was in a place that surgery was impossible but early 2010 he began treatment, first radiotherapy followed by chemotherapy.

Dad lost his hair ( my 5 year old son remarked his head  looked like a plucked chicken, much to his amusement!!) but he handled the treatment well and the scans that followed were positive, though the tumour was not shrinking, it wasnt getting any bigger either. He was determined to  fight every step of the way.

Then over the course of the year things began to change, Dads breathing started to get worse  and he had to have oxygen installed in the house,however  this did not sway his outlook, he was still as determined as ever to fight this horrible disease for as long as he could and kept on doing the things he enjoyed to do.

In august 2010 I renewed my wedding vows in church ( original wedding was in register office) My dad  walked  me down the aisle. It was a fantastic day and though he had to leave the reception early because he was tired, he said it was the proudest day of his life.

Later scans on Dad ( just before christmas 2010) showed that the cancer had spread, it had gone into his other lung and into his bones, he was not well enough for intravenous  chemotherapy again so was put on a drug called Tarceva, chemo in tablet form.

This shrunk the secondary tumour but devastatingly had no effect on the primary tumour.

In April 2011 mum and dad both came on holiday with us, we all went to Scarborough for the week at Blue Dolphin Caravan Site. Dad used his oxygen on holiday but apart from that you would never have known to look at him on that holiday that he had the cruelist of diseases inside him, snatching him away from us and stealing the precious time we should have had together for many years to come.

 Once home from that holiday cancer really took a hold of dad, his breathing became bad and he ‘looked’ ill. His face was swollen from the steroids he was taking, his ankle was filled with fluid because his mobility was so poor and he was getting so very tired from the fight.  He had battled so bravely and with the upmost determination for a long, hard 18 months.

***************

On the 4th June after a family bbq at my parents  house, our world crumbled and changed forever . My lovely dad lost the battle, Cancer took my dad without a word of goodbye, so so unfair and so devastatingly cruel. Heavan gained the most perfect angel but left us with a massive hole in our hearts that can never, ever  be repaired.

IN MEMORY OF THE MOST FANTASTIC DAD, GRANDAD AND LOVING HUSBAND,  MR TERRY HAWORTH, SLEEP TIGHT , FLY HIGH, IN THE ARMS OF THE ANGELS NOW, FREE FROM PAIN AND IN OUR HEARTS FOREVER  XXXXX

 If tears could build a stairway
and thoughts a memory lane
I'd walk right up to heaven
and bring you home again
No Farewell words were spoken
...No time to say good-bye
You were gone before I knew it
And only God knows why.

Since you'll never be forgotten
I pledge to you today
A special place within my heart
Is where you'll always stay.