Celebrating September
In 2016, Jonathan’s dad Ian was diagnosed with MGUS which was being controlled by regular blood checks and vitamin B12 injections. However, the Covid pandemic brought delayed and irregular hospital appointments and in March 2022 Ian was told this had developed into Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. Sadly, just 8 weeks later, he passed away in The Ardgowan Hospice in Greenock surrounded by his family. So far, Jonathan and his friends have raised £4,500 in Ian’s memory and he is determined to carry on raising awareness of blood cancer symptoms and celebrating his dad's life every September.
He was very supportive of everything that I ever did, and he was my biggest cheerleader.
My Dad was a fantastic man, he loved his family, he loved his football and he also loved his horse racing. He was a policeman for many years, and worked as a dog handler - so me and my sister grew up with police dogs living with us. As a result of that, we were also all very big dog people too!
My Dad and I were very close - he was very protective of both me and my sister, even though I was 33 and she was 44. We spoke every day, sometimes up to 4 or 5 times a day, and I usually spent every Saturday and Sunday sitting with him watching his football results on Sky Sports News or A Place in the Sun when the football season was finished. He was very supportive of everything that I ever did, and he was my biggest cheerleader.
Over the space of a few weeks, I watched my Dad go from this larger than life, 6 ft 4 pillar of the community who looked so young for his age become this thin frail old man
From the end of January 2022, he started having periods of tiredness. We encouraged him to get checked and to call his doctor, but he assured us he was fine. At the end of February, he was at a concert and had to leave early as he had lost his appetite. By the next morning, he was throwing up in his hotel room and we were all convinced he had a stomach bug.
A few days later my Dad went to his GP, who booked him in to get his bloods done and scheduled an X Ray for him. Five days later, we had to phone an ambulance for him - he couldn't breathe, he couldn't walk, he was a shell of himself. It was terrifying.
My Dad had to go to the hospital himself due to Covid restrictions. Once he got the hospital, he was told when he was by himself that he had leukaemia, and he was admitted to the ward for blood transfusions.
He was initially told he would have a two or three year life expectancy with some limited chemotherapy as the gene sequencing that the oncology team had done showed that it wasn't the worst variant of AML he had.
Unfortunately, that life expectancy got more and more limited as time passed, and my Dad got more and more unwell.
Over the space of a few weeks, I watched my Dad go from this larger than life, 6 ft 4 pillar of the community who looked so young for his age become this thin frail old man, who I had to help in and out of the car, who was falling over constantly and had to use a wheelchair to get to and from his appointments. It was the worst thing I have ever had to go through in my life seeing someone that I loved so much become so poorly so quickly.
He was accepted on to a drug trial, which aimed to give him a year's life expectancy. Two days after being admitted to hospital, he contracted pneumonia. Two weeks after that, we were advised my his treatment was being stopped and that there was nothing more they could do.
Thursday the 28th of April at 14:00. I will never forget that time or date. At that point our whole world had changed - the hope had really gone, and we had to face the reality that my Dad was dying.
My father died on Sunday the 8th of May 2022 at 17:25. We had sat with him the entire day. On his last day he was pretty much in a coma, not able to open his eyes, or speak, and was very agitated. When he died, he opened his eyes, smiled at us all, then he passed away holding my hand.
The 8th of May 2022 was really the worst day of my life. It wasn't the ending my Dad deserved. He was a proud man, who loved his family, his house, his community. By the end, he couldn't speak, eat, open his eyes, go to the toilet, nothing. It was completely degrading. I miss him terribly.
I want to celebrate my Dad’s life - he isn’t here anymore, and that’s awful, but I want every September to be a celebration of him
My Dad’s birthday was in September, which coincides with Blood Cancer Awareness Month. I am hoping to continue doing the Kiltwalk every April and do different charity fundraising events every September. This September we are doing a race night, which is in honour of his love of the horses. All monies raised will go to Blood Cancer UK and Ardgowan Hospice in Greenock, who cared for my Dad in his last few days.
I want to celebrate my Dad’s life - he isn’t here anymore, and that’s awful, but I want every September to be a celebration of him, his life, and his story. I want to share his story so that people know the symptoms, and also know that help is there. I think if he knew what to look out for, he would still be here. I wouldn’t have got through this awful period in my life without the team at Blood Cancer UK; the support has been amazing.
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