Abbie's Race for Life

Three years ago on March 14th my world completely fell apart when my wonderful Dad sadly lost his long and gruelling battle with cancer at the age of just 44. After undergoing many rounds of chemotherapy, losing his hair and having a massive operation to remove the tumour and spending weeks in intensive care, my Dad was given the "all clear" from cancer. However, as his condition continued to deteriorate with intense pain and sickness causing him to have regular stays in hospital we knew something still wasn't right but, we were continually told his symptoms were just the after effects of such a big operation. After months of pushing for more scans to be done, a CT scan was finally carried out and my Dad received the news on his birthday during another stay in hospital that abnormal cells had been found which were cancerous and this time because of how physically weak he was and the way they had clustered, there was nothing more they could do. My Dad went from being told he had the rest of his life to look forward to, to being told a month later that his cancer was terminal and he had 4 weeks left to live. He had fought so hard for so long and to now enter palliative care, we were all completely heartbroken. My Dad hung on for a week longer than expected and peacefully passed away in his sleep on the 14th March 2016. He was the strongest man I've ever known and right until the end he showed such courage and bravery and I'll forever be proud of him. Since losing my Dad, my goal has been to try and turn the situation into something positive and to continue my Dad's fight against cancer by raising money and awareness to prevent other families going through what mine has. This year I'll be doing the pretty muddy 5K race for life alongside my flatmates and would really appreciate any donations no matter how small, as the money goes such a long way in helping beat cancer! Thank you for taking the time to read my Dad's story x