New hope from sadness

My dear husband Ian died of a brain tumour in April, only nine weeks after diagnosis. He had a very aggressive form of brain cancer and his symptoms began with chronic tiredness followed by severe headaches and nausea. Analgesics didn’t ease the pain and slowly his movement and co-ordination were affected.

A CT scan confirmed the presence of abnormal tissue and a biopsy confirmed the tumour cell type. Ian’s symptoms worsened and his condition quickly deteriorated to the point that he was unable to start the treatment plan of combined radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

In the final stages he had seizures and could no longer walk or talk. He died, peacefully and thankfully pain-free, under the expert palliative care of the Sue Ryder Care.

Throughout the roller-coaster journey of Ian’s illness, we saw opportunities in which the understanding and treatment of brain cancer could be improved. It also brought home the importance of what we did in our jobs – getting effective treatments to patients quickly.

Nothing in life prepares you for losing the people who mean the most to you. These tragedies only happen to people in films and magazines, right? Wrong. It seems that the majority of people have lost a loved one to a disease or illness.

I’m ashamed to admit that until this year my relatively charmed life had meant that I hadn’t given much thought to charity. Life was already so busy, fitting in work aIongside taking part in eventing with two horses, and seeing friends and family. This year has been a turning point and I am determined that something positive will come out of this tragedy.