Written by Ali……..
‘How extremely fortunate am I’ – is how I felt as I approached my 40th birthday celebrations last Autumn on reflection of the first fantastic 40 years of my life. So, I decided I wanted to do a sporting event to celebrate my health and give something back to many others less fortunate. I shared this with some of my friends at one of my 40th celebrations and we talked about cycling the 60mile charity ride between Manchester and Blackpool this July. Little was I to know that quite literally 4 days later we were told that they were very concerned with Dave’s CT scan and then a month later, be informed that the man I had married, that I had planned to spend the rest of my life with and the amazing father to our 2 young children would be given a terminal diagnosis of mesothelioma. I couldn’t even say/spell the cancer, we didn’t know much about it, especially with Dave knowingly never working with asbestos and it’s the classic cliche, but you never think anything like this will ever happen to you.
In these last 7months, we’ve been on a roller coaster of Dave going through a biopsy, then the hardest decision of our lives to chose to have Dave’s left lung removed putting him at a very high risk of a 1 in 20 death rate from the radical surgery, followed by 4 months of chemotherapy. It is the hardest thing ever to witness someone whom you love so much, experience such diagnosis, the realisation of what this diagnosis means for their future and their loved ones and to see them so very poorly.
Mesothelioma is a cancer related to asbestos – it is a cancer which should have been prevented years ago when the dangers of asbestos were well known. Yet very sadly now, diagnosis of this cancer is on the rise but there is no known cure and a disproportionate lower amount of money is spent on research for mesothelioma compared to other terminal cancers with similar mortality rates. But no one should have to go through what we and many other people with this diagnosis are sadly going through now and for the rest of our lives.
There are so many other well deserving charities to donate to, but if you could kindly support my friends and I on our bike ride and donate to Mesothelioma UK to research this cancer further and hopefully eventually provide a cure and to support The Christie, one of the largest European cancer treatment centres we would be extremely grateful. If you feel able to offer sponsorship, please visit http://bit.ly/24GlUc0.
Many Thanks
Ali
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