DREAM WRITE UP: Keith Glanvill
A Magical Experience
The below is a story of a father, in the worst year of his life, just needing a little pick me up. His story is written by his daughters:
“In March this year we sadly lost our beautiful mum after a 2-and-a-half-year battle with metastatic breast cancer. Our mum was a true warrior! I say this due to her sheer strength and courage during some really difficult times. However, what we didn’t realise, was that we actually had two complete warriors as parents not just one!
Our wonderful dad had been constantly there for our mum, supporting and caring the love of his life, his wife of 40 years, during some of the most agonising days caused by Cancer, the treatment and all the chemotherapy side effects that came with it.
Then, just 7 days after our mum’s funeral in April of this year, he was diagnosed with a form of aggressive blood cancer. It’s fair to say it’s Beyond our belief of how utterly cruel life can be!
At a time where he was completely consumed with grief and raw heartache, a simple trip to the doctors, as he wasn’t feeling all that well, quickly spiralled into a very long stay in hospital. All of a sudden, he was being poked and prodded and physically worn out, while already feeling shattered and heartbroken. Literally the exact same day dad went to the doctors, he was called and told to go to ANE urgently , as some blood tests had returned with worrying markers.
He was quickly admitted and sent for scans, bone marrow biopsy’s, a liver biopsy and more blood tests than you’d ever imagine anyone could have, without being left full of holes! Then he was told he had Aggressive B cell lymphoma, which had managed to get into his bone marrow and spleen. On top of this, the Lymphoma had also caused a life-threatening immune disorder called, Hemophagocytic lymph histiocytosis (HLH)
He was seriously and incredibly unwell.
We can’t bear to think if he hadn’t of gone to the doctors when he did. He required immediate treatment of intense chemotherapy and immunotherapy. His immune system was completely rock bottom, so he needed to be in an isolated room and required constant high doses of steroids, antivirals and antibiotics. His body was being put through the absolute mill.
All of this for any human being is a lot to deal with, but for someone who’d just spent the last two and a half years looking after their wife, through a cancer and chemotherapy journey, to then be thrown into their own cancer and chemotherapy journey is completely unimaginably cruel.
Despite our dad being thrown from one nightmare into another with no time to breathe and despite him having his body physically put through gruelling tests and treatments, while also coping with emotional heartache and turmoil , he has remained strong, determined, brave and courageous throughout. We couldn’t be a single ounce prouder of him.
We were already so proud of how amazingly he took care of our mum during her worst times , never leaving her side always being there for her and now he has also shown us he is also a true warrior himself!
From the moment he was told of his diagnosis his attitude and determination to,
“right let’s get rid of this” has completely amazed us all.
We’d spoken with EvesTrust while our mum was sick, already knowing first hand what the charity was about and how much it helped.
Dad has always had a beautiful garden. Full of colour and calming ambience. However, while he was in hospital, we went round to his house to water the garden plants etc and we noticed that the wind had broken the fence outside badly .
Also due to him being so busy taking care of my mum and then being so unwell himself, and the fact it has just been winter, it was in need of a bit of a work.
Now our dad was going to be on intense chemotherapy and immunotherapy and likely be housebound for a while, so we knew he wouldn’t be well enough to do it. But, we knew how he would and having a nice garden to sit in. So we asked Evestrust to help .
Shiree and Jason from Evestrust were fantastic. They arranged for a lovely new strong fence to be built and new gates put up which opened up the garden space. They moved the decking area into a sunnier spot and then Shiree’s dad came out and painted it all. It looks lovely and it’s been a huge weight off my dad’s mind not having to sort it out while he’s been in the middle of his treatment.
Dawn from the Doncaster cancer drop in centre, also gave my dad a voucher for BNQ to buy new garden decor and plants.
During such horrible times in life it’s not always easy to remember that the world isn’t all bad, but then people who have very kind hearts are fast to remind you there is still good in the world.
Evestrust are definitely these people. Filled with volunteers working full time jobs and raising families of their own, but giving up their spare time to help people going through cancer battles, just to make others smile…….wow!
Thank you so much to Evestrust, and of course our Dreams Coordinators Shiree and Jason, plus Shiree’s dad, for all their hard work ensuring our dad had a sunny safe secure garden to relax in. We also wanted to say a huge thankyou to Sharon Spencer, who also volunteers for Evestrust, for providing carer support during the difficult times. She has been very kind and given my dad support, often helping him with meals, fetching him milk round and popping in to make sure he’s ok throughout his treatment.
You are all truly selfless people with very, very special hearts. Your help and kindness has been hugely appreciated during what has been a horrendous time.
Our dad has now completed 5 months of chemotherapy and immunotherapy and he’s about to have an all-important scan which we hope with all our hearts shows him some good news …..The good news he definitely deserves !”
As a charity we must also thank BZ Fencing & Eco-Power skips for their support in completing this dream.
