Time to say hi

Dear all

You don't know this but you've all been an amazing support to me over the last year. I am writing this in the immediate aftermath of my darling dad's peaceful passing after about 13 months of living with PC(and I use the word 'living' deliberately).

Dad was a wonderful man, but he was intensely private in many regards, and as such I never felt I could post openly about his experiences on a forum. I also hoped that he might occasionally come on here to read all the inspirational posts and would have felt bad if he'd seen me posting about him without his permission.

Anyway, since dad's diagnosis last October I've been on this forum multiple times a day and have found it a warm, safe and hopeful place to reside. It has quite literally been my lifeblood. So I wanted to thank you all from the bottom of my heart. And I am hoping now to be able to come on here openly and help others in the way I have been helped.

I have to say dad had great care throughout his journey with the disease and was given hope and had plenty of attempts at treatment. At the end he was at home and really only was very very disabled with the disease in his last month. And then he still ate, drank, enjoyed small walks and visits on and off.

However I do feel convinced that these digestive cancers are criminally under funded, which compared to some other cancers with high cure rates, to me seems so utterly wrong. I am hoping to raise money for PCUK from now on in.

I will write more in time. I don't want to fixate on dad's death as he did manage to LIVE with this illness for some time, but if anyone might find our experience useful I'd be of course happy to share. Wishing you all the best.

Hi there

Well, welcome to the forum.

I am sorry to hear that your Dad has passed away but am glad that he seemed to have enjoyed his health as much as he could despite the disease.

I am also glad that you found such support from the forum, despite not posting on it.

Good luck with the fundraising!!

Cathy xx

Hi and welcome. So sad to hear about your dad and I do understand why didn't post whilst he was ill. There are quite a few carers post here whose loved ones don't use the forum. Some like to hear what's going on others don't. Glad too that you got a lot from the forum. I do too, even though my husband has now sadly died, as you say there is a warmth about the place and I feel comfortable here.

If you feel you can help others by sharing your experiences now, well that's great but only if you want to.

Regards

Julia