Fred’s Story
It was May 2008 when Sandra was diagnosed with breast cancer. Typically, Sandy’s attitude was “let’s get on with it and together we can beat this bugger”.
Although we occasionally shared our fears that it would return, the more time that rolled by, the more we believed we had indeed beaten “the bugger”.
On Christmas Eve in 2013, Sandra was admitted to hospital for urgent treatment after finding out her cancer had spread.
Her oncologist committed to try to give us a further 10 years of life together, but warned us that the average was two.
Looking back, I think we both went into a state of denial at this time. Of course we quietly discussed the prognosis on occasions, but generally life was kind to us during the following 18 months.
On Boxing Day last year, Sandy was upstairs on the phone to my son Craig. A few minutes later, my phone rang. It was Craig. “Dad, there’s something wrong with Sandy.” I raced upstairs to find her collapsed on our bed.
She had two weeks of transfusions, blood tests, changes of medication and scans. Sandy remained as cheerful as she could, but we both knew that we weren’t going to get away with this one. Sandy passed away on January 10th.
On this journey Sandy, and indirectly myself, were privileged to experience magnificent kindness, wisdom and generosity from Sweet Louise. Sandy loved going to Sweet Louise meetings and spending time with other Members. She learned so much from
everyone.
A couple of months before she passed away, Sweet Louise gave us tickets to the Cats musical. It proved to be the final show that we would attend together. While checking some clothing not long ago, I found our tickets in her coat pocket. I have placed them away with other things I treasure.
There can be no doubt that Sweet Louise’s influence on Sandy’s life was profound. They provided additional knowledge, understanding and kindness which helped us both immensely.