In memory of my husband Gordon Squires

Gordon died on Saturday the 10^th of April at the age of 85. In his memory I hope to raise £3000 for the charity Beating Bowel Cancer. We ,the family, have decided to donate a £1000 and the rest to collect via sponsorship.  I will be grateful if you can sponsor me to swim a total of 20 km (800 lengths of Parkside pool) starting on the 6^th of June and finishing before our son Daniel wedding at the end of July. I made it - I have swum 21 km(850 lengths - 10 lengths for each year of his life)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    .

Gordon started swimming after his bypass surgery October 1991 and continued swimming until less than a month before his death.  In spite of serious heart problems Gordon religiously went  swimming on average three times a week before breakfast with me joining him.  Gordon felt that the regular swimming helped him continuing with his varied activities until the end.  In the last few months of his life Gordon swam 20 lengths each time, and I 40 lengths (1km).  Hence my decision for Gordon’s memory to ask to be sponsored for swimming 20km.

Gordon was admitted to Addenbrooke’ s Hospital on the 4^th of April after suffering for two weeks from severe constipation.  Next day on Easter Sunday he had an emergency operation to remove an obstruction from his large intestine.  To our surprise, the obstruction was a primary bowel cancer.  He had no obvious signs of having cancer.  However, regardless of the successful operation and his good recovery Gordon died five days after the operation, probably as a result of kidney failure followed by heart failure.

Gordon’s death was a complete shock to us and his colleagues in Trinity college and in the department of Physics. He was fully active until the very end; writing a chapter for a book on the Physicists of Trinity which is due to be published. He was also acting as an unofficial curator of the Cavendish museum, where he continued developing exhibits that describe the great discoveries done in the laboratory, and lecturing to and guiding groups of visitors.

Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK and second most common cause of cancer death.  When bowel cancer is found early more than nine out of ten people survive, however, the symptoms are far from being  obvious.  I have decided to donate money to the Beating Bowel Cancer charity because it promotes awareness of the symptoms among the medical profession and the public, and is campaigning for an early diagnosis of bowel cancer through the new screening scheme to cover a wider range of men and women of all ages.

It is difficult to come to terms with Gordon not being with us any more; that he is not going to be next to me at Dan and Sarah’s wedding and that we are not going to celebrate our Ruby wedding anniversary in December.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.