The Reason Why
I am trying to raise as much as possible for MacMillan cancer trust by doing a 10,000 ft skydive on 6th April 2013.
The reason behind me doing this is because, in March 2012, my dad Andrew Thornton was diagnosed with throat cancer which needed six and a half weeks treatment of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, during this time I took him up to Poole 5 days a week for the whole duration.  I saw and experienced everything dad went through, the burns, ulcers, lack of energy and being unable to eat.  Without the support from Macmillan dad and our family had through the treatment, I really don't think we would have coped, they were fantastic.

 Half way through the treatment for dads neck we all received bad news that tests have shown that dad has 3 cancerous tumours on his liver.  Unfortunately he had no choice but to wait for one month after the treatment has stopped for his throat before they could start on his liver.  Every option dad was given was very dangerous and it was never going to be a cure.  The operation that he decided to undergo was a tace operation.  This is basically inserting chemo beads into the blood flow which supplies the Tumours which should then shrink them but not fully get rid of them.  Throughout this dad and the family was in constant touch with MacMillan and the guidance they gave us helped us so much to carry on with hope that everything was going to be alright.

On dads birthday 11th July he finally finished his treatment for his neck. We all thought originally that would have been the hardest thing he would have to do but with the support system we all got through it with a good mind set.
On 15th august dad went into Bournemouth hospital to undergo the first tace operation, the doctors decided because of his body has been through a lot with treatment already they would only do one tumour then another operation to do the two remaining tumours. After an anxious 4 hours dad came out of the operation with no complications, he returned home the day after and unfortunately he got an infection which thankfully was treated with antibiotics, he recovered well from the operation.
In September we received news that his throat cancer has now gone, that was the best news we could have asked for.  It just lifted all our spirits.
Wed 15th Oct 2012 dad went into Bournemouth hospital for his last treatment on his liver the final two tumours, he came home the day after the operation feeling well, on that Saturday 20 Oct he was admitted into Dorchester hospital from having a severe infection, from that point on things only got worse for dad and the family.  He went into intensive care on a life support machine battling from not only cancer but septicaemia, multi – organ failure, ecoli in the blood amongst other things. 25 Oct dad was taken off of life support, even though he was very confused with everything, the family never thought this day would come where we would see dad smile, talk and hold our hands again. Things started looking up.

Dad was released from Dorchester hospital 12 November and got to come home, he was still in a lot of pain but he was over the moon to be home.

On Monday 19 November 2012 my dad, Andrew Clive Thornton 58years old passed away at Dorchester hospital after being admitted that same morning he passed away from a haemorrhage.

My dad did not get the chance to say thank you to MacMillan for all their support and help that they provided throughout his illness and for the support they gave us after dad passed away. Dad always called me his precious little girl so I am going to say thank you on his behalf, I feel that this is the perfect way to say thank you and help them carry on supporting other families like ours.

I would like to say thank you to everyone for supporting me and giving a little to a well-deserved charity.