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Robert was diagnosed with Lymphoma of the abdomen shortly after his 41st birthday in January 2010.  He went through R-chop then R-ice chemotherapy in Queens hospital to reduce the tumour which seemed to be successful before finishing off the treatment with high dose BEAM and a stem cell transplant in Barts.  Sadly within months the Lymphoma had returned and was very aggressive.  Rob's bone marrow hadn't regenerated properly and although he had radiotherapy the Lymphoma was unable to be controlled without further chemo which he was just too ill to take.

Rob was transferred to St Francis Hospice and died peacefully there at 8.05pm on the 3rd December 2010.  He liked it there and the Hospice did everything they could to make him as comfortable as possible.

Rob will be very sadly missed by myself his wife, his family and his very many friends.  I know he would be happy if instead of flowers a donation could be made to St Francis Hospice, as it was a charity he previously raised money for through his marathons.

Please consider a donation for this very worthy cause.  Thank you very much.

 

UPDATE 23rd Dec.

Thank you very much for all your generous donations online and off and thanks too for all those who managed to attend Rob's funeral on 22nd Dec.  For anyone who couldn't make it this was Rob's Eulogy.  I had trouble keeping it condensed as I found I could have written loads more:-

 

Rob was a very charming and funny man, but with an underlying naivety as to the affect he had on people, not appreciating that so many people liked him. He could be a cheerful cheeky chap, quick witted with a dry, sarcastic and self-deprecating sense of humour, which, during his illness could make you laugh and cry at the same time. When he was offered a special treat by his chemotherapy nurse from a Cancer Charity, he wondered whether he was ill enough and asked whether it was compulsory to die in the end in order to qualify!  I can only imagine what he would think about a lovely big food hamper arriving for him the day after he departed from the Cancer Charity!  Rob could appear outgoing, self confident, professional and organised, but he was also a sensitive, caring, generous and loving family man who adored his four cats. He enjoyed helping people and raised money through his marathons for St Francis Hospice and fundraising events for Pussycat Lodge Trust.

 

Apart from his family, friends and cats his other main love was football and he enjoyed nothing better than visiting some obscure football ground he’d never been to before, so he could tick it off his list.  As part of his job involved travelling, he found business trips very useful in order to tick off some of these grounds.  He could fit football around anything and would be willing to go anywhere if it involved a new ground.  On occasions he transported animals in need from one place to another, cats, kittens, a dog and a pigeon which had lost it’s way from Birmingham to Brentwood.  Rob affectionately named it Piggles and we later found this was no ordinary homing pigeon, but a performing one, trained to do mid air backward somersaults!  So Rob took Piggles home, then went to a new football ground.  To demonstrate his dedication to the game this is what he wrote on a football forum the day before announcing to his family he had cancer:-   “I have had some bad health news this week and my family are rallying round me tomorrow morning.  However, if I can escape by 2pm it will be Cottons Park for a Romford & District League game and a new ground ….”

 

We also shared a love of real ale, something we hadn’t known about until it was mentioned in one of our marriage preparation meetings, so we have our Deacon to thank for that!  We both became CAMRA members and Rob and I enjoyed tasting new beers.  Rob would track down any beer I became fond of.  Nothing made him happier than seeing me enjoy something.

Rob was a very brave man who endured over 10 months of treatment in his fight against Lymphoma.  He never gave up and was rarely upset or angry,  in fact his Dr’s found him annoyingly calm as he accepted everything they said with “ok” or “fine”.  He just got on with it and tried to live his life as normally as possible.  His greatest fear was to leave me and he often apologised for being ill.  I can only pray for the same courage to live my life without him.

We are all devastated to loose Rob so young.  He was my best friend and husband.  He also leaves behind his devoted mother Jean, and loving sisters Val, Ellen, Shirley, Linda, Jane and his brother Tom, who has been looking after all of us.  By your attendance today I hope we can show Rob what a very popular and much loved person he was and together be able to celebrate his life.  Thank you very much for coming, for your love, support and your generous donations to St Francis Hospice.

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