Tina Rippin
The Walkers family's Personal Challenge to raise awareness and money for Prostate Cancer - Heres for you John / Dad.xx
Fundraising for PROSTATE CANCER UK
Story
Thanks for taking the time to visit my page.
Due to my Dad recently passing away, and family flowers only requested at funeral, this page will also now be used for anyone else wanting to donate to this charity. Flowers will wilt so we as a family wanted to put your kindness to promote this charity. If we are able to save just one life by raising money and awareness then we have done more than we could do for my Dad.
My personal Challenge is to do a solo skydive on 5th June 2011 in the hope of raising awareness and to raise money to find a cure of Prostate Cancer. I have already paid for the Skydive myself so every penny raised goes to charity.
The reason for this challenge:
As you may or may not know my Dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer in early 2010. It was confirmed at the time that this could not be cured, but he was told that it could be treated to slow down the growth of the tumour and that he will probably continue to lead a normal life. Unfortunately the cancer spread quite quickly and in Oct last year he lost feeling in his legs which led to an emergency operation.
The findings were that the tumour had wrapped around his spinal cord and crushed it. He now has a metal rod in place of his spinal cord and it has also resulted in him being permanently paralysed from the waist down.
My Dad is 72 years of Age and should now still be enjoying his retirement with my Mum, but instead due to his inability to walk and with the Stage 4 pressure sore (bed Sore) he gained whilst in the hospital he is confined to his bed. He has carers 4 times a day along with the district nurse and is prone to infections due to his low immune system.
It is really frustrating because had the symptoms been recognised early on then action could have been taken and he may now be living a near normal life. I feel very strongly about promoting this cause due the effect it has had on all my family and mainly due to the pain and suffering my Dad is going through. Every time i think about the way that his life has turned out brings me to tears, especially due to this inability to even walk.
Update 08/05/11 Dad not doing too well, Cancer seems to have gone to his brain and to his organ's. He has not been able to go in his wheelchair since coming home from hospital just before Christmas and we do not think that he will now. He sleeps 90% of the time and is confused when he is awake the 10% of the time. My Skydive is just 4 weeks away and I still have a long way to go to hit my target.
Update 03/06/11 My Dad slipped into a coma early hours Tuesday 24th May 2011. On the advice of the nurse my Mum was asked to call all her children as my Dad had as little as 24 hours to live. Amazingly My Dad lasted another 8 days, even without having anything to eat or drink for these 8 days and developing pneumonia.
He finally passed away Tuesday 31st May at 8.42pm at home. My Mum, a carer Caroline and i were with him. He went very peacefully and finally he was pain free. My Dad suffered so much and i can not believe how the constant mishaps by the General and LRI hospital delayed any treatment that could have helped. Once the issue of my dads pressure sore was addressed The staff at Ward 17 at LRI were faultless but unfortunately the whole system had let him down badly.
Update 04/06/11 Carried out sky dive training along with my friend Anita. It was such a long and intense day but i think we got it in the end, well we passed anyway. Unfortunately due to the weather conditions we may not be able to jump tomorrow and have to check at 8am in the morning
Update 05/06/11 Weather conditions prohibiting jump today so we have resceduled for Saturday 18th June 2011 which is my Dad's birthday.
Many Many Thanks again for looking and if you or someone you know has any of the symptoms below, please please please get it checked out by your doctor before it gets too late to treat and please do not leave it until your 70's like the facts say as by then it will probably be at the latter stages.
Some Facts:
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men.
Prostate cancer mainly affects men over the age of 50 and your risk increases with age. The average age for men to be diagnosed with prostate cancer is between 70 and 74 years. If you are under 50 then your risk of getting prostate cancer is very low. Younger men can be affected, but this is rare.
Symptoms to look out for include:
· Needing to urinate more often, especially at night - for example if you often need to go again after two hours
· Difficulty starting to pass urine.
· Straining or taking a long time to finish urinating
· A weak flow of urine
· A feeling that your bladder has not emptied properly
· Needing to rush to the toilet - you may occasionally leak urine before you get there
· Dribbling urine
I want to die like my father, peacefully in his sleep, not screaming and terrified, like his passengers.
Funny Quote by Bob Monkhouse who succumbed to Prostate cancer and died on 29th December 2003.
The list below is of some of the famous men who have had prostate cancer.
James Brown: The Godfather of Soul was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2004 but survived. He died of heart failure in 2006.
Robert DeNiro: The Academy Award winner was diagnosed with early-stage cancer in 2003 at the age of 60. He has kept details of his treatment private. His father died of prostate cancer at the age of 71.
Alec Guinness: While battling glaucoma, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in January 2000. In July 2000, he was diagnosed with advanced liver cancer and died a month later on August 5, 2000.
Nelson Mandela: Diagnosed in 2001 with early-stage cancer. He underwent seven weeks of radiotherapy and made a full recovery.
Roger Moore: The former 007 was successfully treated with surgery in 1993.
Laurence Olivier: Diagnosed in 1967 and underwent radiation treatment that successfully eradicated the cancer.
Telly Savalas: The "Kojak" star died of the disease in 1994 at the age of 70.
Earl Woods: Tiger Woods' father was diagnosed in 1998 and successfully treated with radiation, but the cancer returned more aggressively in 2004. Woods died on May 3, 2006 at the age of 74.
Frank Zappa: Died of complications from the disease on December 4, 1993 at the age of 52.
If you can afford to donate to my challenge, even if it just £1 then i am sure that your money will be put to good use by the Charity. Even if my challenge raises nothing but awareness i will be more than happy with this.