In Aug 2015, Okkie woke up to severe pain in his abdomen, he was admitted to hospital and after 11 days was diagnosed with a perforated bowel and sent home with antibiotics, sadly a week later the pain returned and once again was sent home with the same diagnosis and antibiotics. Sadly this happened a third time and Sue and Okkie demanded further tests. Surgery was required and it found that Okkie's bowel had perforated due to a cancerous tumour on his colon. In Nov 2015 he had a foot of his colon removed along with 7 lymph nodes, he was also given a stoma. The consultant also recommended 6 rounds of chemotherapy to eliminate cancerous cells remaining. Despite Okkie having adverse reactions to the chemotherapy he battled on.
Once the chemo had ended Sue & Okkie relaxed happy in the knowledge that they had won and the cancer was gone. Their happiness however was short lived.
One morning Okkie woke to a severe pain in his foot, he was taken to hospital for a scan which showed blood clots. Devastatingly the scan also showed that the cancer had spread through the lymph nodes & he had 3 further tumours in and outside his stomach and under his rib cage. The consultant told him without further treatment they were looking at a survival rate of perhaps a month or so but with chemotherapy they could buy him more time. Okkie bravely made the decision to fight on knowing how ill the chemo would make him.
In Aug 2016 Okkie asked made the best decision of his life in asking Sue to be his wife..luckily for him she said yes.
Doctors have informed them in Aug 2016 that his life expectancy is under 12 months in, but their dream is to spend the time they have as husband and wife but sadly due to his illness they are not in a position to fund this themselves.
Sue & Okkie are the kindest people I have ever met & deserve this to be a reality so we are trying to raise funds to make it happen so if anyone could donate however little or their time or services we can make this happen!