Marina Lois
In Memory Of John Austins
Fundraising for Hospice of the Valleys
Story
From Steve:
My dad, John Austins - Occa to his friends - passed away on Wednesday 13th December. He had turned 73 just eleven days before.
Dad lived an active life. He was a second tenor in the Tredegar Orpheus Male Voice Choir, a demon bowler for Bedwellty Park Bowls Club, a Cardiff City season ticket holder, a member of the Moose Lodge, and grower of kidney beans and lettuces at Vale View Allotments since 1975. And he started 2017 no differently. He was a fit as a fiddle (albeit a fiddle with arthritis in both feet) and by the start of May had been on holiday twice, watched Frankie Valli at the O2 and had helped celebrate both Marina’s 40th and Mam’s 70th.
However, by the middle of May he started to feel something wrong in his gullet. By the middle of July we knew it was cancer. By August, terminal cancer. By September, we knew he wasn’t strong enough for the chemo needed to hold it at bay. After that it was a matter of time.
But by god did he fight it. When he left Velindre at the end of September, the expectation was that he’d last a few weeks. And yet he nearly saw out 12 weeks at home. Enough time to see his beloved Bluebirds flying high at the top of the Championship. Not that they ever won on Sky.
We have been truly humbled by the love, care and support Dad received in his final days: from the team at Velindre, the community nurses, his small team of carers. Co-ordinating that care in the last three months were the fantastic team at the Hospice of the Valleys who ensured he did not suffer in those final days and nights.
Mam and I also feel humbled by the outpouring of sympathy and offers of help from all our family and friends over the last few days. Dad's funeral will be on Friday 22nd December at St George's Church in Tredegar, where they got married back in 1973.
In lieu of flowers, we would love you to help support those who have supported us through the last few months - in order to make sure other families are able to benefit from the love and support of the Hospice of the Valleys for years to come.