Support Les’s Bucket List: A Para’s Final Mission

Hi, I’m Julie, and I’ve created this page on behalf of my best friend’s husband, Les Standish, a man who has faced more battles in life than most of us can imagine, and who continues to face them with extraordinary strength, humour, and courage.

Les is a former paratrooper who served in the Falklands War and later worked as a prison officer during the Strangeways riots. Over the past five years, he’s endured a relentless wave of health challenges: joint replacements, repeated infections, COPD, a double stroke that left him partially blind, and most recently, stage 4 secondary liver cancer following a previous bowel cancer diagnosis.

Despite everything, Les has continued to fight with the same spirit that saw him through war zones and prison riots. Just recently, we all had hope when surgery looked like it might offer a lifeline, but heartbreaking news came when doctors said the risk was simply too great. Les was given a prognosis of 18 months to 2 years.

True to form, Les isn’t giving up. He’s now focused on making the absolute most of the time he has left, building a bucket list filled not with luxuries, but with moments, days out, experiences he’s dreamed of, and precious time with those he loves.

I’ve set up this fundraiser to help Les create as many of those memories as possible. If you feel moved to contribute, share, or simply send a kind word, it would mean the world to him and everyone who loves him.

Thank you for reading and for helping to make Les’s final mission one filled with joy, love, and life.