Vet' Grt.Grandad's Terminal Dream
Donation protected
My father, Barry W. Bailey, passed on the 2nd November 2016. He will be dearly missed and impossible to replace. I love you Pops.
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This is one of the hardest things to have to write. My father, Barry W. Bailey, has spent his life giving his everything to providing for his family and serving his country.
He served in the Staffordshire Regiment of the Army for most of his young life but through illness was retired. Still needing to provide for his family, he took a job in security that he quickly succeeded in to the point that he was running up and down the country 7 days a week ensuring that all sites were being run properly. This took a huge toll on his health and eventually it got the better of him.
He had his first heart attack.
I still remember the feeling of panic I had as I saw my father behave very unusually. I was about 10 at the time so I didn’t understand what was going on. Little did we know that this was only the start of his problems.
He has suffered many illnesses through his life, but he has been consistently resilient in his fight to live. He has held his own against heart attacks, struggled with strokes, dealt with dementia, battled with his bladder and shrugged off sleep apnea.
He is a fighter and he never gives up, but last week, for the first time in my life, I saw fear in his eyes. We were sat in a spacious room in Walsall Manor Hospital with my father in the chair next to the specialist, my mother next to him, his best friend (and biochemist) stood by the door and myself sat opposite. She explained that it was worse than we thought and, with everything else he had been through, his body and heart were not strong enough for treatment.
Everything we had researched and looked into had been thrown out the window. My father looked me in the eyes, searching for a question that would unlock a solution the specialist had not considered. I had nothing to say and the pain of seeing that look in his eyes will haunt me for the rest of my days.
I am losing my father to one of the cruellest and most unforgiving illnesses known, cancer. To be more exact, he has fallen victim to primary oesophageal cancer and secondary liver cancer.
The proud, strong, caring and funny son, husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather that has been a hero for so many and for as long as I have been alive has been given just 3 to 6 months left to live.
As we are all aware, times in general are difficult for everyone at the moment and I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t really need your help. I would like to settle all my father’s finances and give him a long deserved holiday doing something that HE really wants to do, instead of tagging along on other people’s family holidays as the grandparent and spending uncomfortable nights in a run-down Pontins shack.
His dream is to go on a fishing holiday. I don’t know if we can do that without help, so please help me. If you can’t help then please share this plea, you might know someone who can.
Thank you all for your help, love and support during this time.
UPDATE
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Due to the decline in my father's health, he would be unable to go on a boat so we are settling for a fishing holiday at a lakeside lodge. This has been amended above.
Also, if you would like to donate off the site, please contact me direct by email for details:
[email redacted].
Thank you all so much for sharing and for all the kind words. It means so much to us all.
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This is one of the hardest things to have to write. My father, Barry W. Bailey, has spent his life giving his everything to providing for his family and serving his country.
He served in the Staffordshire Regiment of the Army for most of his young life but through illness was retired. Still needing to provide for his family, he took a job in security that he quickly succeeded in to the point that he was running up and down the country 7 days a week ensuring that all sites were being run properly. This took a huge toll on his health and eventually it got the better of him.
He had his first heart attack.
I still remember the feeling of panic I had as I saw my father behave very unusually. I was about 10 at the time so I didn’t understand what was going on. Little did we know that this was only the start of his problems.
He has suffered many illnesses through his life, but he has been consistently resilient in his fight to live. He has held his own against heart attacks, struggled with strokes, dealt with dementia, battled with his bladder and shrugged off sleep apnea.
He is a fighter and he never gives up, but last week, for the first time in my life, I saw fear in his eyes. We were sat in a spacious room in Walsall Manor Hospital with my father in the chair next to the specialist, my mother next to him, his best friend (and biochemist) stood by the door and myself sat opposite. She explained that it was worse than we thought and, with everything else he had been through, his body and heart were not strong enough for treatment.
Everything we had researched and looked into had been thrown out the window. My father looked me in the eyes, searching for a question that would unlock a solution the specialist had not considered. I had nothing to say and the pain of seeing that look in his eyes will haunt me for the rest of my days.
I am losing my father to one of the cruellest and most unforgiving illnesses known, cancer. To be more exact, he has fallen victim to primary oesophageal cancer and secondary liver cancer.
The proud, strong, caring and funny son, husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather that has been a hero for so many and for as long as I have been alive has been given just 3 to 6 months left to live.
As we are all aware, times in general are difficult for everyone at the moment and I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t really need your help. I would like to settle all my father’s finances and give him a long deserved holiday doing something that HE really wants to do, instead of tagging along on other people’s family holidays as the grandparent and spending uncomfortable nights in a run-down Pontins shack.
His dream is to go on a fishing holiday. I don’t know if we can do that without help, so please help me. If you can’t help then please share this plea, you might know someone who can.
Thank you all for your help, love and support during this time.
UPDATE
=======
Due to the decline in my father's health, he would be unable to go on a boat so we are settling for a fishing holiday at a lakeside lodge. This has been amended above.
Also, if you would like to donate off the site, please contact me direct by email for details:
[email redacted].
Thank you all so much for sharing and for all the kind words. It means so much to us all.
Organizer
Matthew Bailey
Organizer