For Our Daddy
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Our daddy, Bernard Venus was diagnosed with a brain tumour Glioblastoma Stage 4 - which is a very aggressive type of brain cancer on the 16th November 2018. He was given a prognosis of 12-16 months. He had surgery to remove majority of the tumour. From then on he’s had treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy along with constant MRI scans. After treatments although he wasn’t allowed to go back to work he carried on living a new normal life at home.
On November 2020, after an MRI scan showed his tumour had grown it meant having another surgery like before to remove some of it. Because this was the pandemic time we were not allowed to be with him. The surgery was somewhat successful however there were complications that resulted in him having his whole right side of the body paralysed. This meant that he was coming home to be bed bound. They said his prognosis was going to be 3 months and once again he’s beaten all odds. From then on he was cared for at home with carers but was full time cared for by me, mum, my brother & little sister. We would do his food throughout the day as well as change his pads in the evening. I was fortunate enough to work from home which meant I could look after him all day everyday. During these times, he was bed bound all the time but had some occasions of being moved to the chair until he couldn’t anymore. He was still in & out of hospital for different reasons like his gall bladder, stomach etc. Each time was treated and he would return home. As time went on, we all had a new normal life of caring for dad at home. Although he wasn’t getting any better, we are grateful to have spent this long with him. The last few months he slowly has started to get worse like started to lose his speech, not being able to open one eye, having to be fed and was overall not as responsive.
On the 25th June 2022, he was taken to hospital. The doctors said he has an infection in the gall bladder that would need surgery but because of how unwell dad is they wouldn’t do it on him because he will have a hard time recovering. They kept him in there for 2 weeks for some antibiotics and IV fluids as he had started to struggle with swallowing. He is now on an end of life palliative care with Farleighs Hospice. We now have dad at home, hardly responsive and has stopped swallowing completely which means he’s not having any food or water. He has now been given a syringe driver so he’s not in any pain. We are now spending every second with him, holding his hand, constantly talking to him, telling him jokes and talking about happy memories. He has beaten every odds that was given to him and has fought for so long so the only thing we want now is that he is comfortable and pain free.
Since being diagnosed and not being able to work, although me & my brother have jobs ourselves, mum has stepped in to provide for us financially as well as supported us through everything. It is my dad’s as well as our desire to lay him to rest in the Philippines, our home country. So we would really appreciate any amount to go towards the services that will be needed for dad, to help mum out with all the expenses.
On November 2020, after an MRI scan showed his tumour had grown it meant having another surgery like before to remove some of it. Because this was the pandemic time we were not allowed to be with him. The surgery was somewhat successful however there were complications that resulted in him having his whole right side of the body paralysed. This meant that he was coming home to be bed bound. They said his prognosis was going to be 3 months and once again he’s beaten all odds. From then on he was cared for at home with carers but was full time cared for by me, mum, my brother & little sister. We would do his food throughout the day as well as change his pads in the evening. I was fortunate enough to work from home which meant I could look after him all day everyday. During these times, he was bed bound all the time but had some occasions of being moved to the chair until he couldn’t anymore. He was still in & out of hospital for different reasons like his gall bladder, stomach etc. Each time was treated and he would return home. As time went on, we all had a new normal life of caring for dad at home. Although he wasn’t getting any better, we are grateful to have spent this long with him. The last few months he slowly has started to get worse like started to lose his speech, not being able to open one eye, having to be fed and was overall not as responsive.
On the 25th June 2022, he was taken to hospital. The doctors said he has an infection in the gall bladder that would need surgery but because of how unwell dad is they wouldn’t do it on him because he will have a hard time recovering. They kept him in there for 2 weeks for some antibiotics and IV fluids as he had started to struggle with swallowing. He is now on an end of life palliative care with Farleighs Hospice. We now have dad at home, hardly responsive and has stopped swallowing completely which means he’s not having any food or water. He has now been given a syringe driver so he’s not in any pain. We are now spending every second with him, holding his hand, constantly talking to him, telling him jokes and talking about happy memories. He has beaten every odds that was given to him and has fought for so long so the only thing we want now is that he is comfortable and pain free.
Since being diagnosed and not being able to work, although me & my brother have jobs ourselves, mum has stepped in to provide for us financially as well as supported us through everything. It is my dad’s as well as our desire to lay him to rest in the Philippines, our home country. So we would really appreciate any amount to go towards the services that will be needed for dad, to help mum out with all the expenses.
Organizer
Jullia Venus
Organizer
England