On November 3rd 2006 something was wrong with Dennis. At first we thought he had he was sick from the sickness bug that he contracted. Then he needed re-hydration after consulting our local GP. That night in hospital as I lay by his bed side, Dennis took another turn that would change our lives forever. While in hospital he was rushed to the scanning department where it was confirmed he had a brain tumour. Immediate surgery to implant a shunt was performed and plans were being drawn up for surgery down in Edinburgh. In 24 hours our lives spiralled out of control and everything was dropped to focus our efforts on our 3 and half year old boy.
Dennis hardly had time to recover from the shunt surgery when he was transferred to Edinburgh for brain surgery to remove the pineal blastoma. Surgery took most of the day and we were told that the tumour was grade 4 and they couldn’t remove all of it. The prognosis was bad and we had to then deal with imminent chemotherapy treatments that were predicted to offer only a slim chance.
We fought to get Dennis to take the treatment back in Aberdeen and this started shortly after he had recovered from his major brain surgery. The chemotherapy started and he had difficult times with this. He was taken to high dependency unit with slim chances of surviving after the heavy dose chemotherapy hit him hard.
However, Dennis started to fight back and gradually he showed signs of recovery. This was a revelation for us to see our boy come back and did he ever. Once we got him home on Christmas Eve, things really started to pick up and will always be our most special of Christmas’s. Dennis started to laugh again, to walk again, but he always had the love for his family (especially his brother Steven).
The recovery was short lived however, when he started to have seizures again and was re-admitted back to hospital. He gradually started to succumb to the cancer once more and was eventually transferred to Edinburgh once more. We lost our dear boy some 10 days later. The whole family were with him when he passed and was peaceful.
Our love for Dennis continues and will forever more. We are delighted and honoured to be a part of Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust and to have our very own Umbrella Group in Dennis’ honour. Dennis was an incredible fighter, who showed so much inspiration to so many and humbled so many with the love he showed even in the worst of times. In his honor, we will continue to fight for him as he would have and to strike back at Brain Cancer.
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Fundraising
Our dear friend, Mike Moore ran the annual Baker Hughes 10k run in Aberdeen on behalf of Dennis’ Fund. Mike has raised a fantastic amount of £631. We are very proud of his achievement, thank you so much.
Mike Moore, second from the left with the vest on
Skydive
Myself, Kath Beattie, Paul Newberry, Barry Webster, Mark Ballantyne and Diane Hay travelled to Strathallan, Perthshire at the weekend to repeat our past, weather cancelled, tandem skydives. On the day, the weather was initially overcast and not looking very promising, however we were told that there was due to be a break at some point. It did and we were called to suit up. Barry and I went first and seemed like forever to get up to altitude (just over 8000 ft). The next few steps seemed like a blur with the initial free fall being an intense experience. The main shute was deployed and several G’s later was then able to appreciate the fantastic views. We all had a bit of a go at the controls and did a bit of steering, but the instructors took over for the landing and most important of all nobody was injured on landing.
I’d personally like to thank both companies and individuals for sponsoring us all on this event. It looks like we have raised close to £6000 for this jump alone and hopefully BP will match some of that also!! I truly am overwhelmed by the degree of support that so many have shown in support of our son’s charity. I am delighted to inform that now we have eclipsed £ 35,000 raised in our son’s honour.
Stan
