grahame
Senior Retro Guru
Some of you may remember my friend, John Stevenson from his days in the '80s and 90's as Deputy Editor at MBUK.
About 18 months ago we learned that John had advanced bowel and liver cancer and was going to need some pretty aggressive treatment to have any chance of survival. He had a section of bowel removed (and a Stoma fitted) followed by several rounds of chemo.
About a year ago he got married, had surgery to remove 5/8 of his liver and the prognosis looked good.
Unfortunately, the final "mop up" round of chemo didn't work, the liver cancer is back. A couple of months ago he was told it's going to kill him. His Oncologist won't subject him to any more chemo, because he's had so much that another round could lead to multiple organ failure and a horrible death. He has been told he can expect another 6 months or so of reasonable quality of life and then a pretty rapid decline.
He has taken some decisions. One is to change his name. He never got on with the stepdad whose surname he was given, and recently found out about his biological father. So he is now John Valentine, and has made contact with his family. Another is to sort through his massive stash of cycling stuff, and I've offered to help him. Some (the surprisingly small quantity) that he has an emotional attachment to, he's keeping. At least for now. Most of the more modern stuff is going to a charity that refurbishes bikes to provide to people who need, but can't afford, one. Some retro pieces of garbage/treasure (it's all perspective, right?) I will be selling on his behalf. All the proceeds will go to Cancer Research UK. So please be prepared to pay a reasonable price if we turn up anything you need.
There will be an occasional series of threads in the For Sale section as and when we make progress.
About 18 months ago we learned that John had advanced bowel and liver cancer and was going to need some pretty aggressive treatment to have any chance of survival. He had a section of bowel removed (and a Stoma fitted) followed by several rounds of chemo.
About a year ago he got married, had surgery to remove 5/8 of his liver and the prognosis looked good.
Unfortunately, the final "mop up" round of chemo didn't work, the liver cancer is back. A couple of months ago he was told it's going to kill him. His Oncologist won't subject him to any more chemo, because he's had so much that another round could lead to multiple organ failure and a horrible death. He has been told he can expect another 6 months or so of reasonable quality of life and then a pretty rapid decline.
He has taken some decisions. One is to change his name. He never got on with the stepdad whose surname he was given, and recently found out about his biological father. So he is now John Valentine, and has made contact with his family. Another is to sort through his massive stash of cycling stuff, and I've offered to help him. Some (the surprisingly small quantity) that he has an emotional attachment to, he's keeping. At least for now. Most of the more modern stuff is going to a charity that refurbishes bikes to provide to people who need, but can't afford, one. Some retro pieces of garbage/treasure (it's all perspective, right?) I will be selling on his behalf. All the proceeds will go to Cancer Research UK. So please be prepared to pay a reasonable price if we turn up anything you need.
There will be an occasional series of threads in the For Sale section as and when we make progress.
