Adrian’s Story

Adrian is no stranger to St Joseph’s, having fundraised for the Hospice around 20 years ago as part of the Mee Gang, a group of friends  who used to dress up as gun toting cowboys. Adrian once ate a bucket of baked beans outside the town hall and raised £1,000 for the Hospice. He was also one of our volunteer receptionists many years ago.

Adrian had a long career as a Telephonist, one of two official Trainers in his department, receiving many written and verbal commendations and regarded highly as one of the top Operators.

In 2017, Adrian was enjoying life as a pedicab operator, he could happily carry three passengers and had been pretty fit and healthy his whole life. But he started to feel tired, often only working for an hour before needing to rest.

He put off going to the GP but eventually his partner Jacqueline persuaded him to go and he was referred to the hospital for tests. Adrian received a devastating diagnosis; he had prostate cancer which had spread to his bones and was told that while it was treatable with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, it couldn’t be cured. His prognosis was 4-7 years.

Adrian has coped well with his illness and been under the care of St Joseph’s for around 3 and a half years, having requested a referral from his GP. In the last few months he has had a lot of pain in his legs, arms and back and he now comes in every month to see Marianne and Gary in the nursing team in the Outpatient Clinic. They ensure he has the correct dose of morphine to control his pain, and provide him with the opportunity to share any new symptoms or worries. He also has physiotherapy sessions with Hannah to help with his movement. He feels that the team at St Joseph’s have really supported him and have been with him every step of the way, and for that he is really grateful.

Adrian finds the support invaluable,and with his pain now under control is able to carry on with his many hobbies, one of which is making working models for war games. He likes to visit the theatre with Jacqueline and their son Marcus, and he listens to many different genres of music, having been a Punk Rocker and a Mod in his younger days. He is still pretty dapper and likes to wear a suit when he goes out.

Perhaps Adrian’s biggest passion apart from creative pursuits and music, is poetry. He is a prolific writer whose poems reflect his cancer journey, and writes in a way that he hopes will inspire others who may be in the same situation.

Adrian’s final wishes are to formally marry Jacqueline, and when the time comes to spend his remaining days as an impatient at St Joseph’s. His third wish has been achieved with the publication of his book, THROUGH ONYX VOIDS, a lifelong dream that has finally been fulfilled. 10% of all sales will be donated to St Joseph’s Hospice.

You can read one of Adrian’s poems here: