The news about Dad

The sad news today is that, in the early afternoon, my Dad Ian Sutherland died after a short time enduring cancer. 

  Anyone who knows or met him should be pleased to know he died peacefully in his sleep, and at home in Windmill Gardens. He had expressly wanted not to go into a hospital because they were "full of sick people". In the last few days a hospital bed was moved into the back room, Dad's piano room, and that was where he passed away. He was only diagnosed earlier this year and from the first news has approached the situation in his usual matter-of-fact way. He refused chemotherapy and other treatments, wanting his remaining time to be lived at home and enjoyed in as normal a way as possible, and it was. Until very recently he has been gardening, golfing and socialising, and I am pleased that the last time I saw him he was, to all appearances, his usual self. He had been describing himself as living on "borrowed time" ever since surviving a heart attack five years ago which, had it happened on the golf course rather than at home, would have finished him off then. He joked about the fact that this would be his last Christmas, sadly it won't even be that, and he was very appreciative of the fact that he'd lasted longer than his own Dad (Dick died aged 72, Ian made it to 79). He would not, I'm sure, want anyone to be sad for him. He was, after all, someone who dedicated his time to entertaining other people and making them happy, so we should all be happy that, to the last possible moment, he did just that. Our thoughts should be with Mum, Corral, who Jude is with now and who I'll join to help at the weekend. Kev F Sutherland Dec 9 2010