Terry and I were married for 26 happy years and our lives were everything and more than we could have wished for. 

Terry loved playing football for his local team where he progressed to management. As a family we would spend every weekend watching football, he also loved golf, and going racing.  He may only have had a short life with us, but he was keen not to miss out on anything, he loved life with a passion. 

Terry was diagnosed with his first brain tumour in 1998 and luckily it was benign.  He had surgery to remove the tumour and in no time at all he was back to work as a stock taker, a job he enjoyed enormously. 

The next eight years passed very quickly – Terry was illness and symptom free and the whole family were very grateful and determined to live life to the full.

Then in the spring of 2004 Terry began to feel unwell and the old, familiar symptoms returned.  We received the most devastating news when a scan revealed the news we were dreading, the tumour had come back. 

Terry underwent his second brain operation.  Unfortunately there were complications due to the tumour having attached itself to a main blood vessel and could not be fully removed.  Tests showed that the tumour had changed from one that was benign to an aggressive grade III malignant tumour.

We were all so shocked, Terry was told his condition was now terminal.  He had six weeks of radiotherapy to try to prolong his life but the first scan after therapy showed the tumour had already grown. It began to affect his thought reasoning; behaviour and memory. 

Terry took it upon himself to pack in as much as possible – we went on a number of holidays but as the weeks passed, his health deteriorated and he lost movement down his right side and had to use a wheelchair, kindly loaned to us by Cookridge hospital, to get around. 

The fantastic thing was that there were always lots of Terry’s friends around – friends from football, golfing buddies, racing mates.  They took him out to cheer him up and to make sure that everyone enjoyed the time he had left, leaving everyone with such special memories which will stay with them forever.

Terry’s final wish was to have one last holiday with the people he loved and cared for.  There was a whole group of us including me, our sons Darren and Wayne, their partners Claire and Vicky, sister in law Sarah, our two nephews Lloyd and Danny and the apple of Terry’s eye, grandson Jayden.  We had such a wonderful time in Lanzarote, filled with both laughter and tears.

Over the next few months Terry’s health rapidly deteriorated and he underwent his third brain op in March 2006. Sadly the tumour had taken over his body and he spent his last three weeks of life in a five star hotel named St Gemma’s Hospice.  He was surrounded by his family who loved and cared for him so much.

He passed away on 7th April 2006 aged 48.

Terry’s laughter and sense of humour through his illness carried us all through, his strength in facing this disease was an inspiration to his family, friends and everyone who knew him.

He was strong for the boys and for me and he managed it with great dignity and courage. He filled our lives with so much love and happiness and did not once complain.  We now get our strength to carry on from Terry.

His golfing friends Paul Rennard and Paul Butler organised a golf day in Terry’s memory that raised an amazing £5,600 for Andrea’s Gift, £5,000 to support the Leeds based brain tumour research project and £600 to buy another lightweight wheelchair for patient’s use through Cookridge hospital.  Read Paul's tribute to Terry here.

Let’s hope they will do the same next year and one day we will see a cure for this disease that takes far too many special people from their families too early.

To conclude, I think that everyone needs someone who is loving, caring and true and through recent, painful times I have always been so grateful for the support I have received.  Support and love from our sons, Daz and Wayne, their partners Claire and Vicky, my sisters Sarah and Vivien and the rest of my family and our good friends who were there for both Terry and me and are still there, helping me through now.  I want to say thanks a million, I love you all.  Elaine xxx

Written by Elaine Hemingway, Terry’s wife