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Austin Macauley Publishers - Pam Weston

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80 pages

English

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Having your father die and your mother come to live with you is bad enough, especially when she is diagnosed with cancer. How will you manage with her in your house? What about organising all the support she needs? How do you balance her needs against a growing number of grandchildren? Then just when you think you've got it covered, you find a lump in your own breast... This is one woman's true story of what happened to her.

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Lettres et linguistique

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Publié par	Austin Macauley Publishers
Date de parution	31 janvier 2020
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781528972581
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0175€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Mum, Me and Cancer
Pam Weston
Austin Macauley Publishers
2020-01-31
Mum, Me and Cancer About the Author Dedication Copyright Information © Acknowledgment Chapter 1 Goodnight, God Bless Chapter 2 Home from Home Chapter 3 Bad Habits Chapter 4 Diagnosis Chapter 5 The Good Life Chapter 6 Downward Slide Tuesday, 15 December 2015 Thursday, 17 December Friday, 18 December Monday, 21 December Sunday, 27 December Thursday, 31 December Friday, 1 January 2016 Thursday, 7 January Sunday, 10 January Tuesday, 12 January Chapter 7 Recovery Thursday, 14 January Saturday, 16 January Sunday, 17 January Tuesday, 19 January Thursday, 21 January Sunday, 24 January Tuesday, 26 January Wednesday, 27 January Thursday, 28 January Monday, 1 February Tuesday, 2 February Thursday, 4 February Chapter 8 The Lull Before the Storm Tuesday, 16 February Wednesday, 17 February Saturday, 20 February Wednesday, 24 February Chapter 9 Fecking Chemo Thursday, 25 February Friday, 26 February Monday, 29 February Tuesday, 1 March Wednesday, 2 March Thursday, 3 March Sunday, 6 March – Mothers’ Day Friday, 11 March Sunday, 13 March Chapter 10 More Fecking Chemo Thursday, 24 March Saturday, 26 March Tuesday, 29 March Chapter 11 Anyone for T Sunday, 1 May – Dad’s Birthday Tuesday, 3 May Thursday, 5 May Chapter 12 Radio Ga Ga Thursday, 23 June Sunday, 26 June Tuesday, 28 June Thursday, 30 June Saturday, 2 July Wednesday, 6 July Sunday, 10 July Monday, 11 July Saturday, 16 July Thursday, 21 July Saturday, 23 July Thursday, 28 July Monday, 15 August Friday, 19 August Chapter 13 What Pam Did Next Saturday, 20 August Monday, 22 August Sunday, 28 August Wednesday, 31 August Friday, 2 September Tuesday, 6 September Saturday, 10 September Saturday, 17 September Sunday, 18 September Tuesday, 27 September Saturday, 8 October Sunday, 23 October Thursday, 3 November Friday, 18 November Tuesday, 6 December Saturday, 17 December Tuesday, 20 December Thursday, 29 December Chapter 14 I’ve Had My Life Chapter 15 Legacies
About the Author
Pam Weston was born in London in 1952. After an early childhood illness, she experienced a loving, working-class childhood with her brother and parents. Pam married in 1972 and had a daughter in 1986. Following divorce two years later, Pam met her partner Keith and his two girls. They set up home and have been together ever since. Pam and Keith were both successful teachers before retiring. They now have four grandchildren, who keep them busy. This is Pam’s first book inspired by events that took place between 2014 and 2019.
Dedication
For my family
Albert Haynes – 1924–2014
Winifred Haynes – 1924–2017
Derek Haynes – 1949–2019
Keith, Ellie, Emma, Amy and my lovely grandchildren
Copyright Information ©
Pam Weston (2020)
The right of Pam Weston to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781528950176 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781528950183 (Hardback)
ISBN 9781528972581 (ePub e-book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2020)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LQ
Acknowledgment
Thanks to everyone who encouraged me to write this book. Especially Juliet, who was my first reader.
Chapter 1

Goodnight, God Bless
When I heard the phone ring as I was showering at our B&B on the Isle of Wight, I knew. My partner, Keith, and I were on our annual pilgrimage to the scooter rally. It was Monday, August Bank Holiday in 2014 and we were up getting ready to catch the early ferry back. We had arrived on Friday with our friends. Keith had ridden across on the back of our friend Dave’s 1960s scooter while Marie and I had driven over in the back-up car with our luggage and the emergency breakdown kit; 1960s scooters often break down! We set about having a good time.
Then on Saturday, my brother, Derek, had called from Lincolnshire to say that my dad had been admitted to hospital. This was not the first time this had happened. Dad, who was 90, had been in and out of hospital quite a bit in his long life but had always recovered. Derek reported that Mum had found him collapsed on the bedroom floor, the paramedics diagnosed him with pneumonia and he was on his way up to a ward. He had spent the day outside, clearing out weeds from his and his next-door neighbour’s driveway, probably using a teaspoon to dig them out! That was the sort of person my dad was. Once he set his mind to a job, he wouldn’t give up or ask for help. In other words, he was stubborn but lovely with it.
I guess Dad would have told those other patients all about his time in Norway, these stories were some of his favourites, he had loved his time there, never forgetting the kindness he had received. Dad had been sent to Norway after the Nazis had surrendered to decommission all of their vehicles. He had never been abroad so he found it exciting and very different. He was stationed just outside Oslo on a RAF camp which is where Oslo airport is now. He had never seen mountains except on his journeys to and from the Orkneys. He was amazed by the beauty of the fjords and the forests.
As a young man, he was curious about the place and its people. One day he decided to take a walk round a residential area, he saw a middle-aged woman sweeping her path and decided to try out his smattering of Norwegian, he said, “God Morgen,” and so began a friendship between two families that would stretch across years. The woman spoke back but Dad couldn’t understand her Norwegian and she spoke no English but she pointed to her watch to Dad and to her house and he guessed she was asking him to return a little later, he nodded. When he returned, he found the whole family there including a daughter who could speak English. The family were so grateful to be alive and free that they insisted on adopting Dad, he was made one of the family. I have photos of Dad dressed in the civilian clothes they gave him, a patterned jumper, corduroy trousers and a warm shirt. He topped this with his greatcoat.
As well as clothes they shared food with him. One Sunday he arrived early for lunch as instructed he went to fetch the meat, outside in the snow were several small sticks, when he pulled on one of the sticks a string came up and on the end was a piece of frozen meat which was placed in the oven. Dad said it was the best pork he had tasted until he was told it was whale! Each week he would visit and join in with the family and their friends, people would be invited specially to honour him.
Dad wanted to do something in return for this family who had been through hell and back. Their son, who had joined the resistance had had to flee to Sweden after his best friend had been shot jumping from his hiding place in the roof space of his family home. This family’s son had come back but many hadn’t. People had lived in fear, cowed by their circumstances, now they were coming alive again, picking up the pieces of their lives. Dad wanted to make a difference in some small way and his chance came quite quickly. On about his third visit the family had realised that he was a mechanic so he was taken into one of the outhouses, here covered in a blanket with lots of boxes piled on top, he found a hidden car. The family had kept it secret throughout the war so that it wouldn’t be taken away and used by the enemy. They asked Dad if he could get it started. The rubbish and coverings were stripped off and Dad lifted the bonnet, he started laughing thinking they were playing a joke on him, there was no engine! Then the daughter took him to another outhouse and there scattered amongst several boxes he saw the engine all in pieces, the spark plugs in one, the starter motor in another, he then smiled it was just the sort of challenge he loved. Gradually after each of his visits the car was taking shape, one day the family gathered round while Dad started it, black smoke blew out of the exhaust but it was working. The family’s first trip was with Dad to the Swedish border which they crossed for the first time for years, here they bought cigarettes and luxury goods not found in Norway, Dad told me everyone sang songs on the way back celebrating this new found freedom.
When he left Norway, Dad kept in touch with his Norwegian family. I loved it when the God Yul card would arrive addressed to us all. Somehow later they lost touch Dad really regretted this, then suddenly the grandson of the woman he had first met contacted Dad out of the blue, he had used the internet to find Dad and Mum and just turned up at their house. From then on, he visited Mum and Dad annually sharing stories his mother had told him and Dad would match these with his own. When my daughter visited Norway years later, she met younger members of the family who had all been told about a man called Bert who built a car from hundreds of pieces!
Later, my brother was able to reassure me that he was already improving and had told Derek that I mustn’t rush up. This was typical of Dad, thinking about me and not wanting me to be driving all that way for no good reason. The next day, we heard that he was entertaining the staff and other patients with long-winded, funny stories! He told stories of how he grew up in London during the 20s, 30s and 40s. How as a young man he was always out to beat the system and make a bit of money alongside his younger brother, Bill. He spoke of his time in the RAF, especially the time he spent in Norway and then how he beca