So for those who don’t know me, I’m Daniel and on Monday November the 11th 2024 at precisely 4:16am, the world lost a true angel, my beautiful Fiancé Caroline, to colorectal cancer. My aim now is to raise as much money for Saint Francis Hospice as humanly possible, by walking Caroline’s ashes over 5000 miles, from the St Francis hospice in Romford, back to her hometown of Kumasi in Ghana to take her home, to rest. Please follow my journey as I endeavour to do so. And for now here’s a little back story to Caroline’s plight.
Caroline was rushed into hospital in the April 2021 with extreme abdominal pain. The doctors rushed her in for an emergency operation, due to the fact her bowel had ruptured. She was told if she had entered the hospital just a moment later, she would have died that very day. Thankfully though the surgeons managed to give her life saving surgery. She then had to do some tests, and was told by an oncology consultant at Queens Hospital Romford, that the tests results had shown, that not only did she have cancer of the bowel, but also cancer of the liver too. The consultant then proceeded to tell her that she only had 6 months to live. To which Caroline replied “no I will beat this, and I will be your case study” the consultant told her “I admire your faith, but I’ve never seen anyone beat cancer this aggressive”
She was then put through 12 rounds of extensive chemotherapy, which ended in the December of 2021. On January the 17th (which coincidentally is also today’s date) 2022 Caroline had her final scan, and much to her consultants amazement and Caroline’s delight, her cancer in the bowel and liver had all but disappeared. Caroline was now in remission.
I met Caroline in January 2023 and we hit it off straight away. I was struck by her beauty, her kindness, her selflessness, her zest for life, along with many more admirable qualities. She was everything I’d ever wanted in a partner.
Unfortunately 6 months later, in the July 2023 some results came back from a test (she used to have bimonthly check ups) that the cancer had Manifested in her lungs and her Consultant advised that she should undergo chemotherapy again. She was told this time it was going to a revolutionary chemotherapy treatment that was coming over from that United States, and that she would be the only one in the UK receiving it and she indeed would be a case study. Caroline accepted the treatment and got started in the August of ’23. Initially it was supposed to be 3 months of treatment, 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off. It really took it’s toll though and due to the fact that some weeks she wasn’t strong enough, and her blood cells were down, she couldn’t attend treatment, so in fact it lasted 5 months until December 2023. Just after Christmas2023 (our first and only Christmas together) Caroline and I went to see the consultant, to get some scan results. The consultant sat us down and said “I’ve really good news” at this point I was so excited to hear what she had to say. “The cancer has reduced dramatically and is at much lower levels than it was earlier in the year” she continued. Immediately I replied “I thought you were gonna say it’s gone” to which she replied “it’s never going away Daniel”. You can’t imagine how deflated I felt at that moment, after thinking it had disappeared to then hear that. I am actually crying right now thinking about it. She was then given the option to carry on with treatment or to take a break. Caroline chose the latter as the chemotherapy really beat her up, and she needed some rest .
Caroline could see I was down and when we left the consultants office, she smiled and said to me “hey, don’t worry about it. I’ve proved her wrong before and I will do it again”. That was typical of Caroline’s strength and attitude. I remember thinking, she is right and my mood lifted straight away.
Caroline, then suggested we go on holiday to Tenerife for some winter sun and to celebrate her improved health. Whilst we were there I proposed and to my delight she agreed to be my wife. Unfortunately a few days in to the holiday, Caroline was getting abdominal pains, and was suffering from constipation, something that would later last for 6 months. And for those 6 months she couldn’t empty her bowels without the use of an enema.
When we returned home, the consultant told her it was the cancer in abdomen causing her the pain. She was subjected to more tests and was set to start some more treatment in the spring of 2023. This didn’t stop Caroline returning to the gym though, as the gym was her safe place, she used to get up at 4 am to attend the gym most mornings and I believe without her fitness she would never have lived as long as she did.
Around late March early April ’24, she began to get a pain on the bridge of her nose, and I remember saying to her “you’re holding your nose a lot, what’s up” and she replied “hayfever I think”. In hindsight I think she knew it wasn’t, but Caroline had a way of always trying to protect her loved ones. So much so, that one time we were in hospital for a week or so and a family member called her, to ask where she was, because they hadn’t heard from her in a while, and Caroline replied “in Chelmsford at Daniels” I then asked her why she didn’t tell the truth and her reply was “why worry them” again so typical of Caroline.
Anyway, her consultant was concerned about the pain on her nose and ordered in for some tests and scans. Then in late April she had a consultant meeting, where she was told there was a lump in her brain the size of a satsuma and that she would need a biopsy to see if it was cancerous. She was also told, that if it was cancer she wouldn’t see Christmas of ’24. 2 months she waited for the biopsy, and then 2 weeks for the results. So basically 2 and a half valuable months lost of no treatment at all. all the while the cancer was growing in her lungs, her lymph nodes and her brain. After the biopsy she was put on another course of chemo for her lung cancer and it knocked her badly, so bad that she refused to do it again as she believed it would kill her, and if she was to die she wasn’t going out like that.
In the late August, Caroline lost most of her sight and this was the thing that affected her the greatest, and the only time, through the whole ordeal I witnessed her mood drop slightly. She used to say “I can cope with anything, but please don’t take my sight” she was then told by her consultants, radiotherapy was key to reducing the tumour, she was very apprehensive after her previous chemotherapy session, but was assured the radiotherapy would not be as aggressive. And with the thought of losing her sight completely on her mind, she accepted the radiotherapy treatment. This did indeed improve her vision, but physically she had lost so much strength it really took it’s toll once more. She had been 70 kg in late April, she was now 50kg and had to summon all of her strength to get through it. Unfortunately after the radiotherapy, she was pretty much housebound apart from trips and stays in the hospital, which were horrible experiences, sometimes she was left in corridors for over 40 hrs, the NHS is on its knees, but the staff were always amazing.
Her strength had deteriorated rapidly day by day, for example it could take her 30 minutes or more to walk from her bed she had made up in her front room, as she could no longer tackle the stairs, to her toilet which was a mere 8 meters or so walk. We used too put dining room chairs out so she could take breaks en route to the toilet, as she was so determined to get there by herself and she would stubbornly refuse help. She had so much dignity.
Monday the 4th on November ’24, she told me “I think I need to go to the hospice, not for long though, just for some symptom management” I told her “what ever you need to do, we will do it babe” and we rang the hospice and they got her a bed the following Wednesday.
We left Caroline’s home in Barking on Wednesday 6th of November and I remember as I wheeled her out of the front door in her wheelchair, catching a glimpse of her face as she looked back into her home. I could see she was thinking “I hope I see you again” I then told her “not to worry, we will be back babe” as I put my hand on her shoulder to comfort her, and she then put her hand on mine without saying a word.
We arrived at St Francis hospice Romford, and were greeted by the staff, who were all so absolutely wonderful and welcoming. We were then taken to her room, and luckily I was allowed to stay with her 24 hours a day, which I did… Unfortunately she was now in rapid decline, and each hour took it’s toll. By the Saturday I was told by the Dr that we had entered end of life stages as she wasn’t eating or taking in much fluids. Caroline and I managed to have a very short but beautiful conversation that day, which ended in our declaration of love for each other and a beautiful tender kiss on the lips (something we hadn’t done for a while as she was so scared of infection)
Unfortunately it was one of the last conversations we ever had because soon after, she had gone into an almost comatose state. And that’s how she stayed until her final passing on Monday the 11th of November. Remembrance day..11:11 such a perfect day for her to leave us. I miss Caroline more than I could ever put in to words and I plan to live out the rest of my life in honour of this remarkable human being who brought so much love and joy to the world ❤️
Anyway thank you for reading and please stay tuned and share my story, as I share it with you. I will need all of your help to get my charity event off the ground. I promise you all it will be epic and I am so appreciative of all your help and support. But for now…
God bless 🙏
If you want to help Daniel raise funds for St Francis Hospice then go to his go fund me page –
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