Olympics Torch helps to rekindle father’s memory

exactly a year ago, Daniel Wilson’s family was struggling to come to terms with his death, but yesterday they celebrated his life by persuading people to race to the top of a Yorkshire landmark with an Olympic Torch.

Mr Wilson was just 36 when he died from an aggressive form of brain cancer, which was originally diagnosed by medics as migraine, leaving his wife Suzanne, and their sons Jack, now eight, and Christopher, three, devastated.

Since his death, Suzanne has worked to increase awareness of the prevalence of brain tumours, both in adults and children, and said yesterday’s event would raise cash for research into treatment.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The Olympic Torch was provided by the family of Ian Meek, from Kippax, Leeds, who also died on August 1 after a long battle with a brain tumour which was first diagnosed in 2004.

Mr Meek had organised a series of fund-raising events for the charity Brain Tumour Research and Support Yorkshire (BRTS) which he took part in, including a Three Peaks walk and a cycle ride from Bristol to Bradford.

Suzanne, from Barnsley, said it was Mr Meek’s “dying wish” that the Olympic Torch he carried in York on June 19 be used for yesterday’s relay which saw participants run to the top of Barnsley Town Hall’s clock tower.

The first run of the relay was completed by Jack Wilson, who is autistic and suffers from other disabilities, including a syndrome which affects his joints causing severe pain.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He said: “I really want to do this for my daddy. I miss him and wish I could see him again. If I do this he will be proud of me because it might stop somebody else’s daddy from dying.”

Suzanne, who did the final run to the top of the tower, said she had managed to get about 50 people involved, including students at Barnsley College, where she is involved with the music and radio society.

She added: “I think because they put so much into other cancers the success rate is good but we need a heck of a lot of money for brain tumour research because they are on the increase.

“Daniel was diagnosed with skin cancer back in 2005.

“He had the mole removed and he use to go for check-ups all the time just to see if there were any more.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Everything was fine then we came to September 2010 and he was in training for the Great North Run when he started to get poorly and started complaining of a pressure in his head.

“It was diagnosed as migraine and he did the Great North Run, but we later found out he had done it while suffering with five brain tumours.

“They had been growing in his head since he had the skin cancer.”

Suzanne said she was convinced that something could be done about the condition until five days before Christmas 2010 when a doctor broke the news to the couple that the tumours were terminal.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

She added: “It was the worst day of my life. My whole world had been ripped apart. We were told he had six to eight weeks to live but he survived for four months.

“But during that time he forgot his children’s names, went blind, went deaf and couldn’t walk.”

Mr Wilson’s family kept his children away from him in his last weeks, but they now have a special night every week when they talk about their father and what happened.

The money raised by those taking part in yesterday’s event will be donated to Brain Tumour Research and Support Yorkshire, which hopes to carry on Mr Meek’s fundraising work for pioneering research at the Leeds Institute for Molecular Science.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Carol Robertson, the charity’s leader, said: “Ian taught me so much about the human spirit and how to make every precious second count.

“He never moaned about the things he couldn’t do, he simply focused on the things he could.

“He had the words ‘when 
you are diagnosed with 
cancer don’t think about the things you can’t do, dream and do the things you can’. 
Ian absolutely lived by these words.”

Related topics: