A Dad has tragically died from a 'silent killer' cancer after rejecting his daughter's roast dinner. Arthur Jones, 73, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer after his daughter realised something was wrong when her father wasn't touching her meals.
Sheryll Jones, 49, first start noticing tell-tale signs of her father's illness when he couldn't stomach any of her roast dinners. Despite usually being a fan of her meals, she says he seemed to have lost interest and was losing weight, reports the Liverpool Echo.
Alongside the fact that she had cared for her aunt, Irene, through her pancreatic cancer treatment, she knew something was afoot. Sheryll said: "He loved my roast dinners, and he wasn't eating them.
"I was thinking, 'Something's not right for my dad not to eat my roast dinner'. Each time, he'd go, 'Sheryll, I just can't eat big meals anymore'.
"He was losing weight and needing to go to the toilet more, and me personally, I was concerned. Because of what I experienced with our Irene, my dad's sister, it started creeping up on me that something's not right here, he needed to go and see his GP.
“But he was just a bit of a nightmare to get into the doctors, to be honest." Despite Arthur being in 'extreme pain', he waited until the day after his granddaughter's birthday to check himself to A&E, as to not spoil the celebrations.
The grandfather went for a CT scan and his daughter 'just knew' what was coming next. Sheryll said: "When the surgeon came around, he said, 'Arthur, we've picked something up on your pancreas', and I instantly felt sick.
“I thought, 'This is it, all over again'. My dad looked at me and he went, 'You're thinking of Irene, aren't you?'"
A few weeks later, Arthur was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer which is fifth most common cause of cancer deaths in the nation, according to Cancer Research UK. He was given three months to live, with his family deciding it would be best to do so at home.
His daughter moved into her parent's house were she cared for her father alongside other family members. The 49-year-old said it was a 'horrific time' and her "poor dad wanted to kill himself because he couldn't get into hospice".
Sheryll said: "As long as he knew what was happening, he could cope with it. It was the most excruciating pain he was going through, but he was more frightened of losing his mind than anything.
“Towards the end, he started losing his mind. He was looking at us like he didn't know us. He was angry."
Eventually the family managed to get him a place in a Marie Curie hospice That is were he passed on June 24 2022 with his son by his side, as Sheryll left the hospice to walk five minutes to Sainsbury's.
The daughter says his final days were peaceful as she could stop being a carer and instead connect with her father in his final moments. Sheryll said: "As hard as it was, those six weeks, I also felt blessed because some people don't get the chance to tell them they love them.
"Some of those experiences or conversations I had with my dad were so hard. It was unbelievable that my dad could say those things to me without me getting upset, that he loves me and, as far as he's concerned, he's had a good life, he never thought he'd last this long and has a lovely family.
"Some people don't get that."
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