Hundreds of motorcyclists rode in memory of a popular dad who died following a battle with prostate cancer.
More than 400 people attended the funeral of Richard Howells on Friday, including about 200 bikers who travelled in a procession from his Nantyglo home to St Mary's Priory church in Abergavenny.
Dad-of-three Richard, a passionate motorcyclist, died last December at the age of 51, three years after being diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer. His widow Sharon described him as a "fighter".
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"He was generous, he was kind and he made me feel safe," she said. "He was always pleasant to others. At 6ft 4ins and 21 stone he could look quite intimidating but he was a gentle giant. He had a lovely smile and a kind face."
He is survived by Sharon, 52; his children Billie-Jo, 24, Maria 16, and Amber, 14; his parents Yvonne and Edward; and brother Anthony. All are "absolutely heartbroken", said Sharon.
Richard, a Welsh Water inspector who kept working until six weeks before his death, was a member of the Celtic Wolves biker club. His fellow riders were his "brothers" and he "loved nothing more than to be riding in that gang", said Sharon.
He had bought Maria a moped for her 16th birthday last year but she was not able to take it for a ride with him because of his illness. The funeral procession gave Maria a chance to get on the 50cc Vespa and have "one last ride with her dad", Sharon added.
"She was on her little Vespa with flowers on it. She rode in among the bike gang and they looked after her. We were so proud of her riding with all those big burly guys. Motorbike clubs came from up and down the country and they did an amazing job escorting everybody."
Richard grew up in Abergavenny and became a father to Billy-Joe before meeting Sharon almost 20 years ago. They struck up a conversation at the pub Sharon ran, the Cordell Country Inn in Govilon.
She said: "Richard used to come in on a Friday. He said, 'I like you, do you want to go out for a drink or what?' He was very straightforward."
They were married five months later, in 2003, in a medieval wedding in Caldicot Castle. Richard wore a handmade "Cavalier-style" suit, while Sharon was in a navy and gold dress. The theme was her idea, having always liked that period of history. "He just went along with it," she laughed.
"We rarely spent any time apart. We were just a good team. There wasn't a day that went by without us saying, 'I love you.'"
The couple moved to a farm in Nantyglo before adopting Maria and Amber. Richard was supportive of the girls' passions, taking them to horse shows so they could compete in riding.
For a couple of months before Richard's terminal diagnosis in late 2018, he noticed he was urinating more than usual throughout the evenings.
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"He didn't feel ill or anything," said Sharon. "They did some scans and found he had prostate cancer which had already spread to his bones. It was in his spine, pelvis.
"When you're told it's terminal, the shock just hits you and you can't seem to take it in straight away. We came out from the Royal Gwent Hospital just dumbfounded. We just sat there silent and then on the drive home we were saying, 'We've got to get a plan of action, we have got to fight this.'"
Doctors told Richard he could have up to five more years if he was lucky. He went through radiotherapy and chemotherapy but "didn't lose a hair" from his head or beard, though he started to lose the use of his legs as the cancer spread, said Sharon.
"Maria and Amber turned into little carers, putting cream on his legs," she added. "They wanted to help him."
Richard sold his Harley Davidson because he was no longer able to use it, but he replaced the bike with a Can-Am three-wheeler so he could still ride.
He had never taken a sick day before his diagnosis and continued to work for Welsh Water until six weeks before his death. Though he had always harboured a hope he could beat the illness through immunotherapy trials, an infection at the base of his spine meant he could not have the treatment and his condition worsened.
Sharon said: "When he went into hospital on December 15, it was only because he said he didn't feel right. I was expecting him home for Christmas, but he died on December 19.
"Right up to the day he died, he didn't lose his hair, he didn't look ill, he hadn't lost weight. He just looked like Richard. The girls went in to see him on the afternoon of the day he died. He squeezed their hands and said, 'I love you.'
"He died in my arms in the evening. I told him I loved him but it was time to give up the fight now, and that we'd be OK. His biggest worry wasn't dying, it was leaving us behind with all the pain and the hurt."
Sharon thinks her husband would have been delighted with the funeral and wake. "Richard loved nothing more than a party and a pint, and that's what we gave him at the end," she said.
Billie-Jo, whose singing had always been a source of pride for Richard, recorded a version of Forever Young which was played during the funeral service.
Sharon recalls seeing "lots of young chaps" aged under 50 fighting prostate cancer in hospital during Richard's treatment. Diagnoses "rise steeply" from the age of 45 to 49, according to Cancer Research UK, which says there is no national screening programme for the illness because there is not a reliable enough test.
Sharon believes many lives could be saved if a screening programme was developed. "It's seen as an old man's disease but it's not necessarily," she said. "There's such a good survival rate if the prostate cancer is caught early enough."
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