This site is a tribute to Bernard Downey, who was born in Cardiff on April 22, 1937. He is much loved and will always be remembered.
My wonderful,funny dad Bernard lost his battle with lung cancer on 13th March 2016. My dad has been a fighter all his life and has overcome many illnesses and traumas. I thought he was going to beat this one too. He had cancer twice before of the bowel and skin and both were successfully treated and he got the all clear for both. Lung cancer it seems is not so easily beaten. My dad smoked in his teens and up to the age of 45 when he suffered a minor heart attack. He gave up smoking immediately and changed his eating habits.My mother died of ovarian cancer 7.5 years ago and after losing her my dad and I became very close. My dad lived to witness the birth of 2 great grandchildren Maisie and Zach so in some ways he was lucky, luckier than my mother anyway. He became ill with a persistent cough a year Christmas, I persuaded him to get it checked out as I lost my aunt to lung cancer the previous August so I knew how important this was. Unfortunately his diagnosis was not good and he was diagnosed with NSC squamous lung cancer.in his left lung It had spread to a lymph node in the middle of his chest and was inoperable. He had 2 doses of chemo that put him in  hospital with diarrheoa and sepsis and we nearly lost him. It was decided not to try any more treatment as the cancer was slow growing. My dad stayed relatively well for the next 5 months when the cough returned. He was given palliative radiotherapy last December that helped for some weeks but in February this year his cough returned.He was diagnosed with pneumonia and referred to admissions at our local hospital by the gp. He had a nightmare 2 day wait for a bed that didn't materialise and was expected to wait in a chair for that time. I intervened and took him home for a night's rest hoping that he would get a bed the following morning. Unfortunately he faced another day of waiting in a chair and I had to make the decision to discharge him and take him home. I told his gp who arranged to treat him at home and got the local George Thomas Hospice nurse involved who had him admitted to the local Marie Curie Hospice. We thought that he would be treated for the pneumonia and return home but the treatment was not successful and he passed away at 11.30pm on 13th March 2016. I miss my dad every minute of the day and I cannot get used to him not being here. He was a loving husband to my late mother, a good friend and loving father to me, a loving grandfather and great grandfather