Young Petworth father with cancer shares his story to raise awareness

DESPITE a painful and exhausting battle with cancer, a young father is fighting to make his story heard so others may avoid the devastation his family is going through.
By The Newsroom
Published 17th Apr 2015, 08:00 BST
Hannah and Iain TerryHannah and Iain Terry
Hannah and Iain Terry

Father-of-two Iain Terry, 32, from Petworth has terminal bowel cancer.

Now he wants to tell his story to encourage people to get themselves checked.

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“If one person reads my story and gets themselves checked then all the pain I am going through won’t be for nothing,” said Iain.

“I was ignored, brushed off from the beginning, even though my father went through the same thing.

“Doctors said I was too young. But then it gets to the point where it’s too late.”

Iain first noticed his symptoms in February, 2013.

However, it wasn’t until after an operation in July, he received his diagnosis.

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“After a few days on the surgical ward I saw the surgeon who performed my operation.

“What happened next is as clear in my mind now as it was back then.

“He told me they removed cancer from my bowel and noted it had spread to my peritoneum, meaning it wasn’t curable.

“I was 30, in the prime of my life with everything going good for me and suddenly, out of the blue I was being told I had cancer. As if that wasn’t a hard enough kick in the stomach I was then told there was no cure.”

Iain and Hannah on their wedding day in September, shorlty after Iain received his diagnosis SUS-150414-111519001Iain and Hannah on their wedding day in September, shorlty after Iain received his diagnosis SUS-150414-111519001
Iain and Hannah on their wedding day in September, shorlty after Iain received his diagnosis SUS-150414-111519001
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Iain met his wife Hannah when they were at Midhurst Grammar School.

The pair married at St James Church in Heyshott in September, 2013 – just after Iain received his diagnosis.

They organised the wedding in less than five weeks.

“We wanted to do it before Iain started having chemotherapy,” said Hannah, 30, who works as a nurse in the nearby Petworth Cottage Nursing Home.

The pair have two young daughters, Chloe, seven, and Aria, three.

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Hannah said: “Chloe knows daddy has got cancer and it means he is poorly, but she doesn’t know the outcome.”

Iain added: “They too have suffered and that is probably one of the worst things about this disease. I probably won’t be there to see them change from pretty young girls into beautiful young women.

“I will miss so much of their lives, but I will continue to fight and hope the research they are doing throws me a lifeline and I do beat this.”

Related topics:PetworthDoctors