With the National Rivers Authority slapping a compulsory purchase order on my moorings at Twinbridge and unable to sell the pub 'till that was resolved, I was offered a potentially life changing deal in Sydney NSW.
A very good friend, Laurie, who had moved to Australia with his wife Joan a few years earlier, suggested I set up a chain of English pubs in Sydney and was welcome to use their lovely home in Mosman as a base while the suitable properties were found.
I arrived in Sydney early in 1992 and during the first month with everything looking good, I was diagnosed with large cell Lymphoma - a bombshell and totally out of the blue. I had noticed a lump on my throat that came and went over a period of a year or two but I never worried about it. Within a couple of weeks it became aggressive to the point that immediate treatment was needed and I was told I didn't have the time to fly back to England for treatment.
Eighteen months of treatment, including Chemo and Radiation, at The Royal North Shore Hospital (as the Lymphoma was also found in many other areas) was followed by an autologous bone marrow transplant. A drug called Interlukin 3 was on clinical trials to encouraged the growth of bone marrow so I was able to return to England in February 1994 with a letter for the UK treating medical officer. (The Australian immigration laws would not grant me citizenship with my health problem)
Laurie.. left and me 2 months later
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Lauries wife Joan and a fishing trip
The situation in England had changed dramatically whilst I was away. The prospect of bankruptcy and nowhere to live being two of the problems faced but nothing compared to the health problems of the previous eighteen months, so a fresh start was needed. I borrowed a GT Escort from a good friend, on a SOR (sale or return) basis and working from a car park in Cirencester, I prepared the car for sale. (a Traffic Warden took me under her wing and brought me a flask of hot soup every day) The Escort GT sold and was the first of many trade deals over the next couple of years. Within a month I had moved out of the 'Bed Sit' in Cirencester and into a rented bungalow in Cheltenham when on one of my remission checks the diagnosis confirmed that the Cancer had returned. I moved into number 98 with my sister and intensive Chemo treatment followed and although unpleasant, had the desired effect and I'm still in remission.
Nothing I could say or do could convey my sincere gratitude to the teams of consultants who treated me in those difficult times in Australia and England. They gave me a second chance to understand that money is far from the only thing in life and .....how blue the sky really looks when not clouded by the continued pressures of business.
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