Gareth Millington was just 24 when he died at Clatterbridge in July 2006. From being a fit and keen sportsman he developed multiple cancers and lost his battle for life at all too young an age.
Total raised to date in Gareth's memory:
£10,250
Even so, in his life he had clearly impressed many people with the way he faced the news of his condition and the treatments that went with it. Most of the time he kept up with his golf and meeting friends without discussing his problem or complaining. His illness lasted from May 2005 until his all too soon death in July, just over a year later. During that time he had several operations and more or less constant treatment. His family said he was immensely brave: ‘His attitude was faultless, he never complained or bemoaned his lot in life, but carried on as positively as he could’. Typical was his request to make Christmas a special family occasion: ‘At his request we spent Christmas quietly with just immediate family present and had a wonderful time. Gareth declaring it was his best Christmas ever – little did we know it was to be his last’.
Soon after, Gareth was delighted by the arrival of his new nephew James. ‘We were to have one final celebration in May, when he became Godfather to James. On that day we celebrated the baby's christening and his sister Cheryl's 18th birthday with all the family and friends. Sadly the illness returned with a vengeance and he was admitted to Clatterbridge at the beginning of July and ‘despite the valiant efforts of so many people over the previous year he died nine days later’'.
More than 400 people attended his funeral with many messages paying tribute to a remarkable young man. An initial gift of £1,200 was presented to Clatterbridge Cancer Research as a result of people's generous response to Gareth's story.
Because the investigation into genetic cancer is especially important to the family (as Gareth’s cancer was genetic in origin) his parents Mary and Ian wanted to help the research into the cause and subsequent treatment of all cancers in any way possible.
By putting Gareth’s story onto the tribute fund pages they hope to raise awareness of how susceptible anyone, anywhere can be. Raising funds became a means to enable this, and one of Mary’s work colleagues raised more than £2,500 towards his fund by swimming the equivalent distance to the English Channel in her local swimming pool. Since then, friends and family have regularly donated and in 2007 an Annual Golf Day was instigated in Gareth’s memory.
All donations given in Gareth’s memory will be used to help research carried out by Clatterbridge Cancer Research.