Our Dad is married to our Mum, Anne, and they have us 3 children and 2 grandchildren and a son-in-law. There is Jessica (31) who has the 2 children with husband John, Molly (3yrs 8mths) and Lewis (22mths), then there is Justin (22) and Jenna (20). Our Dad’s whole married life has been dedicated to Mum and then us children as we all came along. He has one brother and 2 sisters who he is also close too. His one sister, Kim, has written a few things about her brother. You can read this by clicking here.

At the age of 15 our Dad enlisted in the army on 24th April 1971 and served 5 and a half years before being discharged on 15th October 1976. Amongst many other things he did in the army he came 3rd in a biathlon which was his first ever competition and he also holds a Northern Ireland Army Medal. You can read some very touching but amusing stories about our Dad that were written by a good friend and colleague in the army, Mickey, by clicking here.

When our Dad left the army he went into full time employment and has worked as hard as possible to earn enough money to provide for all of us and be able to take us on a holiday every year, which was quite often camping. Our Dad worked for many years at British Rail and has done various other jobs but is currently employed by Epsilon as a Portable Appliance Test Engineer where he has worked for 12 years. Unfortunately, he is too poorly to work at the moment but his job is available for him when he feels well enough to go back.

Amongst other sports our Dad has a love of Rugby and Atheltics. You can read about these on the respective pages.

Another great achievement is the donation of blood on 28 occasions and he would still give it now if he was allowed.

Our Dad always put his family first without fail.  Like most parents he drove us around every where.  There was barely an evening when one of us did not need a lift or even our friends.  We are a very active family and participate in many sports and events, therefore, on several occasions he even had to drive us across country for one thing and another.  Never once did he ever complain. 

Jessica personally remembers struggling with maths homework on a regular basis and her Dad would spend hours working on it so he could understand it enough to explain it to her.  It paid off as passed the GCSE exam with a good grade.

Sadly, our auntie Kate passed away from leukaemia when she was only 17.  Our Dad knew her and was obviously devasted when this happened.  Ever since then he has taken care of her grave for 29 years.  He religiously buys fresh flowers and goes to the grave every fortnight. 

He even did our Nan’s (his mother-law) shopping at Tesco every Friday after work; this was not an easy task!

During the water shortage in 2007 our Dad ensured that every member of our family, including all extended family (and there are a lot of them) were okay and had enough water. This was as well as taking care of all the elderly and vulnerable people he knew around the area he lives. He also helped prevent his in-laws house from flooding by pumping out the water day and night.

The list for our Dad’s kindness is endless, the things mentioned above are only a hint of the stuff he has done. Our Dad’s efforts are not done because he wants to be recognised or feels he has to do all of this, he does all of this kind stuff because it is simply the type of person he is.

Our Dad has lived such an active, fulfilled life and has given each of us children the best start in life we could have asked for. This is not because he had lots of money to give us, although we never went without, but mainly because he has such an amazing, positive attitude that it has rubbed of on us.  Justin has been put through a 3 year university course and ended up with a degree in biology. Jenna has been supported through various jobs and college courses, now ending up with working in Spain.  Jessica & John (son-in-law) has had much support from her Dad with all sorts of projects, a main one being the renovation of a house which her Dad had a big part to play in. The biggest support for Jessica & John is the support they get from her Dad with helping out with the grandchildren, they idealise their grampy and he is fantastic with them, his patience is amazing. Our Dad’s outlook on life is one of a kind.  He has always been so optimistic, the glass is always half full in our Dad’s eyes. He has always put everyone else before himself and still does today even when coping with this terminal illness. 

Our Dad is one of the strongest people we know, in his mind and in his body and we know he will fight this illness as much as he is capable of. To have people be so generous and kind like they have been just makes our Dad and our family that much stronger again.

We all think that the people closest to us are special and they are, but, sometimes there are people that are ‘exceptionally special’ and our Dad is one of those people. 

Thank you for reading.

Jessica Parsons, Justin Sysum and Jenna Sysum