I received this bad news from Gavin Rodie via Tony Keech

Hello All,

I did mention in my email last evening, that I was going to speak to Doug’s daughter Sam today.

I have just spoken to Sam this morning. The news is not good.

It truly saddens me to advise all of you that the cold hard facts are that Doug has only got a matter of weeks to live, if that.

Doug has a very aggressive form of cancer that has begun to spread all over his body. The Doctor’s now fear that it may have even travelled into his lungs as he has a very dry persistent cough. He has been prescribed antibiotics for this, however they are unable to verify their concerns without doing a chest X-ray.

They are loathe to do this at this time because of his frail state. Doug is unable to eat any food, therefore he is being fed via liquids. Sam told me that yesterday he could not even get out of his bed to have a shower.

With the recent onset of fatigue Doug appears to have lost interest in reading the papers or doing the crosswords which he enjoyed, He cannot focus his attention span to watching TV or even listening to music.

Doug had a visitor from Perth the other day, but Doug could hardly communicate as he was totally exhausted. In all honesty, Doug has mentioned to his family that he would rather not see anyone at this present moment.

From a personal perspective, I do believe that he does not wish his friends to see him in his fragile state. I can relate to his request having recently lost Dad & a few friends from cancer, all of whom towards the end did not wish to see anyone due to the significant deterioration of their bodies & diminished mental stamina.

I do imagine that all of us would like our friends to have a lasting image & memory of us being vibrant & in the best of health. Doug hasn’t opened his emails for a few days & is not responding as eagerly to the txt messages that he receives.

A less intrusive way of keeping in contact with Doug so that you can share, your thoughts, prayers, well wishes, etc would be to drop him a line or a card which he can read at his own time. Letters & cards could be sent c/o of Sam, whose address is:

43 Sycamore Crescent

Hawthorndene SA 5051