Sad News - Arthur Tiffen
Arthur was a family man, a charismatic man and the life and soul of any party. His larger than life character filled his family’s life with love and laughter and made him a popular figure around Newcastle and among friends of his trade.
Unfortunately it was the trade itself which was his downfall. He started out as an apprentice heating engineer and it was then when he was 18 that he was asked to remove some lagging on a heating system. This was where he was exposed to asbestos, a common story for those affected by the illness.
In 2005 he had pains in his chest for a year or so, visiting doctors and having x rays but nobody identified the cancer – so the window of opportunity for surgery came and went. When he was diagnosed it felt like the world was falling out from under us. He was such a huge presence and we were told he had weeks to live.
When he found out that the only treatment available at the time, Alimta, was to be denied him on the NHS he felt a great sense of injustice. He and his family contacted anyone who we thought might listen, including MPs, the Evening Chronicle and of course Chris Knighton. Luckily there was already a groundswell of opposition to the NHS’s position on Mesothelioma treatment. The Chronicle placed photos of Arthur, along with several other sufferers, on the front page one day and the major thrust of the Alimta campaign started from then, with impetus from Chris Knighton, Arthur, local MP’s, local newspapers, local TV and radio and others.
We found one way of getting round the unfair post code lottery by contacting oncologists in the cities where we knew that Alimta was available. One such oncologist, Dr Steele at Barts of the London, agreed to treat him. So Arthur got on the coach to London to commence chemotherapy treatment using Alimta and then he received a separate course of treatment involving a cocktail of Cisplatin, Mitomycin C and Irinotecan.
The treatment helped to put the tumours in remission and this extended his expected life from weeks to nearly 2 years. To give you an idea what those 2 years meant to him, here is a selection of the great times he experienced with this extra time:
- Singing Bohemian Rhapsody at his daughter’s 21st birthday
- Attending the wedding of his son, Steve, to Helen.
- Visiting Westminster to lobby parliament with the help of Nick Brown MP, Doug Henderson MP, Chris Knighton and others.
- Being there for the birth of his first grandchild Fayth, daughter of Laura and David.
- Organising, with his friend Billy Patterson, a fund raising event for the Mick Knighton Mesothelioma Research Fund which raised in excess of £21,000 for research into the illness.
- Being there for the birth of his second grandchild Jake, son of Steve and Helen.
- Constantly telling his family that the last 2 years have been the happiest of his life, despite the illness, because he was making the most of every day.
At his funeral hundreds of friends from before and after diagnosis came to pay their respects to a truly brave and inspirational man.
The message Arthur wanted to get across is: How can anyone limit the value that these extra years had to him and his family? Who can say that it is not cost effective to fund research and treatment such as Alimta and others on the NHS which gives hope to so many? But unfortunately government investment in Mesothelioma is comparatively small. Mesothelioma receives less than half the investment as cervical cancer, despite there being more deaths from it each year. This is why your donation/support for MKRF is so important.
