Tributes have flooded in for a dad who died surrounded by family after his wife discovered a spot by his wife which turned out to be cancer.
Paul Manchester from Ormskirk was diagnosed with a rare and serious form of skin cancer. The 56-year-old's wife Kath had found the spot on his back and encouraged Paul to get it checked out by doctors.
He was diagnosed back in December 2018, after taking "a little while" to go to the doctor after Kath's worrying discovery. Further tests showed the cancer had spread to his lungs and liver, and had progressed from stage two melanoma to stage four.
READ MORE: 'Devastated' dad's tribute to daughter, 18, who had a 'beautiful soul'
Paul went through two years wort of chemotherapy and immunotherapy at a centre in St Helens. Sadly, it was discovered last August the cancer had spread to Paul's brain and in January of this year Paul died at home surrounded by family.
Since the ECHO published Paul's story, dozens of tributes have poured in for the dad. Writing on the ECHO's Facebook page, Clare Marie said "Very sad. Sorry for your loss. Rest in peace."
George Norrie added: "He looks like a man who lived life to the full with great family values. RIP." Elaine Milton said: "Thinking of all the family." People also sent messages of condolences, Joyce McIntyre said: "Sorry for your loss." Gill Dougherty-youp also said: "Sorry for your loss."
Paul's wife Kath, 55, with whom he shared children, Cora, 22 and Patrick, 19, said Paul was "scared" of the treatment he would have to go through. She also called her husband a "character" who "always made people smile".
She said: "It took Paul a little while to go to the doctor's with his spot, particularly a spot he couldn’t see it himself, but he went and when they said it was cancer he was scared, we all were.
"He was particularly scared of the treatment making him unable to work. He loved working. He was very clever. When they told us it was already quite progressed, we were also going through my Dad dying of lymphoma in June 2019 so it was such a lot for us to deal with all at once.
"Paul was one of those people who just made you laugh. He was a character and always made people smile and we miss him dreadfully. It has been six months now but it’s still hard for all of us. I am so thankful for the three years we got with him after he was diagnosed, and for the wonderful oncology team who helped make that happen.
"For the most part he was well, the treatment worked, and he had a good quality of life. Lots of people didn’t even know he was ill at all, and he was still working right up until last August. We had some lovely family times together as well; we went on several holidays and spent more time at home all together during lockdown which I’m so grateful for.
"Patrick says that Dad wasn’t Dad after our last family holiday to Aviemore in Scotland last summer which turned into the holiday from hell when Paul started having seizures. He was rushed to Inverness hospital and we were told the cancer had spread to his brain.
"On our return Paul was referred to the new Liverpool Cancer Centre and underwent whole brain radiotherapy treatment at the Clatterbridge Centre, at Aintree Hospital, followed by further immunotherapy. He then had one last Christmas and thankfully by then he was well enough to enjoy it but sadly he just went downhill after that.”
Kath, Cora and Patrick will be honouring Paul's memory at a special event later this year. On Friday, September 9, they will be joined by friends and family members at the Liverpool Shine event to raise money for Cancer Research UK which gave Paul "those extra few years" with his family.
Kath said: “The event will hopefully be something for us to focus on and something fun for us to do together as a family. It’s thanks to research and break throughs in new treatments that we had those extra few years with Paul.
"So many people are affected by cancer so we want to raise money in the hope of even more treatments in the future. Everyone can take part at their own pace, it doesn’t matter how fast you go. The most important thing is raising money.”
To find out more about the event visit shinewalk.org.
READ NEXT:
Lidl plans to restore former cinema building with new south Liverpool store
UK cities that previously hosted the Eurovision Song Contest as Liverpool included in 2023 shortlist
Mum thought she would never be able to walk down street sober
The city centre pub standing defiant in the face of cost of living 'body blow'
