Families across the UK will be raising a toast to dad today in celebration of Father's Day.
The Liverpool ECHO has been fortunate enough this year to share uplifting stories from inspiring dads across the region. We have taken a look at some of the men who have made their family and city proud.
From donating organs to touching acts of kindness, these are a few examples of people who deserve to be applauded for going above and beyond their parental duties. If you want to share a story about your dad and why he's so great, then please get in touch in the comments.
READ MORE: 22 reasons Liverpool dads really are the best in the world
Carl Amos
Carl Amos gave his son his "life back" after donating a kidney this year. Luke Amos was just 11 weeks old when he was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder, ARPKD (Autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease). His parents, Tori and Carl Amos, from Ellesmere Port, rushed him to hospital after he began to scream and turn blue while playing in his rocker.
He was transferred to Alder Hey hospital where they discovered his kidneys were covered in small cysts that 'resembled frog spawn'. By the time Luke turned 10, his kidney function had declined significantly, causing him to have bad headaches and become extremely tired. Doctors broke the news that he needed dialysis.
Carl, a 38-year-old traffic engineer, heroically agreed to donate a kidney to his son but Luke needed surgery to remove his diseased kidneys before the transplant could go ahead. By this stage, they had grown to twice the size of healthy kidneys.
In the meantime, Luke started dialysis three times a week in September last year. This included travelling to and from hospital, which takes around six hours. Tori and Carl, who are constantly "on the go", would fit taking Luke to hospital around their jobs and caring for their other son, who is now five years-old.
To prepare for the transplant, Luke underwent the seven-hour operation to remove both his kidneys in February. After recovering for the past few months, Luke received a kidney from his dad on May 5. The pair are now at home and recovering 'well' and Tori says the family are looking forward to getting their lives back.
Phil Ashton and Chris Smith
Phil Ashton and Chris Smith, from Wallasey, told the ECHO how their lives changed for the better after adopting children. The couple, both aged 40, shared their story as part of LGBT+ Adoption and Fostering Week in an attempt to encourage others to start thinking about their adoption journey. Phil and Chris welcomed Nathaniel, 10, and biological brothers Oliver and Charlie, who are eight and six respectively, into the family home over the space of five years.
Phil said: “We considered surrogacy initially but when you see a lot of cases around child abuse and neglect, it touched our hearts and we decided we would rather give a child who hasn’t had a good start in life, a home.”
Dave Berry
Dave Berry, from Roby, donated a kidney to his daughter Evelyn, after she underwent heart surgery in 2017 at which time her kidneys failed. He told the ECHO in February: "I gave my daughter a kidney in January 2020. I had to lose a bit of weight to have that operation. It was a split second decision, I didn't even have to think about it. The decision was already made in my mind.
"I was a match. I was going to give her one of my kidneys. The operation was in the January, we got home in the February, we were still recovering and obviously we went into lockdown."
Dave had to lose a stone for the surgery and has since continued to adopt a healthy lifestyle after the operation. He has now lost over three stone since surgery and wants to help other people with their weight loss journeys by becoming a Slimming World consultant in Wavertree. He said: "The difference in my health is incredible."
Dave Bolton
ECHO readers hailed Dave Bolton as an "inspiration" after his fight against a life-threatening condition gave them hope for the future. Dave Bolton was 33 when he was rushed to hospital after having a 15 minute nocturnal seizure, and was diagnosed with a brain tumour. The dad-of-two underwent surgery to remove the tennis ball sized tumour at the Walton Centre and had to take medical retirement from his job as a detective sergeant for Merseyside Police.
But things went from bad to worse for Dave, when the results of a routine brain scan the following year showed the tumour had not only returned but had become a Glioblastoma Multiforme (GMB). Glioblastoma Multiforme is a fast-growing and aggressive brain tumour with a devastatingly short survival time of just 12-18 months.
Dave, who is a former world kickboxing champion, said it was his wife Samantha who helped him to get out of that dark place in July 2015 and he decided to tackle his brain tumour like a fight. Dave, 41, from Greasby, Wirral, said: "I'm trying to use my own horrific situations to remind people that there is another way, there is another option and there is hope.
"I’ll never be cured. I have to live everyday knowing it could come back at any second because even though I have, the last scan showed there was no real evidence of disease, I think. But what happens is there are still cells in my brain because it’s like a web that goes through your brain, so it just takes the perfect environment, the perfect storm for it to spark but I've sort of decompartmentalised it.
"I've very positive, I’m a very positive person. I’m grateful for having terminal cancer because I see the world completely different now."
Paul Dixon
Paul Dixon shared his story with the ECHO this year about how he a kidney to a total stranger on his 65th birthday. The dad is now aged 74 and became a 'living donor' after watching breakfast TV in 2012 ,when BBC commentator Richard Pitman on breakfast TV spoke about donating his kidney.
Having "always enjoyed exceptional health", Paul called Royal Liverpool Hospital, home of the local kidney transplant unit, to express interest. Once Paul got the go ahead, it was a matter of waiting for news of the date of his surgery at the Royal. He told the ECHO: "The other hospital chose the date, and it was the date of my 65th birthday. I was quite happy with that. I thought, 'Oh that's a day I won't forget'."
He went into the Royal on March 18, 2013, the day before his birthday, and he was discharged 48 hours after surgery. Paul said: "You leave feeling a bit as if you've been run over, but you quickly recover because your remaining kidney steps up to do the work of two. There are no restrictions on your lifestyle. You can take part in sports. And just within a few weeks, you don't feel as if you've ever done it."
Paul went for monthly checkups, but this gradually decreased in frequency, now being an annual checkup with blood tests and the occasional X-ray. All he knows of the person who received his kidney is their first name from thank you cards they sent.
Mike Welch
Mike Welch shared his inspiring story with the ECHO in May The dad-of-three grew up in Aigburth and left school at 16 with only a few GCSEs. He told the ECHO: "I wasn't a bad kid but school wasn't really my thing so when I left I got a couple of GCSEs but not a lot. I got a job and basically the first that came up was a tyre fitter in Birkenhead, working for a business called Lewis Reed which was a Nissan dealership so I was like I'll give it a go.
"I worked in the stores there, stacking the tyres, fitting the tyres and that was my first job and then I was made redundant after about 18 months."
After being made redundant and having a chat with his grandad about what he should do next, Mike decided to go solo and started buying and selling tyres on his own and dropping them off at people's houses across Merseyside in his mum's car. Aged 17 at the time, Mike went to apply for a £500 grant from the Princes Trust after submitting a business plan, which he used to kickstart the business from his parent's home who by that time had moved to Birkenhead.
The first big turning point in Mike's career came a year later when the company Kwik Fit reached out to him after seeing his website and invited him to a meeting. Kwik Fit went on to buy Mike's business and hired him as their first head of e-commerce in the lead up to Ford's £1bn acquisition from the company.
The dad of three's career has gone from strength to strength and Mike is now the CEO of of Tirebuyer.com - one of America's biggest online tyre retailers with an estimated turnover of more than $100m.
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