The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow

By Ray Francis

The true story of my growing up and development culminating in me fighting throat cancer and how my sense of humour helped me through.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Mar 26, 2014
• ISBN: 9781291801804

Book preview

The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow

Figure 1 Pic 1 like life every day has its evenings and we all hope that tomorrow will be better.

The sun will come out tomorrow!

I believe that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness. That is clear. Whether one believes in religion or not, whether one believes in this religion or that religion, we all are seeking something better in life. So I think the very notion of our life is towards happiness.

Dalai Lama

It would be fair to say my life has never been easy; but I would not swop a single day of it for anything!

Ray Francis.

I dedicate this book to many people; some I cannot even name. I will do my best to avoid missing anyone out although please accept my apologies if I have somehow missed your name.

To Graham, my son who faced this step by step beside me and was my rock and anchor at my most trying of times.

To Stuart my youngest son who despite the miles between us he spoke to me almost daily after he found out the news I tried to hide from him.

To Sam my football manager and dearest of friends; in all the 35 years of knowing him he always gave me sound advice and used common sense mixed with his weird sense of humour.

To Prof. Ian Hutchinson & Mr Leo. Cheng of Max facia at St Bartholomew’s hospital I was so lucky that fate placed me in their hands for their knowledge and skills saved my life.

To Dr Ajay Ohja. My very understanding and at times tolerant G.P. whose help and advice I found invaluable.

To Marieline – the receptionist at the radiotherapy department who’s smiling face and pleasant disposition seemed to melt away my low mood periods.

To the numerous radiographers whose skills with those machines have to be seen to be believed and they always treated you like family not patients.

Finally and most importantly to my friend and brother in law Ernest Hallam, if only I could aspire to the heights he held and pass with such dignity as he showed; His wife Christine my sister who emotionally became my crutch and despite her own problems she was always there to listen.

ERNEST HALLAM  

7th December 1941 --- 30th November 2010,

A man I was honoured to call a friend and someone once met never forgotten; may he rest in peace.

Table of Contents

Foreword.

Chapter 1 - I am me.

Chapter 2 – The early years.

Chapter 4 – Further Dark clouds have more silver linings.

Chapter 5 - Some kind of hero.

Chapter 6 – the odds stack up against me.

Chapter 7 – the darkest of times.

Chapter 8 – the treatment plan.

Chapter 9 - Feeling guilty.

Chapter 10 – Remission.

Chapter 11- The future.

Chapter 12… Paying back into the community..

Epilogue.

Foreword.

As I said earlier, my life has never been easy; but I would not swop a single day of it for anything and that includes those dark days when I received determinations about my health that I would have to live with forever. My Life has been enriched by having two intelligent hardworking children from two very different marriages, 25 years in security ranging from building protection all the way through to looking after stars at live music events; all this whilst still fighting not only the cancer which came later, but also spindylothesis (Vertebrae in the spine crumbling) being diagnosed from the age of 19 and my heart condition which was diagnosed in late my thirties.

For you the reader I hope you will find in this humble book a help to mentally survive the trauma of being a cancer victim and may it offer you an insight into some of the way out and almost less orthodoxly sane methods of mentally fighting this dreaded disease. May it also help indeed you to overcome life’s little set-backs. I openly admit here and now that my sense of humour may not be to everyone’s taste but it makes me the person I am.

I believe that you pass through life but once and at any opportunity one should try to help fellow man and do the right thing.

Chapter 1 - I am me.

I must say straight away the I am me and that is a combination of my experiences and decisions I have taken along life’s highway, a journey littered with challenges and it is those elements that make me who I am today.

I was born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire; England in 1957; as the eighth child to working class parents. As the old Lancashire saying goes about Yorkshire folk; Yorkshire born and Yorkshire bred, Strong in the arm but thick in the head. My parents were Lily (Lilian) and Charlie (Charles George Francis) and they between them, went on to have another daughter after me and still found room in their heart and space in our family to adopt my youngest sister Tracey.

So here is a quick roll call of my family members; Gloria; Peter David (Known as Dave to the family and Pete to his work colleagues); Alan; Christine; Malcolm; Anne; Paul; Me – Raymond; Janice and last but not least Tracey. Tracey always knew she was adopted although it was not generally talked about but Gloria was her real mother but it was still socially unacceptable to be an unmarried mother at the time and we all accepted Tracey as our sister and doted on her.

I should point out at this point that although my family was traditionally Church of England in faith, it was never forced upon any of us and as a result of my own endeavours, I found myself becoming an agnostic.  I now declare myself to be C of E; Church of Egypt but it’s too far to go. As promised and warned about here is a touch of my, what is at best described as a weird sense of humour.

Figure 2 illustration 1. A typical steel foundry scene circa 1950's - where