Tag Archives: blood cancer awareness month

It’s just a few short month since Jo Swinson lost her dad, Peter, to Blood Cancer. I met Peter many times while helping out with Jo’s campaigns over the years. He was such a lovely, kind man who was clearly so proud of her. Both he and her Mum Annette put so much effort into supporting Jo and having their home taken over by all sorts of random Lib Dems over the years. They were always so friendly and welcoming to us.

Jo ran the London Marathon and raised thousands of pounds for Bloodwise back in 2011. This just shows Jo’s indefatigability. Looking back on it, I’ve just realised that this was a few a few weeks before the 2011 Holyrood election and a few more weeks before her wedding.

What she chose not to share publicly at that point is that Peter had been diagnosed with Blood Cancer in 2008. He kept in reasonably good health until 2015 but then had to undergo several gruelling rounds of treatment.

Yesterday, Jo took over the Bloodwise Twitter account to tell her family’s story.

Hello! I'm @joswinson and today I'm doing a takeover of the Bloodwise Twitter account. . #MakeBloodCancerVisible pic.twitter.com/WHhkhDRgFg

— Bloodwise / Eduardo (@bloodwise_uk) September 29, 2018

She talked about the impact of the initial diagnosis:

When my dad first had his diagnosis, the word cancer was terrifying. I remember worrying that he wouldn't be able to walk me down the aisle on my wedding day. Happily that wasn't the case. It was such a special father-daughter moment. pic.twitter.com/Mqw3pCjBkV

— Bloodwise / Eduardo (@bloodwise_uk) September 29, 2018

That summer of 2015 was when Dad's health rapidly deteriorated. In July we were climbing The Cobbler (2,900 ft) together. By August Dad was in hospital. He started treatment that autumn, steroids and chemotherapy. pic.twitter.com/NT56fFEeTO

— Bloodwise / Eduardo (@bloodwise_uk) September 29, 2018

More spells of chemo and new diagnoses followed, but he saw a happy occasion earlier this year: