Dougie was feeling out of sorts for about 18 months before his death. He Went to the GP many times and had many blood tests and scans. He was diagnosed with an under active thyroid and given medication, his trouble eating and his voice change was put down to the thyroid. This medication did not help and Dougie continued to feel an extreme lacking in energy. More tests, examinations and a biopsy revealed prostate cancer and yet again we thought they'd cracked it.
This was not to be.
Half way through October Dougie took to his bed. He had begun to feel very unwell and his chest wasn't feeling right. He stopped wanting to eat or drink and the doctor was called to see him. Immediately he called an ambulance, after checking his lungs and sats and assuming he had a severe chest infection. By the time Dougie got to hospital He was in and out of consciousness and was sedated and put on a ventilator. He was on life support over the weekend and on Monday morning when the specialist came back on duty the family were given the devastating news that he had, in fact been suffering with MND. There was no hope as he was already in respiratory failure. Once off life support the family were told he would die within minutes as he wouldn't be able to breathe on his own, they were wrong. Dougie fought to stay alive for two and a half days finally dying in the early hours of Wednesday 26th October 2016. He was a warrior and we are still in utter shock from his passing.