On Saturday the 1st October, family and friends of the late Andy Middleham hosted a fabulous evening of live music in his memory.  The event, which held at The Boat Club in Nottingham, featured the bands Splinter Cell, Embrace the Awkward and Loach.

The event was a great success thanks to the organisational skills of Andy's friends, Tim and Alexander, who created a Facebook events page to advertise and keep everyone informed of the plans for the night.  The tickets were £10 each and payment was generated by a Much Loved Tribute page set up in memory of the husband and father of two. 

The reason behind this amazing fundraising event was to remember Andy, who sadly passed away in January this year, following a short battle with oesophageal cancer.  Andy's wife Abi, is keen to continue raising awareness of this type of cancer and bravely, shares Andy's story below.

Andy was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in July 2021. Around March that year he began struggling with his evening meals, having difficulty swallowing and heartburn. He tried a few over the counter remedies which didn't help so fairly soon after the symptoms began he spoke to the GP who prescribed medication for acid reflux. However, over the next few months the symptoms persisted and got worse so GP eventually referred to a specialist who arranged for an endoscopy, which found the tumour.

Initially we were hopeful that treatment and surgery would be the solution, however soon after the initial diagnosis further tests revealed that unfortunately the cancer had already spread a lot and we were informed that the cancer would never be removed with surgery.  So treatment was planned which we hoped would allow us some more time. However, treatment did not go well, and he reacted very badly to radiotherapy and the chemotherapy, plus mid way through the treatment in October the tumour hemorrhaged and he suffered a huge internal bleed at home, which caused some delays to the chemotherapy.  After 4 chemotherapy sessions, tests were conducted to see how well the treatment was working, however at the same time symptoms continued to worsen. Results showed that unfortunately the cancer had continued to spread and as his symptoms continued to get worse and the decision was made in November 2021 that they needed to concentrate on making him as comfortable as possible.  He went into a hospice in December 2021, 2 days before Christmas. Due to raising Covid cases at the time visiting was restricted, although Abi, (Wife) Siobhan (daughter 10) and Blake (son 6) were able to visit daily. Andy passed away on 10 January 2022 - 5 days before his 47th birthday.

Andy's passion was music; he loved nothing more than going to see bands with his friends. The gig was organised by Tim and Alex and was a perfect tribute to Andy. Everyone in the room enjoying a lot of loud music and having a wonderful time, whilst raising an amazing amount of money to help raise awareness.

  Andy is pictured here with Abi, Siobhan and Blake.

So far the Much Loved Tribute page has raised over £3,300 for Heartburn Cancer UK and the charity would like to express our huge thanks and gratitude to all that made the event possible.