Widower in fundraising plan to repay city hospice

A GRIEVING husband has launched a fundraising drive in memory of his wife who died tragically from cancer just two days before their son's wedding.

Iain Scoular, from Uphall, West Lothian, was at his 50-year-old wife Christine's bedside when she lost her fight to make it to the big day which she had helped plan.

Now the 52-year-old wants to repay the hospice which made her final years so much easier by donating a much-needed piece of equipment and handing over a 1000 cheque.

Despite battling a rare disease himself, the Church of Scotland parish assistant completed the tough 100km Kintyre Way walk with two of his friends recently.

He has already funded an intrathecal pump - which eases the excruciating pain of bowel cancer patients - and is set to donate the four-figure sum to the Marie Curie hospice in Fairmilehead where his wife died.

Christine had been desperate to attend son Mark's wedding to the point where she tried a dress on and had her hair and make-up done.

Mr Scoular, who suffers from hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsy - a condition similar to MS - said: "She was a wonderful lady and had an amazing pain threshold.

"She was so ill approaching the wedding on October 22. She'd had her dress fitted and we had arranged the ambulances to transport her, but unfortunately she died on the 20th.

"It was always going to be quite tight. We were told she wasn't going to make it, but as far as she was concerned she wasn't interested in that - we never asked for timescales, we just took each day as it was. She simply wanted to be there, and would die trying.

"She may even have passed away sooner had she not had the wedding to aim for."

The family resisted the temptation to cancel the wedding of Mark and Alex amidst the grief they were feeling, deciding that it would be better to press on as Christine would have wanted.

"She would have murdered us if we'd even considered not having the wedding. We have our faith and we believe she was very much there in spirit."

News of her death did not just reach her friends and family in West Lothian, but also a school in Kenya where she spent time teaching with her husband, who helped raise 100,000 to build it.

Children there held their own ceremony for her in the garden which has been dedicated to her.

Mr Scoular knows from watching his wife's struggle with the disease how important the pump - which acts in a similar way to an epidural in terms of pain relief - can be.

"It made such a difference to her quality of life. She always wanted to keep her mental faculties so didn't like pain killers - she would rather suffer the pain," he said.

"The pump made such an impact I honestly felt like there had been a cure, she was able to do so many new things."

He is equally keen for Marie Curie to be rewarded.

"They are the real experts," he said. "The care they provide is just incredible.

"She had her dignity right until the end and that was down to Marie Curie."