“I chose to complete a wing walk for the OPA charity in memory of my dad, Nick Preston. I chose a wing walk because of the love of planes that me and my dad shared (however this does not mean that i was not extremely nervous lol). We had been to many air shows together along with my mom and sister and watched many wing walks so I wanted to do something different and relevant to raise money for the charity in memory of my dad.
The wing walk itself was absolutely amazing, from start to finish. I was shown a safety briefing to start with, explaining how to get on the aircraft, any hand signals to communicate with the pilot so he could check whether I was okay up there or not. I had a discussion with my pilot beforehand who asked how intense I wanted the wing walk to be and I of course asked for it to be the most adrenaline based flight possible. When actually in the air it was absolutely freezing as it was very windy however I can’t believe how safe I felt the whole time, it was so much fun I didn’t want to come down. We reached a height of around 400ft and around 150mph.”
“Why i chose the OPA:
Going back a few months, his symptoms had started in March 2021, unfortunately the severity of his condition was continuously missed by GP’s and he was wrongly diagnosed with a variety of minor illnesses such as chest infections and acid reflux. This continued for 3 months, until June 2021, when he was finally referred for an endoscopy, but devastatingly the cancer was missed yet again after he was wrongly diagnosed with a completely different and curable condition and received biopsy results stating ‘no cancer found’. It was when he went back a month later on 26th June for a ‘curative’ procedure that we were told that he had been misdiagnosed and he actually had Oesophageal cancer. This was obviously a huge shock and tremendous blow but we all tried to remain positive, especially my dad, whilst over the following months he went for further tests and procedures to find out what stage he was at and hopefully create a treatment plan. Sadly we didn’t receive the news we wanted and were told that he was stage 4 with the cancer having spread to his stomach and lymph nodes meaning a cure was not possible. Despite this, he still managed to maintained a positive outlook and never once moaned or asked why him. The plan was to start a treatment plan involving chemotherapy to help his symptoms and hopefully prolong his life. He started his first round of intensive chemo in October 2021, it was harsh on his body and gave him horrendous side effects meaning he was weak, tired and unable to continue working which was something that he really missed. Despite how tough everything was he persevered and his first scans after treatment were positive, showing a reduction in the size of the tumor, he was able to eat properly for the first time in months, something we were all so happy and relieved to see. Although the chemo appeared to be working it was also having a very negative effect on the rest of his body, meaning he needed blood transfusions and so the decision was made to reduce the strength of the chemo therapy drug, sadly this also meant that it was no longer as effective as his symptom and inability to eat eventually returned in March 2022, ironically it was exactly the same date that the symptoms had started the previous year.
The months that followed were tough for everyone, with the return of his symptoms he was once again unable to eat, meaning that not only was his body being ravaged by the chemotherapy he was growing weaker from not being able to eat. He continued having treatment, although by this point it was ineffective and the cancer continued to spread, eventually reaching his bones meaning he was in a great deal of pain. Despite this he continued to carry on taking each day as it came and maintaining a positive attitude for the sake of his family. With his condition deteriorating his oncologist applied for a place on an immunotherapy trial as a last bid to help his quality of life. He was accepted which was a beacon of hope to all of us but unfortunately in late August his condition deteriorated rapidly with him being in severe pain and barely able to stand up and he was admitted into hospital on the 26th August, the same week he was meant to start the clinical trial. We all thought this was going to be a short stay to rebuild his strength ahead of his new treatment but devastatingly that wasn’t to be and he passed away in hospital on the 5th September 2022.”
Thank you to Stacey Preston for sharing this story and choosing to support the OPA!
