Terminally-ill Allenton man to remarry ex-wife after 15 years

A 51-YEAR-OLD sufferer of a fatal cancer is marrying his ex-wife after 15 years of being apart.

Steve Gillingham became ill while living in China and returned to Derby in June, where he was diagnosed with mesothelioma last month.

He was told he would probably not live for more than another year-and-a-half.

Now, he and his ex-wife Susan will remarry, much to the delight of their three children, and on the date of their original wedding anniversary.

The father-of-three was playing football and cycling up until June this year but now cannot even walk to the local shop.

"This has brought us closer together and Susan has been extremely supportive," said Mr Gillingham, who now lives with Mrs Gillingham, and their sons Stephen, 24, and Alan, 27, in Grosvenor Street, Allenton.

Their daughter Stacey, 23, who lives close by, will also be at the wedding on September 15 – exactly 29 years after they first married.

Mr Gillingham was living in China teaching English at Guangzhou Civil Aviation College when he became ill.

Doctors thought he may have lung cancer but, when he came back to Derby, he was diagnosed with mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the chest and lungs, is caused by exposure to asbestos.

Mr Gillingham, who is currently undergoing chemotherapy, feels breathless and is on morphine to relieve his painful symptoms.

He said: "This disease is rapid and it's hard to get your head around. I have to accept that maybe I've only got 18 months left to live."

He said it made him angry the Government was not putting more money into research and drug trials for patients of the disease.

"They've known for over 100 years that asbestos is nasty stuff," he said, "yet even in the 60s they never thought to tell the lads to wear a mask. The least they could do now is try to help these people suffering."

Derbyshire is considered a hotspot for mesothelioma cases because of its history of heavy engineering. At least 300 people in the county have died in the past 30 years but specialists expect a surge in numbers because of the disease's long incubation period.

Mr Gillingham is not sure where he inhaled the fatal asbestos fibres.

He was in the Army for 11 years and recalls an occasion in Northern Ireland when he worked in a bombed building that contained asbestos.

He worked as a groundsman at International Combustion in Derby between 1988 and 1994.

He has just recently discovered another possible source of exposure while talking to his father, Alan Gillingham, 74, of Littleover.

In the 1950s, when Mr Gillingham was born, his father worked at Eight Shop in Derby Locomotive works.

He said: "My dad said the lads used to use the asbestos material as snowballs and play football with it.

"Dad used to change his overalls and shower but the fibres are minute and all it would have taken was for me to breathe in just a single fibre."

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