Hello, Thanks for visiting this website which I’ve set up for my late wife, Alison. I hope that by looking around on the website you will join me in celebrating Alison’s life. If you knew Alison and would like to contribute some photos, a story, or a memory please select Contribute in the menu above. Whilst the loss of my beautiful wife is the saddest and most painful experience of my life, I hope that the photos and stories on the website will at times make us smile, perhaps surprise us by learning something new about Alison, and above all inspire us all to live our lives as fully as possible. Alison was diagnosed with Terminal bowel cancer in November 2009 (we were given just 3 months to live). Following a tough and courageous journey of 10 months she passed away on 25th August 2010; she was 46 years old. The journey that we went through in those 10 months is hard, if not impossible to put into words. It will always be a part of our lives which can only be truly known and understood by myself and Ali; an intimacy we had not expected to share at this stage of our lives together. In the early days of the diagnosis the biggest emotion I felt was fear, raw fear. Fear for Ali that she was going to lose the opportunity to continue with her hopes, dreams and plans for her life; fear for myself that I was going to lose my best friend, soul mate and the love of my life; fear that everything that we had worked hard to build together such as our home, our future, our friendship would all be lost. I guess we made something of a pact, early on, to go through the journey, as much as we possibly could together. We worked as a team; I’m very proud of that for us both. We approached living with a terminal illness with as much positivity and creativity as we could. We researched everything there was to know about diet and cancer, and Ali adjusted what she ate accordingly. We got ‘an all singing and dancing’ juicer from the USA to make every concoction of fruit and vegetable juice drinks imaginable, and a few more besides! We extended our interest in technology so that we were both ‘teched to the max’ with smart phones, laptops, etc so that we could always be in contact 24/7 that was the best way anything Ali wanted she got, she hated having her stomach drained so I would do it every couple of hours for the two months she was in hospitial I was always there to hold her hand with every needle .we got a night vision IP camera for down stairs bedroom so she could have total peace until she awoke each morning. We rearranged the house to make sure she was as comfortable as possible including buying a new powered armchair, grab rails, and over bed table, remote controlled cooling fans and heater, light weight wheel chair So we always tried to find solutions to problems as they arose in an effort just to make that particular day a little easier. Ali kept herself as active in mind and body as she possibly could throughout the illness. Each day was a new day and if she felt like going out, we made that happen. Our ultimate solution to getting out was the purchase of our motor home. This meant that Ali could be self contained within our own space but still get out and about. I’m proud that we managed to travel up north to Elgin. Although I no longer have the motor home, I will always feel a twinge of affection when I see a Burstner Elegance on the road. Ali never lost her ability to show kindness to others even when she was very very ill. Only a month before she passed away we organised a BBQ for her colleagues at TC Young law practice. She planned the event with her usual scrupulous attention to detail. It was lovely to see her enjoying people’s company, as well as our visitors taking pleasure in spending time with Ali and appreciating all her planning with regards to food and hospitality; and the sun even shone! Sadly Ali’s journey ended when she passed away on 25th August 2010. I can honestly say that we did the best we could throughout those 10 months. I am incredibly proud of Ali, I have such respect for the way in which she approached getting on with living despite having a terminal illness. There were some pretty special people who in different ways helped and supported us in our journey. I’d like to say thanks here to them, particularly our oncologist Steven Harrow and surgeon Andrew Renwick at the Royal Alexandria Hospital they are truly amazing human beings, nursing staff in the ward at the RAH , and the district nurses who helped out at home. Also Liz and Ian, thank you so much for your caring support, Andrew Cowan for sorting all Ali's TCyoung business affairs, my sister Lorna, thanks for that star – it went everywhere with us, So that’s the special people…now for the special dogs! To Kirsty and Angus, our beautiful Westie puppies, you helped us and touched us in ways that are just not possible for mere human beings. So that was the last part of Ali’s life. But Ali had a full, busy, interesting and stimulating life before she became unwell. I hope the photos on the website will reflect the wide variety of interests and experiences that she enjoyed in her life. Also that by looking at the photos we will remember what a fun loving, go getting, strong, kind and beautiful person Ali was. Best wishes, Sam