Newspaper link

Thanks for the link - nice to see the justgiving link at the bottom of the page, too.

I should think the charity will see a nice little flood of donations on the back of that story.

Like you say, definitely fills in the story - all sorts of details that most of us didn't know the full ins and outs of. I shed a good few tears reading that. And a little chuckle at the bit where his mum compared having his lung removed to having a tooth out. I can just imagine him now, responding to the question "Where have you been the last few weeks?" with "Oh, in hospital - I had a lung out".

I'm proud to have known him.

Oh man, I knew that he had it bad but didn't know that it had been

*that* bad.

Puts things into perspective, that.

First diagnosed at just 13yrs old! I hadn't realised that Dan had lived with this for so long - that just makes me admire his stoicism and spirit even more.

Same here.

Indeed.

I just remembered that he lurked and sometimes posted on PH, so just posted a topic over there.

With any luck, it'll raise some more money for the charidee.

Fuck[1].

Me.

I am stunned.

Dan made so light of his medical problems, that I genuinely had *no* idea of the depth and breadth of them.

Barbara, if you're reading this, you raised a good lad. A really, really good lad. I never met him, other than virtually. I really wish I had. I knew he was a good 'un; someone I liked from what little I knew of him. I had no idea...

Steve, thanks for posting this.

[1] I'm foul-mouthed, so sue me. This is one time I can think of no other word to express my feelings.

Good to see the details in print to let people know what he went through.

And I see the donations have gone up a bit.

Indeed.

At the infamous ukrcm Wetwang Chippy meet where he came in the Yellow Peril, if you didn't know him you wouldn't realise just how much was wrong with him. Outwardly, he certainly didn't give any clues.

Bar turning up in a Renault. ;-)

Until I read a thread someone recently pointed me at on the Cliosport forum where Dan offloaded some of his troubles at the time he lost use of his legs, I too had no idea how shit things had gone for him in the last few months bar his Clio had been replaced with a Doblo converted for disabled use... and this is despite me talking to him quite regularly on MSN over the last year or so.

So yes, I was stunned too when I read that, and all I can say is Dan was obviously a very selfless person and one his family have every right to feel proud of, not least given his mothers account of what he had to put up with for the second half of his innings in the link above.

Me too.

I don't know how someone could endure all that. I doubt I could find the strength and resolve to do it. He came across as so level headed and full of life in his posts and full of the desire to keep going.

Agreed Nigel. Nothing I can really add to that.

bloody hell, never realised fully just what a bad hand he'd been dealt until reading that.

Well said. Unlike you lot, I really only lurk hereabouts, maybe the very occasional post. However, that doesn't mean that what I've read here over the last week hasn't totally and utterly stunned me. I've been reading this group for years, and *always* absorbed all of the info, the advice and the jocular stuff in equal measure. Not really having joined in with these discussions I do feel slightly ill-at-ease posting this now, but I wanted you all to know that there probably are a fair few lurkers here doing the same, and hopefully being as inspired by Dan's courage as I was/am.

That article really is difficult reading, like some of you have said, you would never have guessed from the guys demeanour or attitude that things were quite that bad. I hope no-one minds me butting in like this, but I wanted to say it just the same.

Well said and thanks for wandering in.

Oh, if you're after a Manta Coupé, have a peep through the ebay tat section on Autoshite.com. They're always turning 'em up.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Conor saying something like:

That's the case with many usenet contributors, ityf.

He was in the V6 then, because we commented about the pizza warmer boot, and everyone ooo'd and ahhh'd about the custom lazer cut exhaust trim to replace the plastic one that his custom exhaust didn't fit anymore.

But you are right, he looked tired but didn't look sick.