Remembering Simon
Simon was a gentle soul who only wanted to be of good to people he met.
Sometimes to put something into words lessens it. For Simon words were crucial, but to him they were playthings. You studied them, you learnt them, you placed them in strange places. Cryptic crosswords and stories – all were in his grasp.
He once drew up a 5X5 table and filled each cell with a paragraph. Across each column or down a row the paragraphs followed a story. This was his creativity, his different way of looking at life. Turn it on its head and start again. This flowed seamlessly into his love of board games.
He joined a fledgling Meet-Up group and helped develop it into a wonderful community where everyone and anyone could come to have fun. Much of his time was spent welcoming, teaching, indoctrinating, laughing and making new friends. A task he repeatedly undertook.
It is often said that people ‘fight’ or ‘struggle with’ cancer. What we learnt from Simon is a new approach. That is to assume it hasn’t occurred and therefore behave as though nothing is wrong. After his first operation he told us he just wanted to go back to Uni as though nothing had happened. If you behave as though it is not so, the world will somehow shape itself around you.
He was not defined by his cancer. There was nothing he couldn’t or wouldn’t do. He faced his illness with optimism and continued on with his plans. His medical team did not expect him to last as long as he did – they treated his disease, not the man. Like the black knight he only ever had a flesh wound.
Despite his difficulties, Simon wanted to be here with us under any circumstances. He was always getting better –right up to the day he died. As a legacy to Simon, we encourage you to donate and fund research in his honour so that someone else can spend more time with their family, finishing more of their plans and dreams.
The annual EVERGREEN GAMES was established for these reasons. An apt way to remember and to help. Join us on Facebook/meetup.
