I MADE A PACT - I COULD NEVER BREAK

When Lindsay Yates, 50, faced losing her beloved dad, she vowed to make some big changes

- FRANCES LEATE

Holding Dad's hand in the side room we'd been ushered into, I tried to ignore the Christmas tree flickering its coloured lights in the corner. It was just two weeks before Christmas in 2017, but me, my dad, David, then 68, and Mum, Vivienne, 66, hadn't felt much like celebrating.

Dad had been struggling to swallow and now, following tests, we were about to find out what was wrong.

The consultant explained they'd found a tumour in Dad's stomach. 'It's stage 3 oesophageal cancer,' he said, as I heard Mum and Dad start to cry. I'd never heard Dad cry before and I just felt completely numb. Aged 43 and an only child, I'd always been a Daddy's girl. We were very close - listening to Queen on his record player, watching the Wigan Warriors at rugby matches. Dad was a family man, devoted to me and Mum, and neither of us could face the thought of losing him.

IN IT TOGETHER

That night, I broke down to my husband, Andrew, then 43. 'Dad doesn't smoke, or drink. It's just so unfair,' I sobbed. 'I'm so sorry,' he soothed. While we did our best to keep up the pretence of normality that Christmas for our twin boys, Nathan and Matthew, 12, I couldn't help but wonder if Dad's weight had contributed to his devastating diagnosis, especially when I saw posters on buses from Cancer Research UK, saying being overweight was one of the biggest causes of cancer.

Dad had always been big, we both had we loved a fry-up or a big dinner like lasagne with plenty of chips. Dad weighed around 22st and I was 18st 2lb, a dress size 22 - big for my 5ft 10in height.