Dave loses brave battle with cancer, aged just 54

When Dave Churchman found out he had six months to live, he promised his wife Diane he would finish replacing the wallpaper in their house.

By the time he passed away on Monday morning the walls were still bare but Diane said he had always been optimistic.

‘‘He just puts a front on, he says we’ll get that done,’’ she said.

The Taranaki man, who was 54, had a kidney removed in January last year due to cancer, but was told in the middle of August the cancer had returned and spread around his body, and he had six months to live.

After going to hospital for a broken hip late last year, Churchman had moved into the Hospice over Christmas but returned home for his final week.

‘‘He knew if he got walking he would get home and I think he determined in his own mind that he would get walking so he could get home because he didn’t want to stay there,’’ Diane said.

‘‘Not that he didn’t like it there but he knew it was easier for us.’’

The support they had received from Hospice had been good, Diane said, especially from the nurses who visited him.

After Diane phoned to let them know Churchman had passed away, a nurse drove out to sit and have a coffee with her.

Churchman’s sons Ryan, 23, and Shaun, 21, said they would remember their dad as someone who they could talk to about anything and was always interested in what they were doing.

‘‘You could go to Dad and he was always optimistic about things, just always positive about things,’’ Ryan said.

The response from the local community, where Churchman was well-known, had been good, with gifts of food and flowers coming in as well as emails from people Diane didn’t know.

Two notices in the Taranaki Daily News from New Plymouth’s House of Travel remembered a treasured friend, colleague and business partner. ‘‘11 years with HOT (House of Travel) saw you touch our lives with your passion, humour, friendship, strength and unwavering commitment to House of Travel, Hospice New Zealand and your local community,’’ one notice said.

In September, he spoke about his situation. ‘‘I know I haven’t got any regrets about my life so I wouldn’t have changed anything about what I’ve done or anything,’’ he said. ‘‘I’m always hopefully that they’ve got it totally wrong and I’ll be around for another 20 years.

‘‘I don’t think that’s likely but forever hopeful.’’

Churchman and his family had pre-arranged his funeral at St Joseph’s Catholic Church in Waitara tomorrow, right down to having brandy snaps at the tea afterwards.

- David Burroughs