ROCK STAR’S BOOST FOR TERMINAL DAD
A TERMINALLY ill dadof-four from Swansea was given a huge lift when he received a heartwarming message from his rock star hero.
Andrew Morse, of Treboeth, has just months to live after being diagnosed with terminal oesophagus cancer.
The 46-year-old is a huge fan of the American heavy metal band Slipknot, and one of his ‘bucket list’ goals was to take his children Samantha, Bethan, Lucie and Aaron to go to watch the band live in January at Cardiff Motorpoint Arena, something they achieved.
But, since the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown, Mr Morse has been left unable to achieve many of the other things he had planned to do.
Steph Morgan, Mr Morse’s former partner, decided she wanted to do something to help lift his spirits, and arranged for him to receive a call from Slipknot and Stone Sour lead singer Corey Taylor.
But, on the day the surprise call was meant to take place, their daughter, Samantha Morse, had to call her mum to tell her Mr Morse was too unwell to receive the call.
Mrs Morgan informed the rock star, and he decided to send a video message instead.
Corey Taylor said in his message: “I hope you feel better. I know it’s tough man and I’m so sorry that I can’t be there but I just wanted to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for being a fan, for enjoying what I do.
“I wish we could have met in person, but I hope that this makes you feel a little better man. Just know that me, all the boys in Slipknot, all the boys in Stone Sour, everyone I play with, we are all sending you love and as much good feelings as we can.”
Mrs Morgan said: “We found out a couple of months back that Andrew was terminal with cancer, but with Covid-19 he has been unable to leave the house. Our daughter (Samantha) has spent most of the time down her dad’s house and they had gone to see Slipknot in January. After that he started to go downhill.
“I thought, what’s the best way of them having a moment together and having a good memory. I thought of the idea and I shared it round on Facebook to see if I we could make it happen and I managed to get in contact with Corey Taylor. It was going to be a Zoom video call but because Andrew was so poorly we arranged for a video message to be sent instead. It was nice for them to share that moment and they have got that forever. It is really special.”
Samantha filmed her dad’s reaction as he watched the video, and said it really lifted his spirits. “He said ‘Oh my God that’s Corey Taylor,” Samantha said.
“He was really gobsmacked. It really brought his spirits up. He has only got a few months left and for Corey to do that for him was amazing. He is a massive Slipknot fan and we went to see them together in January. He always said ‘One thing I want to do before I die is take you to see them.’
“He is not doing good at all at the moment, he is really poorly. It’s really hard with lockdown as the options are limited and there’s not much we can all do together.
“I’m my dad’s main carer and I just want my dad to enjoy what time he has left. He wanted to go on holiday and he wanted to take me and my siblings down the caravan for a week, but that isn’t going to happen.
“It meant so much to everyone to receive that message. We just started crying. To be honest it made my dad the happiest he had been for a long time. He had a massive smile on his face, it was a special moment.”