‘I don’t consider what my dad did was suicide...he wanted to end his suffering’
NORMAN Ward tried every treatment offered in the 15 years he lived with prostate cancer which spread around his body leading to a terminal diagnosis.
Eventually the suffering became too much and the 75-year-old shot himself in his garden.
Norman’s son Gareth is sharing his story to support the campaign for a change in the law to give terminally ill people who are expected to die within six months the option of an assisted death.
Gareth, 45, said: “What my dad did, I’ve never considered it suicide. He wanted to end his suffering. He tried all the treatments and drug trials. It was just too much in the end.”
Born in Cardiff, Norman served in the Welsh Guards. He later worked as a builder and married Gareth’s mum Valerie in 1969. She died of a heart attack in 2001.
The cancer was kept in check by hormone therapy for 10 years. He then had chemotherapy but it spread to his pancreas, spleen and later his bones, at which point doctors said it was terminal. Norman grew weaker and fell while walking his dog on marshes near his home in Gravesend, Kent. He broke his leg and crawled for an hour before he was found. The grandfather-of-seven had his pancreas removed, his mobility declined and he had a stroke two months before his death.
He was given increasing doses of morphine but it was not enough to keep the pain at bay.
Norman told friends after his diagnosis that he would kill himself if the disease became too much. But in June 2021 his family had no idea of his plan. Gareth, from Essex, said: “He kept a legally owned shotgun locked in the loft. “The man could barely get up the stairs, no one thought he could have got that shotgun but he did.
“He sat in the garden, phoned 999, told them what he was going to do, then phoned me. He said: ‘That’s it. I can’t have another night like last night. I’m going to shoot myself now.’” Gareth called 999 and his two sisters, who lived near their father. One of Norman’s daughter’s found him before an ambulance and armed response unit arrived.
She is now on antidepressants and having counselling. Her husband is also terminally ill with brain cancer and wants to end his life.
Gareth said: “He would have gone for assisted dying if he could. We were robbed of the option for it to be calmer and quieter, and for everyone to come to terms with it before he went.”
The Daily Express is backing Dignity in Dying’s blueprint for a law change and a petition on it. ●●When life is difficult, call the Samaritans free on 116 123.
‘We were robbed of the option to come to terms with it before he went’