Tragedy of a young father

12:24pm Friday 14th December 2007

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A YOUNG dad has died just two weeks before he had been due to marry.

Neil Haynes, aged 29, was planning to marry Kelly Turner on Christmas Eve.

But he was bravely battling against an aggressive and rare form of cancer and the wedding was postponed when his health deteriorated.

Last Saturday Mr Haynes, a father of two young boys from Kearsley, died at the Christie Hospital in Manchester.

Yesterday, his tearful fiancee spoke of her heartbreak.

"The whole family is absolutely devastated," said Miss Turner.

"Christmas will be really difficult, but we're going to make it the best we can for the boys."

Mr Haynes had fought against an extremely rare combination of two strands of the disease.

The father-of-two died from cancer of the bone marrow and a separate cancer of the lymph nodes.

Doctors say there is only one other known case worldwide.

The couple had a ring blessing ceremony at Mr Haynes' bedside, the night before he died.

Miss Turner is now planning on changing her surname to Haynes by deed poll, because she feels they were effectively married.

She said Mr Haynes meant the world to their boys, Joshua, aged four, and Samuel, aged two.

"Neil was a fantastic dad," she said.

"They just loved him so much. As soon as he came home they would shout out Daddy, daddy, daddy'.

"The boys are both so like him, he will live on through them."

Mr Haynes, of Mossfield Road, Kearsley, was initially diagnosed with cancer at the Royal Bolton Hospital last October, after finding lumps in his neck.

He underwent chemotherapy and was told in February that he was in remission. But the lumps quickly returned.

Doctors at the Royal Bolton referred him to the Christie Hospital, where consultants told him he had been misdiagnosed and that he actually had a different, rare form of cancer - lymphoblastic lymphoma.

After a series of tests to check he was well enough to have more treatment, he underwent more chemotherapy, through injections in his back.

In August, he had a stem cell transplant and total body radiation treatment. Later he had to attend hospital twice-weekly for blood transfusions.

Mr Haynes, a warehouse assistant for DFS at Middlebrook retail park, kept upbeat throughout his treatment, trying to keep life as normal as possible for his two boys.

"He never complained and refused to give up," said Miss Turner.

But even as the family thought he was on the road to recovery, the hospital discovered he had an abnormal white blood cell count and warned Mr Haynes and his family that the cancer might have returned.

After more tests, the family - including parents Bill and Janet, and brother Lee - were told Mr Haynes had also developed a very rare bone marrow disease.

Staff at Christie's worked to save him but he slipped into a coma last Thursday and never woke up.

Mr Haynes' funeral takes place at St Stephen's Church, Kearsley, on Tuesday (dec18).

Miss Turner said: "The boys are too young to go to his funeral so we're going to have a small family ceremony for them. I'm going to get some balloons for Joshua and Samuel to release into the sky."

Dr Adrian Bloors, consultant at the Christie Hospital, said that after successful initial treatment, Neil developed "a rapidly progressive myeloproliferative syndrome" - a life threatening and aggressive bone marrow disorder, which did not respond to treatment.

"To have both of these diseases simultaneously is extremely rare, and to our knowledge this is only the second reported case worldwide.

"Our thoughts are with Neil's family at this tragic and difficult time."

Heather Edwards, head of communications at the Royal Bolton Hospital, said: "This was a very rare presentation of a very rare illness which inadvertently led to a misdiagnosis of the lymphoma category.

"It is not clear whether this would have made a difference to his treatment or this ultimate, very sad outcome."

The hospital passed on its condolences and apologised for the distress the misdiagnosis caused, she added.