[ellenModerator]

It is with great sadness that I have to bring you the news of Keith passing in the early hours of this morning. I have just spoken to Sue and she wanted me to pass on her thanks to all of Keith?s online friends.

Sue has family and friends around her and is being supported in her grief.

On a personal note, I and many of the staff here at Myeloma UK have met Keith on many occasions, at Infodays and at support groups and we were all struck by his down to earth friendly manner and his determination not to let myeloma define who he was.

He will be sorely missed by those who knew him.

[TinaParticipant]

Thankyou Ellen for breaking this expected but nonetheless very sad news.

Dear Sue,

Please accept my heartfelt condolences. I am so glad that you have your family and friends around you to offer love and support. Keith sounded like a wonderful man, he gave an awful lot of advice and comfort to many of us on the forum and we are so grateful for that.

Take care

Tina X

[EvaParticipant]

Dear Sue,
I am deeply sorry to hear this news. I hope that the good times you had will give you much consolation.
Eva

[HelenParticipant]

Dear Ellen
I do hope you will convey my feeling of great sadness to Sue, I met Keith at the Newcastle info day last year, when I was at a very vulnerable point. He was so very encouraging, understanding and thoughtful. He will be missed greatly by this community.
Love Helen

[DizzylizParticipant]

Dear sue,

My sincere condolences to you and the family, r.i.p. Keith!

Love liz & kev xx

[tomParticipant]

Ellen Thank you for letting us know that Keith has passed away, its not easy when one of the group get ill let alone Pass on. Love and Hugs to you all.

Dear Sue and family
Please accept my condolences to you all at this sad time, I never met Keith but I want you to know he gave me strength in the way he fought hard with his MM and for that I thank him.
Stay Strong Sue and remember the good times before MM darkened your Door.

Love Tom and Elaine xxx

[jmsmythParticipant]

Dear Sue

My prayers and thoughts are with you and your family at this very sad time. I never met Keith but I followed his journey for some time. He gave us all support and comfort and his knowledge of the awful disease, even whie going through such a hard time himself. May your memories and family give you strength through this very sad time
Love Jean xx

[PhilKellyParticipant]

So sorry to hear this, I was lucky enough to meet Keith several times through MMUK and he was such a good guy. In fact I think Keith was the first person I ever spoke with at a Myeloma info day and it helped me greatly finding someone so down to earth at a time when I was still in denial about the whole thing.

[MothasParticipant]

Thank you for passing on this sad news.
My thoughts are with his family, friends and loved ones.

I never met Keith but he always contributed thoughtful, supportive, informative posts to the community and will be missed.

Tom

[ozzyParticipant]

Dear Sue
Our thoughts are with you at this sad time, you have wonderful memories of the good times, Keith will be sadly missed.
You take care of yourself
Paul & Gayle x

[eveParticipant]

Hi Sue

We all new Keith,but not you,I hope you can find some comfort with the knowledge,that he will be missed by his cyber friends, he never posted a photograph of himself,but we all new when he was not posting specially when he new that time was not on his side.

He made time to reply to other people who asked questions,as Keith was ahead of many on here,he did not just fade away,he faced his end,and told us in a very easy manner,that time was not on his side.

I wish you well and hope that your future life is kind to you. Eve and Slim

[HelenRParticipant]

Dear Sue,

I never met Keith but I read his posts on the forum and he was so helpful in passing on his experiences and advice to other new myeloma patients starting out on this tough journey. He was clearly a very brave and lovely man, and you must miss him. I hope you are surrounded by love and able to take the time you need to grieve, and rest after such a very hard time. Thanks so much to Keith for his posts.

Helen

[DaiCroParticipant]

It is ironic that the notice of Keith's passing sits below the discussion of the Elephant in the room. Keith was always open about reaching the home run although he was hoping to get one more piece of time to take Sue on holiday to Cape Verde or somewhere similar but it was not to be. Keith started the Bendamustine treatment a month before me but he could not manage to get his platelets and neutrofils up to a level to allow treatment to continue. He went on to, or rather back to CDT and he was hoping that that would help… alas that was the last we heard from him and it seems that infection took him into hospital.

Keith was a good friend to many of us and it wasn't all doom and gloom. I remember him when I joined the old site, always willing to share information and offer down to earth advice. It was his down to earth approach to MM and his refusal to allow this damned disease to define him that had such a great influence to my approach to others who came behind me. Like with others that have gone before I regret not having the opportunity to meet him personally but as much as I would have liked that it was enough to meet up here and discuss, inform and generally debate the vagaries of MM.

I could not imagine life, or letting go, without Janet… it is so good to know he had someone close, someone special and therefore I am so glad that he had Sue with him to and at the end.

Dai.

[andygParticipant]

I had the pleasure of meeting Keith regularly, either at the day case unit or the local support group, and he was everything and more the person who posted here. He was bloody minded in his approach to MM he wanted to and did tackle it head on. He wasn't afraid to try new treatments or drugs but he knew the ultimately the damned MM would prevail. Although Steph and I only knew Keith and Sue for a little over 18 months I'd like to think we became friends rather then just fellow travellers on the MM journey and I'm sure everyone on this forum who read Keith's posts, received his advice or just had a general chat would share that sentiment.
I'll miss him, Steph will miss him, this forum will miss him but most of all Sue will miss him. Sue is a lovely lady she always has a ready smile even when things weren't going well. Lovely to talk to very down to earth. Sue, and I hope she doesn't mind me mentioning this, has her own problems and only manages to get about with a pair of walking sticks. My heart goes out to Sue at this moment of grief and it reminds me that ultimately all carers will have to go through this grief and my heart goes out to them too. I do hope Sue gets the support she deserves and is able in the future to move on and get back her ready smile.
I did want to post earlier but couldn't find the words to convey my feeling about Keith's passing, not sure I've managed it now, but with the mixture of Dex and a bit of alcohol I've given my best shot.
I will be attending Keith's funeral if everything goes ok and I would like to go not only to pay my and Steph's respects but to represent the admiration, respect and love that this board had for Keith. I hope I have all your agreement that I can represent you all. I know it will be ok but I don't want to be presumptuous.

Keith – you met it head on and showed us how to tackle MM and as Dai says "refused to let this damned disease define you" it's all over for you now but your legacy will live on. REST IN PEACE.

Sue – my heart is breaking for you I do hope in this sad sad time you can begin to fill the void the Keith has left and get some comfort from the many people Keith helped and inspired.
Lots of love Andy & Steph.

Every day is a gift
Onwards and upwards

But most of all love and respect.
XXXXXX

[jmsmythParticipant]

Andy that was so lovely written. You were able to write things that I would not be able to put in writing. Thank you for that. Andy I think you would a great representative for Keith's cyber friends at this most sad time. My thoughts and love will be with Sue and family and you and all his friends.

Love Jean xx

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