Lesley McCready

We lost our beautiful Lesley on the 14th of May 2020 to Pancreatic Cancer which is an unforgiving disease . Getting married to Lesley on the 23rd July 1988 was the best thing that ever happened to me and she was the source of happiness and fun in our lives. We were both so blessed to welcome our son Ross on the 11th of January 1993. Lesley was a wonderful loving mum who was so proud of Ross and all that he has achieved in his journey through life.

Lesley loved her career as a Business Studies teacher at Loudoun Academy going back to the place she had been a pupil. She excelled in this role as the testimony of her colleagues, ex-pupils and friends would confirm.

Lesley had a wonderful personality and was engaging with everybody she came into contact with. This resulted in her developing a loyal circle of good friends who remain faithful to this day and share the pain of the loss of a good friend. I know Lesley enjoyed your nights out where you shared stories, laughter and wine, and I know she will remain in your hearts always and will be fondly remembered at your future nights out.

“Appreciate the Moment” was Lesley’s phrase when we were away together, be it in Tenerife or laterally in Florida particularly on our balcony in Fort Myers Beach drinking whisky and gin & tonic watching the stars and listen to the sound of the Gulf of Mexico lapping.

I cherish these memories of our time together and recognise how fortunate I was in sharing my life with such a special loving person.

When Lesley was diagnosed in July 2019 we were given the full support of the NHS Cancer Team. This was primarily through the dedicated Pancreatic Cancer Team at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre who are supported by Pancreatic Cancer UK. Although we had received devastating news we were encouraged by the positive and caring attitude of the team and subsequently Lesley was enroled onto a Pancreatic Cancer Clinical Trial - Primus-001. The support from the team was excellent and they were diligent in the execution of the treatment plan and gave us some hope. Unfortunately due to the agressive unforgiving nature of this disease a chance was all Lesley had and although she fought hard to stay with us, it was not to be.

It is with my personal experience of Pancreatic Cancer and the difficulty in detecting and treating the disease that the innovative and groundbreaking work which is being carried out by the team at Pancreatic Cancer UK must be allowed to develop and this requires our support.

We need to give future patients a much better chance of surving this disease and that is why I have set up this Together In Memory Page. This provides us all with an opportunity to give a donation to Pancreatic Cancer UK to enable their work to drive future treatments through innovative solutions in memory of Lesley.

I thank you all for your support through these difficult times.

Kenneth