some sad news
hi there,
some of you may know that my mum, Sharon, has been fighting cancer for the last few years.
we were recently told that, due to some unfortunate health complications, mums treatment would stop, and she would not have much time left.
this is an update to let you know that mum passed away on Friday 6th of December 2024.
over those last few days she grew weaker and weaker, but she was surrounded by love and family, and dad never left her side.
some of you may recognise the date of her death as also being her birthday, which was a milestone she was determined to reach. we were told repeatedly across the week that this would be unlikely, but once again, mum defied all odds with her strength and bravery.
she didn’t leave until she was ready to do so.
we decided to move her birthday party earlier in the week, celebrating with cake and balloons on Tuesday the 3rd. she even managed a little sip of champagne, saying it was “very delicious”.
please bear with me during this period. as you can imagine there is lots of admin and funeral planning to do, and i am continuing with all my work commitments, alongside supporting my family. so colleagues and collaborators, please don’t worry, i’m still active, and feel free to drop me an email if you have any questions about how this might affect any projects we are working on.
loved-ones, friends and enemies, i’m afraid that my next month or so will be quite hectic. i’m going to drop messages and forget plans, i’m sorry.
you can leave messages of support in the comment box below, and you’re welcome to whatsapp or DM me, but i almost definitely won’t have the time to respond, so please try not to ask me questions. i have a good support network around me, so please don’t worry if you haven’t heard from me in a while - i’m most likely just not finding the time to reply or get back to you.
if we see each other in person, it’s completely fine to acknowledge the situation and send love to me and my family but i’ll probably not want to talk about things in detail, so i’d appreciate if you didn’t ask too many questions.
you’re welcome to share this with people that you think might want or need to know. it’s not secret or private, and it’s actually kind of helpful to have some of the sharing taken off my plate.
lots of love,
Duncan x
a personal update
hi there.
if you’re reading this, i thought it was important or maybe useful for you to know about the current situation for me and my family.
you may already know that my mum has been fighting cancer on and off for the last 2 years.
due to some unfortunate health complications, we have now been told by doctors and healthcare professionals that mum doesn’t have a lot of time left.
it could be weeks, it might be months, but it’s looking quite likely that it won’t be a year.
i’m sharing this here because i want people to know that my availability and capacity to communicate is likely to be pretty depleted. i’ll be spending as much time as i can with my family, and as you can imagine i’m having to replan and reorganise a lot of stuff.
outside of supporting my family, i’ll be prioritising my energy into continuing to work so i can pay my rent and eat food and stuff. so colleagues and collaborators, please don’t worry, i’m still active, and feel free to drop me an email if you have any questions about how this might affect any projects we are working on.
loved-ones, friends and enemies, i’m afraid that i am likely to be more inconsistent and unavailable than ever before (who knew it was possible). i’m going to drop messages and forget plans, i’m sorry.
i’m sorry if this feels too personal if you’re a colleague, and if this feels too cold if you’re a friend or loved-one. many of you are both. i wanted a kind of all-purpose place for this update, so that i don’t have to type out the same messages and have the same conversations again and again. many of you deserve more words than this, and plenty of you won’t even need this many.
this is my best attempt at something that might just about be okay for everyone.
i’m not requesting messages of love and support, but i of course know that some of you will want to do so. rather than sending me texts or DM’s, i would much prefer you just drop your messages into the comment box below. again, please don’t feel the need to, it’s just an alternative space so that my whatsapp doesn’t get overloaded with all of your lovely words. and i’ll of course pass on any messages to my mum and dad.
i’m sure plenty of you will want to offer support. fortunately i already have lots of people around me who can help with day-to-day things like lifts, and food and errands - so i would ask that you please put that any of that energy into attending any protests for the ongoing violence in the middle-east, as i will have less capacity to do so myself. it would truly mean so much to me and my family here in the UK and in Lebanon.
if we see each other in person, it’s totally chill to acknowledge the situation and send love to me and my family but i’ll probably not want to talk about things in detail, so i’d appreciate if you didn’t ask too many questions.
thank you for reading this, i’ve tried to keep it short but it got away from me a little bit.
you’re welcome to share this with people that you think might want or need to know. it’s not secret or private, and it’s actually kind of helpful to have some of the sharing taken off my plate.
i’m still figuring out how to do this, and i really appreciate your love and patience.
all my love,
duncan x x x