My beautiful wife Kaz was sadly taken from us at the far too early age of 58 years on the 29 December 2016.

We have been married for 38 years, but been together since we were sixteen. We have two sons and five grandchildren, and I was so blessed that she chose to spend her life with me.

She was taken from us by a dreadful, rare disease called Burkitt's Lymphoma.  The only warning signs you have are flu like symptoms that start five days after the disease first shows itself.

Previous to that she was in perfect health.  She was admitted to hospital, spent the first week in an isolation room, and was then transferred to intensive care, where she then spent the last three weeks of her life on life support, before slipping away from us.

The speed that this aggressive high grade lymphoma attacks your body is unbelievable and has left us all in total disbelief .

We desperately want to try to raise some money so that more research can be done on a disease that so very few people have ever heard of but can devastate your whole world so quickly.

Karen will never be able to see her five grandchildren grow up, to whom she was totally dedicated.  She wanted to be a Nana for as long as I can remember and we were both lucky to be a full and active part of their lives. But if we can go some way to preventing other families having to endure this terrible loss and pain we all feel, at watching someone in the prime of their life slip away from us, it will be a fitting tribute to a truly beautiful person inside and out.

My lovely wife I will love you and miss you for the rest of my days, my life is so empty without you and your beautiful smile, your infectious personality and the life we shared together.

Kev xx

The donations so far have been overwhelming and these will be transferred to this account within the next few days.