Support Ron Thomas - His Recovery From AML.

HOW DID WE GET HERE?

27 June 2022

 

 

 

Hi, my name is Owen Thomas; my forty-five-year-old brother is Ron Thomas. These are the events as I currently know them. I’m sure Hannah and Ron will have their own experience. Only Ron will know all the events of this period of his life.

 

Twenty years ago, Ron moved to the UK to pursue a music career. After years of hard work, Ron was able to build a music business and band, which provided an excellent full-time income. A significant achievement in the music industry. He was to see that destroyed like many others in the entertainment & hospitality world over the last two years of COVID-19 restrictions. With its significant economic impact on his music career and the Business that he and Julian McLaren created – The Dukes of Havoc.

 

Finally, this year 2022, it looks like there was a chance of business recovery. Ron is the loving partner of Hannah McGougan, father to the lovely two-and-a-half-year-old Holly, and stepfather to Saocise Roche. On Friday the 27th of (May UK time), we thought we might lose him. We were lucky and blessed; he is very much alive but facing a long recovery. Ron will spend for the most part the rest of the year in Hospital.

 

 

 

Dordogne Southwest France Saturday, May 21 st

 

Just six days earlier, on Saturday night, May 21’st, 2022, Ron was performing on stage in the south of France with his band “The Dukes of Havoc ”. Near the end of the set, Ron fled from the stage, projectile vomiting into the closest container off stage. He would never return. Leaving Julian, his fellow band member, friend and business partner, ever resourceful to close out the night with a fast-thinking Karaoke.

 

Thinking it was a bad case of food poisoning, they drove back to their homes in London, with Ron vomiting out the window as they sped down the freeway.

 

On return home, Ron went straight to bed only to wake up sweating profusely, with a temperature, and in significant pain. Hannah, the love of his life, gave him two options: go to the hospital now, or I’ll ring the ambulance. Just hours later, Ron was in the NHS Acute Assessment Unit at Kingston Hospital Surrey .

 

What was thought to be food poisoning turned out to be something even more significant – Sepsis, Kidney infection, ragging temperature, and suspected Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Each feeding into the other to induce a downward spiral. Whilst surrounded by a battery of IV drips of fluid, antibiotics and blood transfusions combined with oxygen masks, over the next few days, Ron went onto a round of MRIs, Bone Marrow tests to confirm what we all hoped was an incorrect diagnosis.

 

Melbourne Australia May 28 2:30 am

 

I received the following message from Hannah, who had the extra burden of caring for her man and communicating with his family 10,000 miles and 25 hrs flying time away.

 

” Owen, I think you might want to book that ticket tonight – I think things are going to get rough…It’s all happening quite fast.”

 

Ron’s body was spiralling out of control, and he was rushed into critical care with everything on the table; the most likely option if the medical staff couldn’t stabilize him – was an induced coma. We thought we might lose him.

 

Melbourne Australia May 28 5:00 pm

 

My sister Corinne and her partner Sam and I sat with our 90-year-old parents, Ron Snr and Noreen Thomas, to explain the last 24 hours and its possible outcomes. We had delayed shocking them until we were sure of the diagnosis, fearing our mother’s compromised heart couldn’t take it. Until then, we had left out the sepsis and the possible diagnosis of leukemia (ALM). They both went into significant shock. We held them for an hour. There is nothing worse than holding your trembling and distressed parents, trying to bring comfort.

 

At 7 pm Melbourne time, I called the Kingston Hospital Intensive Treatment Unit for an update to be told he had stabilized and asked, “would I like to speak to him?” There can be no more joyous moment than to hear the voice of your brother or son when you thought you might never hear it again.

 

My parents found it difficult to speak – they struggled out a “hello”.

 

Where Are We Now?

 

Ron is on the right side of where he was on May 27. But it is a long and uncertain road ahead. The timelines are suggestions at best. It all depends on how his body responds to the treatment. As of this June 9, Ron is about a week into his first round of Chemo. There hopefully is a chance he can return home for a week before the next month of treatment gets underway. Already the Chemo is taking its toll on his body, but the treating doctors are happy with his progress.

 

One thing we do know is that the rest of this year is written off from any real income-producing capacity. Ron’s particular illness will also compromise Hannah’s ability to earn an income consistently.

 

 

 

When we are ill, not only does it affect our ability to earn, but our health expenses increase. As of this writing, we are uncertain what they will be, but we know that health opportunities are often very much dependent on access to funds. Therefore, we do not want Ron’s recovery limited because we didn’t try to give him every chance for good health.

 

The last two to three years have hit entertainment, particularly live music, very hard. It has been an industry that has received little to no government support compared to others. It has seen any spare types, buffer zones, and funds that Ron and Hannah had dissolve as fast as we were locked down.

 

These years for most of us, have been challenging, but mostly being able to muddle our way through and come out the other side. There are others like Ron and Hannah, and then there are others who threw good fortune, and skill or sometimes the will of the gods have found the last years have suited their industries. So all of us will be in different stages with our ability to share what we have.

 

Please know that any funds you contribute can create the opportunity for a brighter future, and we know they come with love.

 

Winston Churchill, at the start of WWII, was asked to cut the budget for the arts. He refused, stating, “what else are we fighting for”. The arts of any nation reflect back the values, ideals and identity of its citizenry.

 

People like Ron write and perform the music of our souls. It is what we use to celebrate the moments of our lives. Not one pair of lovers doesn’t have their special song. A mere three mins of music can act as a time machine to transport us back to a forgotten memory and a happy time.

 

Ron’s voice is one we want to support

 

Any funds you give will be used to support medical expenses and household overheads, to provide Ron with every chance to return to his family and a normal life where we can share the simple pleasures of being together.

 

May your gift be returned a thousandfold.

 

Thank you on behalf of Ron’s family and friends.

 

The Funds will be handled in the United Kingdom & Australia by Ron if possible or by one of the selected Power of Attorney.

After discussions with Ron, we have decided to raise the money in his home country of Australia

 

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