COLIN 'Spike' Norman...
This was sent to us by Spike's son Mark (also a pilot with us) and his wife Brenda:- 'As some of you may already know, Colin “Spike” Norman, my Dad and husband to Brenda passed away on Monday morning.
He had been admitted to hospital the previous Thursday due to contracting pneumonia and, as you can imagine, began charming the nurses immediately. Sadly he already knew a lot of them as he had met them earlier in the year as on New Year’s Eve he’d suffered a Pneumothorax (lung collapse), not the “bang” he was hoping to start the year off with!
By now you might be wondering why he’s had two trips to the hospital this year when previously he’d been his normal self, if a little bit thinner and whiter on top!
In late 2016 Dad was diagnosed with IPF (idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis). In a nutshell, this is a progressive disease which gradually destroys your lungs making oxygen transfer into your blood increasingly difficult. For most of the last 7 years you would never even have known anything was wrong, partly due to it being a slow progression, but mainly due to his insanely positive outlook and ability to carry on as “normal” despite being at times far from it.
He started fully feeling the effects of the disease in the latter half of last year when he was requiring supplementary oxygen throughout most of the day but as the year progressed his ability to do the “normal” things he liked to do reduced. 2024 had been a difficult 3 months for him with the first 6 weeks being in one of two hospitals due to added complications. I know throughout this he was always comforted and amused by your messages and calls. They gave him much joy and helped him to be able to retain a sense of himself. This was incredibly important to him when he wasn’t able to get out and see you.
It was these messages that again provided much comfort on Sunday, his final day with us. We were grateful that he was able to see a couple of friends, have his favourite soup and that he was still making jokes even when the outlook was bleak.
We know, like us, you will miss him terribly and wanted you to know how much your love and support meant to him and us through this difficult time.
It’s still early days so I will make further communication when we have a clearer idea of the formal arrangements.
If you wish to contact me privately for anything please email markandclaire39@gmail.com and myself or Claire will respond as soon as we can.
Take care and thank you again for being such wonderful friends to my Dad. I look forward to meeting some of you in person in the future.
Best wishes.
Mark Norman. '
Although we have learned that Spike's arrangements will be concluded during the first part of May, the family have also informed us that the service will be a private one.