Arthur George william Orpwood

in loving memory of
arthur george william orpwood
21st december 1932--9th may 2006
from swanley in kent
beloved husband, dad, grandad and great-grandad

taken from us all so very suddenly and is very sadly missed by all his family.
we took you to the hospital to have a chest x-ray because you had not been feeling too well
mum, marion(your daughter who you had been living with since you had broke yout hip in november 2005) nade (your daughter-in-law) and reece (your 5 year old grandson) came with you. reece should have been at school but he needed a x-ray of his teeth.
reece had his first and we all waited for you to come out of that room, and when you did they took you to a & e marion and nade chased after you asking for an explanation and they were told that you had to see a doctor.
we all waited with you for hours while we waited for the doctor to see you, if only we knew what to happpen that day then we would of took you somewhere where you would love to be like the working mans club in swanley, your second home.
at last you were seen, good job as well because reece was being his usual monster self (which you loved encourging him) mum and marion went with you, you were put on a ecg machine and then we were told that you wasn't very well.
you was then taken to a cubicle where you was given an injection and you and reece had a joke about the doctor you trying to get him in trouble again.
the doctor said that you was stable so nade took reece home to get some food for marion and mum.
reece gave you a big kiss
before nade had reached home the doctor's had decided to move you to the observation ward and that you needed a chest drain.
marion phoned her daughter chantelle, your granddaughter who was with me (alan your son) and nade, to say that they wanted to come home for dinner and that dad was stable and they would return in the evening.
so nade and chantelle soon left to collect mum and marion from the hospitial.
on there way the phone rung nade picked up the phone and heard marion screaming saying that you had had a cardiac arrest as soon as they put the chest drain in. nade put her foot down and with chantelle prayed and begged that you were ok.
when they arrived at the hospitial the doctors and nurses were working franticly to save your life and they continued to do so for hours.
all of you loving family began to arrive but mum marion nade and chantelle had already been told that you only had a 10% chance of survival. that was enough for marion to keep fighting for your life.
the doctors tried there hardest to give up but marion said no.
eventually the doctors were prepared to give him a chance and they transfered dad to intensive care but we were all told that you might not make it up to itu.
but you did!
we werent allowed to see you!
we all waited desprately for some news, there was so many of your loved ones there we over crowded the waiting room.
finally the nurse came out and said that you were stable.
chantelle and amanda (your granddaughters) stayed with you all night.
me and nade laid on the sofa next to the phone all night.
at 8am we got the call to come back to the hospitial.
we all arrived and waited and waited.
a doctor came and spoke to us and told us that you had cancer and you would be in a lot of pain if you woke up and it would be best if we let you go.
you had been married to mum for 52 years and had 7 children, linda, marion, rosie, arthur, philip, alan, and steven.
sadly philip was taken from us in 1991.
you had 24 granchildren and 3 great grandchildren.
when it was time to let you go we knew you didnt wont to go you hung on for 5 hours after the machines had been turnt off
in that time we all got a chance to say our goodbye 23 of us held your hand.
most of us had left the room, when nade was told by the nurse that you were going and to get the rest of the family, everyone ran to be beside you as you left us.
and then you was gone.
so quick and so unfair

we later found out that you had stage 4 cancer of the lungs
you had watched mum survive cancer and now it had taken you.

we all love you dad and miss you so much we keep your memory alive
we all hope that you are no longer in pain
we thank marion for not giving up on you so we all had very precious time with you.
r.i.p dad


we sat beside your bedside, and held your hand with love,
we kissed your face with tenderness, and prayed to god above,
in tears we watched you sleeping and slowly slip away,
it broke our hearts to lose you, but we knew you could not stay.

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the pain of losing you will never go away,
you will be in our heats and thoughts every single day,
although our hearts are breaking and we cant stop the flow of tears
we can thanks you father, for the memories of all those happy years.

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to us father, you were one of a kind,
someone so precious we will never agian find,
so good-night-god bless- for now we must part,
you will always remain forever safe in our hearts.

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though you are not far away,
our love for you will grow stronger every day
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you closed your eyes and slipped away
if only you knew how muched we wished you could stay
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we know you will stay close by
and thats why we will never say goodbye
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god up above was calling your name
and our lives will never be the same
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so grandad this is not goodbye
because we know you will be close by
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forever in our thoughts, remembered with love and always in our hearts
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