Engineer reveals three ‘long Covid’ symptoms that turned out to be terminal cancer

A former calibration engineer, who was told just days before Christmas his leukaemia is terminal and given months to live, organised his own “living funeral” to give him the

“chance to say goodbye” to his friends and loved ones before he dies. Rob Hale, 33, who lives in Thornbury, South Gloucestershire, said he has known for nearly two years

that he will die of leukaemia – cancer of the white blood cells – but he did not receive the terminal prognosis until December 2022, which was “devastating”. After doctors

told him his remaining lifespan will be measured in “weeks to months, rather than months to years”, Rob came up with the idea of having a “living funeral” at Cattle Country Farm

Park, in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, to bring his friends and family together. The event featured a buffet, games for children, a table with photos, and a guest book where

people could write fond memories of their time with Rob. Rob said the occasion was “better than (he) could have hoped for”, and at one point, he even went down the “death

slide” at the park – a slide with a vertical drop – and was met with applause and cheers from a crowd of more than 50 people as he reached the bottom. “I’ve only been to a

few funerals in my life, and they’re all really sad, sombre; (everyone is) dressed in black, heads bowed,” Rob said. “I knew that, at some point, I’m going to have that

funeral, but I also knew that a lot of the people that might attend it, I probably won’t get to see before I actually die. “I wanted to do something where I could see them

all, I could speak to them, catch up with them, (and) have an actual chance to say goodbye to them.”