I haven't been on here for quite a while now and indeed, I haven't ridden a bike more than 30 miles on a summer Saturday for the last 2 1/2 years, because I haven't really been able to. Many of the new readers and riders on IXXRA won't remember Kay at all, but the old hands certainly will. We went everywhere together on the 'bird and rode mainly with the good folks on this site.
I had call from Kay in July 2016. I was at work and she was in tears, at the hospital, where they'd told her she had a bone marrow cancer called multiple myeloma. It was incurable but, they said, they should be able to keep her in remission for around 5 years. She had two lots of chemotherapy, on that she tolerated well and one that nearly killed her more than once. Even though she managed, she was weak, tired and had little stamina. I couldn't get her on the 'bird without making her pain considerably worse, so just after Christmas 2018, we went out together to find a bike with long suspension, more pillion comfort and that she felt secure on. We bought a 2013 BMW 1200GS, which she sat on once in the showroom. Last year in the long summer, she was a bit better than usual so we decided to do a short trip to the Dales, but she couldn't hold up the weight of her own jacket so that was abandoned.
After less time than we'd hoped for, Kay died in hospital last night (8th November 2019), just after 11pm and by that time, she was a broken, empty shell of her former self. For all and any problems and faults we had between us, I'll miss her a lot and remember her with nothing but affection.
I popped on here this morning to look through any photos, comments and things and remember many better days. I wasn't going to post up because it's been so long, but remembering all those rides out, with all those good people (as we both did) it would be wrong of me not to leave a small memorial of Kay on here.
My best to you all and whoever your loved ones are, enjoy every minute whilst you have them there.
Maxx2