The day of the wedding was here and Peter and Terri were getting ready in separate rooms. Terri had just finished her make up and was ready to go and get Peter. She walked into the room and found Peter lying on the floor in agony complaining about his back. So Terri phoned an ambulance and Peter was rushed to Adventura hospital. On arriving Terri told the doctors about Peters condition. They made Peter comfortable and they did lots of tests. When the results came back the doctors said that Peter was riddled with cancer and told Terri they had to return home. Up until this moment Peter and Terri both expected Peter would eventually be cured and be able to live a normal life, so this was a massive shock to them. They did not want to return home until they were married, so a week later they asked the hospital to help them arrange the wedding. Armed with balloons, bubbles, champagne and even a wedding cake, they set about decorating a room on the 7th floor and organized everything from the vicar to the live singing. In Peters own words he described the day as “better than anything they had planned or could have wished for.” The room was beautifully decorated and Peter despite being in a hospital bed and in pain enjoyed the day and even managed to put on his suit.

The day after the wedding Peter had a seizure and fell unconcious. He was asleep on a life support machine for three days before Terri decided to let them turn it off. No-one knew if he would be able to live without it, but within an hour, Peter was sitting having a conversation with his new wife. Terri then had to tell him that he was going to die and asked what he wanted her to do. He said he didn’t want to die in a strange country he wanted to be home in his own bed. The doctors thought this was a bad idea and said no. But Terri would not settle for this. She argued for days, all the time Peter was getting worse. But finally the doctors gave in and arrangements were made to buy 9 seats on a regular flight so that Peters bed could lie across them. They said they had to have a doctor fly with them and the insurance company sent a doctor to escort them on the 8-hour flight. Peter was unconscious by now and had little idea about what was going on around him. After landing in London Peter was taken by ambulance back to Guys hospital, and after running tests the doctors said there was nothing more they could do. So they let Terri take him home where a nurse and doctor visited frequently. After Peter was settled at home in his own bed he slept for about a day. Then after his rest he opened his eyes and woke up. He new where he was and wanted to get out of bed and join in with the well wishers that came to visit. It was Terri that had to physically stop Peter from getting out of bed. Peter gradually got worse and fell asleep on the 2nd February 2000 and never woke again…

Rest in peace Peter

With love always

Terri

And all the family

I must say thanks to all the staff at the Adventura Hospital in Miami for taking Peter and Terri although they had no insurance and no money to pay. They did a great job organizing the wedding and making everything go as smoothly as possible. Also I would to thank the doctor who flew home with Peter and Terri this was above the call of duty.

So a big thank you to all the staff at Adventura.
I must say the biggest thanks to Terri for looking after Peter and doing everything she could for him. At 21 Terri is the strongest woman I am ever likely to meet and for that she has our total respect and total support forever. Although Terri has incurred financial hardship because of all this. She is working hard to pay off the debts in America and at home. But understandably she does not regret a thing except the loss of her husband Peter Croft.

There is some good news to end this sad story. Through Peter and Terri and the amount of publicity they received both in England and in America. People are becoming more aware of Testicular Cancer. This seems to be a subject that has been overlooked mainly for 2 reasons (I think). 1.Men don’t like talking about there genitals to other men. 2.There is not enough publicity about this type of cancer.

But hopefully through this site and the Orchid Cancer Research appeal more and more people will become aware of the problems men face in what is a very grey area for men.