FW: Happy New Year from the Dixons

[Guest guest]

Love and Healing - and thanks to all who have helped me

Ian

_____

From: iandixon [mailto:iandixon25lr@...]

Sent: 11 January 2007 11:44

Subject: Happy New Year from the Dixons

Hi

We are delighted to be able to say that we are all alive and well and are

looking forward to an even more adventurous 2007.

Ian's cancer appeared to be taking a turn for the worse early in 2006 with a

small new lesion in January and another in May. However we are delighted to

say that these lesions have been stable or of reducing size and the current

view is that they were possibly always there but undetected. In summary,

Ian's immune system has somehow kept this aggressive cancer at bay. With a

remarkable three year survival following a prognosis of three quality

months, Ian is now writing a book to help others. Proceeds will mainly go to

charities but with 30% being divided between 6 of the many worthy people who

have helped Ian in his battle. The initial response from the cancer

community has been heartening with offers towards funding and translation

into Spanish, and with the book about half written, it is almost viable.

Further good news is that a new medication on trial (MDX-10) are showing

promising results with approvals being fast-tracked in the USA. Meanwhile

Ian also took on part-time/interim employment, which hopefully will be more

fruitful/satisfying in 2007 but this was disrupted by both of Ian's parents

being seriously ill and hospitalised. Obviously the Dixon's are made of

sterner stuff as just before Christmas Ian's Mum survived a huge burst

peptic ulcer and two heart attacks and his father suffered from severe

diabetes. Fortunately both are now back home under care - so we apologise to

most of our friends and family who never received the Cancer Vaccine

Institute Christmas cards that were bought, written in and signed but never

got sent out either because we received somewhat worrying messages from

hospital staff suggesting immediate attendance by Ian and/or his sister, or

because we became timed out by a skiing holiday in Trevor's chalet.

2006 was a fascinating year with sunshine trips to the Canary Islands,

skiing at les Gets, and a super summer spent mostly at Leatherhead. Partly

thanks to , the garden looked delightful throughout, or maybe this is

because our warm paddling pool was a star attraction during the Summer

months? Yet again the (mostly) organic kitchen garden produce hugely

exceeded expectations, the apple trees gave a bumper crop and the koi carp

grew to even more incredible sizes. Work on the house also progressed apace.

Sailing on the river in 2006 at Hampton continued to be a joy, and even

merited an occasional and very rare first place (albeit aided by frisky

winds and a worthy helm). In the Summer, again Dorothy and Ian spent a week

down at the Royal Lymington Yacht Club helping with the junior regatta, a

remarkable event encouraging youngsters to develop their sailing skills and

sail safely well out into the Solent in all sorts of weather conditions.

Lorna has now moved from Edinburgh University to Buxton where she is

finishing her degree, but with a course that is much better focussed on her

aspirations of sports event management. During the Summer she completed a 12

week internship with the Rat Race, having an experience of her life as well

as learning about the commercial world at the sharp end of marketing

'extreme sports' events. She seemed to be working incredibly hard, too hard,

and we hope that upon completion of her course she will find maybe more

measured employment in an event management field. I am sure that she will

welcome introductions and suggestions. Meanwhile she is also Vice-President

of both the Events Society and also the Student Liaison Committee and is

involved in organising both Freshers' Week and the Ball, so we hope that in

between all this she has time for essays.

is completing her final year at Bristol University reading

psychology and zoology and was elected President of the Biological Society -

a post that initially turned out to be somewhat more political challenging

than she envisaged, but with a 'Presidents' training course', she settled

into the role and has inspired a very active and successful 2007 program.

She was also lucky enough to be selected to volunteer at the 'Wildscreen

Film Festival' in Bristol at which she made many contacts and learnt much

about the filmmaking industry and was photographed with Attenborough.

She is very interested in becoming involved in producing wildlife films. She

is now considering options for a Masters degree possibly in Bristol but

maybe in Australia with a view to progressing further in that direction.

Charlotte completed her Art Foundation course at Falmouth, but despite the

delightful location, she decided to accept the offer she had from York

University to study Psychology. She is now settling in at York - at a very

attractive campus - and has made yet another set of friends. For a young

lady who did not typically like getting her hands dirty, she then stunned

the family by taking up caving and pot-holing sliding around in wet muddy

conditions in small spaces underground. She also succeeded in taking a month

out from her other activities in the Summer holidays to visit Nairobi and

work with orphaned children for two weeks, an experience that she found both

educational and inspirational.

Dorothy is still at St 's School as Director of Studies and teaching

mathematics. 2006 was a particularly challenging year with a new head

mistress and also school expansion with the closure of a nearby school. The

result is that the school has gone from strength to strength, probably due

to its rather measured approach of encouraging each child to attain their

potential, and a little beyond, and in a healthy and active environment.

Dorothy fortunately has taken to the role of principle family breadwinner,

but has enjoyed the few perks of taking broods of pubescent teenagers

skiing, sitting on corridors at night ensuring curfews are kept etc. Her

role, like all on the Management Team, is nurturing and justly rewarding as

they help children, some from stressed backgrounds, develop into healthy and

wholesome young adults each motivated and confident of their own

capabilities. And yet again the school's academic results improved. Ian is

rightly proud of Dorothy's achievements.

2007 looks to hold many similar challenges as 2006, but also many new

opportunities. In the last few days we are hearing of new cancer treatments

that in drug trials have been producing remarkably better results than

hitherto. Interestingly these advances are yet again consistent with the

beliefs of nurturing the immune system, the Bristol Cancer Help Centre

approach, and advice from St 's Hospital and elsewhere. But it will

also be a year of change, both for Ian and Dorothy's parents in their sunset

years and also for the girls as both Lorna and possibly advance

from educational establishments into the real world. We enter 2007 knowing

that we have great friends, have a great family and have so many things to

look forward to.

Our wish is that you, our friends, have a very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous

New Year.

Ian, Dorothy, Lorna, and Charlotte