Barry Keith Butcher

My uncle barry was known to his nices and nephews as unk... he was born on 16th of August 1957 and
sadly passed on 28th September 2006 after sadly suffering for 49 years of his battle for life.
My unk was born with a very very rare diease called mannosidosis, so rare that to date he was the
only person in the united kingdom to have this. His entire life was a struggle to live, battling
every day to survive, a survival life spam was given numerous times only for my unk to outlive it,
doctors was baffled and just told us he could die at any time. the eldest person to survive was 24
so as my unk passed 24 everyday with him was a blessing. when my grandad passed 24th january 2005 my
unk stopped fighting for his life as his daddy was gone and as hard as we tryed we couldnt make him
understand that he wasnt coming back, you see... due to this diease my unk had the mind of a child,
he was partly blind as well as partly deaf... and couldnt do anything for himself. Thankfully he had
a fantastic family behind him to help him along... from the eldest to the youngest. i dont think any
of us saw him as an average uncle, he was a huge part of all our lives.. a special part of our
lives. he touched the heart of so many people and made so many of us better people for it!

he loved all his little toys if they played music or moved about he loved them and the house was
full of them, my kids will always see them as an unk toy.
he had a passion for music, you would always see him sitting in his chair with his karaoke on and a
mic in his hand singing top of his voice, not that you could understand most of it but it kept him
hapy which in return kept us happy. he loved daniel o'donnell i think we all know that mans dvds
from beggining to end.
as he had the mind of a child christmas was always a great time for him he absolutely loved it, my
nans home was always like santas grotto, whenever the tree and lights went up he knew christmas was
coming... as he didnt know dates and times etc he would know it was soon by the decorations. then on
christmas eve we would take the fairy off the top of the tree, he thought she would fly away to help
santa... he knew at that moment that when he woke up the next day santa would have been and he would
have many gifts waiting for him. so as soon as he noticed the fairy gone he wanted to go to bed
bless him not understanding that it was only about 5pm... none of us dreamed that that would be the
last time our fairys would fly away.
I never ever thought i would see the day that i had to bury my unk, i knew deep down that one day it
would come but where he kept defying the odds so many times i guess i just never thought it would
happen.... but it did.

My nan had taken my unk to the chalet (they had since b4 i was born) and he just wasnt himself, he
wouldnt eat and he wouldnt drink, that spark from his big blue eyes had just gone, was almost as
though he had given up fighting. after seeing a doctor there and being told he had a urine infection
my nan decided to bring him home as she was finding it hard coping alone with him. we called a
doctor out to see him who wold us, yes he had a uine infection which was causing his breath to
become shortened and his temperatures etc.
one day me and my mum went round to see him and he looked ill, we all got worried and dialed 999, he
just wasnt himself and his breathing was getting worse. the paramedics decided to take him to
hospital, put him on oxygen and took him down, by the time he got in the ambulence his eyes closed
and he went into coma like state.
once at the hospital we was asked what his life dependency was like... we knew what they was
asking... we replyed "his our life" and so the doctors worked hard to save him.my uncle went
straight to critical care where he had the best care ever. hooked up to drips.. venterlators feeding
tubes, heart monitors it was all so so scarey. as days went past he began come come around but was
so scared he needed to be sedated... he was kept sedated for a few day till they let us stay with
him over night as we was able to calm him when he started to lose his temper. A doctor came to us
one day telling us my unk had now caught septicemia and that things didnt look good. hope seemed to
be drifting away but my unk never gave up.. he continued to fight as he had done all his life. then
he contracted MRSA and bit by bit our hopes were being taken.. he was in a side room now and we was
told they was going to take him off of his ventorlator as risk of infection was high... we all
thought our world was going to end.... but once again he defyed odds and carried on fighting and
continued to breathe on his own. by now he had been in critical care a little over 2 weeks and
things finally started to look up. the sedation had stopped, the tubes and wires were gone. i was
there with my nan the day they told us my unk could have his first cup of tea!! you see my unk loved
his cup of tea and kept asking for one but wasnt allowed. a picture was taken of his first cup at
the hospital and was sent to everyones mobile that day, titled barry boys got his cup of tea... as
silly as it sounds that on its own made us all cry.
finally he was getting better, he was drinking and eating a little was even trying to get out of bed
which was great, doctors sopke about moving him to a regular ward, we was over the moon.
but as the day wore on he began sleeping more... just seemed very tired so we figured he had
exhaused himself... he slept all through that night which is something he rarely does. nothing
prepared us for the following day, my unk had gone downhill fast... doctors told us that day that
there was no more they could do for him, my unk was going to die! they told us they didnt think he
was going to survive the night out.
all family was called up the hospital, all my unks life his family was there for him... and we was
all going to be there for him till he took his last breath. we all sat crowded around his bed
holding his hands, massaging his little legs, touching his hair... any part of him we could to let
him know we was all there for him and that he wasnt alone. by now my unk wasnt even conscious but
still he fought. as the clock ticked morning came and still he fought... about 7am his breathing
became shallow and he struggled to take his breaths... with every breathe he took we cryed... we
willed him to look for hes daddy that he missed so dearly... our heart was breaking to tell him to
go... but broke even more to see him struggle for breath. his breaths became less and less till at a
few minuites past 11am his daddy finally came to get him and his tool his last breath as his family
cuddled him.

my unk was a true meaning to the word fighter, he was 1 in a million, there would never be a man as
innocent, loving, caring and determined and him.
everyday is a struggle to cope without him by our side.
unk everyone including myself love and miss you so much, sleep well our hero xxxx