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Ian Mitcheson has completed the second wish on his bucket list.
The 42-year-old was diagnosed with terminal cancer last year and is using the 18 months to two years doctors predict he has left positively, both to encourage men to get checked for prostate cancer and to carry out a “bucket list” of things he wants to do before he “kicks the bucket”.
On Tuesday the father-of-three from Hawkinge fulfilled his dream of driving an HGV thanks to Derek Linch, who has a haulage business on the Romney Marsh.
Before Mr Mitcheson climbed into the driver’s cab he admitted he was “a little bit nervous”.
Mr Mitcheson’s wife Sue, who he married three years ago, proudly watched while her husband spent 20 minutes driving around the yard.
She said: “He’s having the time of his life, he really is.
“It’s wonderful to see.”
A beaming Mr Mitcheson climbed out of the cab saying “fantastic, absolutely fantastic”.
He said: “It was a lot easier to drive than I thought it would be.
“It doesn’t feel heavy at all. It feels like driving a saloon car but you have to keep an eye on the length of it.
Reverse
“It was great fun and it’s something I’m really pleased that I’ve done.”
Mr Linch, the owner of the haulage company, jokingly offered him a job.
He said: “The first thing I did with him was reverse round the buildings, he’s a natural.”
The experience was arranged by staff at Ashford’s Pilgrims Hospice, which supports the Mitchesons and is helping Ian complete his bucket list, an idea based on the 2007 film of the same name staring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman.
The couple have set up two charity web pages to raise money for both the hospice and the Prostate Cancer charity.
To donate go to www.justgiving.com/ianmitcheson-prostate or www.justgiving.com/ianmitcheson-pilgrims (link below)
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