Stephen Brooks

My husband is a truly inspirational man. When I met him, he was on kidney dialysis and could not work full time, but was running pub quizzes and doing stand-up comedy routines between dialysis treatments. A few months after we married, he had a successful kidney transplant, undertook a `back to work` course via the JobCentre and found a new career in library work. When I was pregnant with our only son, he was diagnosed with a rare form of melanoma (cancer) in his eye. After surgery and radiation therapy, he is in remission but has lost most of the sight in one eye, but none of his sense of humour. He is a great dad and a loving husband. He works full time, keeps fit, goes to the gym, plays guitar, and entertains his numerous friends with his wonderful sense of humour, playfulness and fun. He genuinely lives life to the full, not letting his many physical and mental health issues get him down for long. He is on a cocktail of drugs to maintain adequate physical health, yet still finds time to cook amazing meals for his family and get down on the floor to play at cars and trucks with his two-year-old son. I love him so much and I would love the world to know what an amazing person he is. He truly embraces life and would embrace this opportunity to carry the Olympic torch with gusto, inspiring many people not to waste the precious time they have in this world with their loved ones.