My dad, my inspiration
Patient and Family Stories
Not all the news from the Rotherham area is bad news! My name is Steven Howard and I have lost both my mum and dad to cancer while they were both fit and had a long life ahead of them, together. I lost my mum to non-hodgkins Lymphoma in 2010 and my dad to stomach cancer in 2016, spending his last days with me at his side in Broom Valley Road Hospice, Rotherham.
Missing them sparked the author in me and I penned my first novel, ‘CURE’, a racy adult adventure thriller based on my feelings and the disease cancer.
Following a motorcycle accident years ago I suffered from PTSD and was forced to give up work as a Yorkshire Ambulance Paramedic in 2008 when, after 18 days of illness that year, I was informed I was no longer capable by management; although I was showing great improvement and had been put forward for promotion to Paramedic Practitioner in Doncaster after the sick days I’d taken. Being forced to find alternative employment found me working away from home, this exacerbated my PTSD but I battled on until the separation anxiety from my family got too much to bear.
That is when I started my own company HART UK Limited and gained contracts with TATA Steel and Scottish Power, where we supplied Doctors Paramedics and Fire Rescue. Selling the successful company in 2011 to spend more time with my daughter and wife made me realise what commitment I had given to Yorkshire Ambulance Service and my company.
Losing both my parents to cancer had focused the realisation of our short time on Earth and so the career in writing began. Writing became a treatment for my PTSD and has benefitted me immensely. As a Yorkshire lad, I am proud that my written work has received such great accolades and would like to think that this county has produced some of the best authors known.
At present, I am using an American Publisher but wish to get my next book, FUEL, published by a UK publisher. I would also love to get my present book CURE published as a UK book! My aspiration is to become a well-known British adult adventure-thriller writer and be added to those great Yorkshire authors.
As you can see, there is some good comes out of adversity! Thank you for reading my story, I hope that my Mum and Dad are proudly watching over me. God bless you all x.
I cannot speak more highly of the staff at Broom Valley Hospice, where my dad spent his final days.
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