KEY POINTS:
Jane and Nick Nicol thought they had lost their son Chris when he was seriously injured in a car crash last year.
The elation of his recovery was replaced with horror as they discovered seven weeks ago that the 20-year-old had terminal melanoma. Now the Oamaru couple are preparing to lose him again.
At the end of August, Chris' family were told he had about three weeks to live and anything else was a bonus.
Last night, Mr and Mrs Nicol feared Chris, whom they brought home to die, was in the last 24 hours of his life.
Yet the brave couple contacted the Otago Daily Times yesterday, wanting to reinforce how important it was for people to protect themselves from melanoma by wearing sunscreen, hats and sunglasses and to get any changes in their bodies checked out.
"You've got to have protection," Mrs Nicol said.
"After the accident, he thought he was bullet proof and 10 feet tall," her husband added.
While Mrs Nicol said it might sound harsh, she almost wished that Chris had died in the crash in May last year, instead of seeing him go through the past few weeks.
Chris was seriously injured when his new car, in which he was a passenger, hit a powerpole near Glenavy.
The Lion Foundation rescue helicopter flew intensive care staff from Dunedin Hospital and when it was unable to land at the crash scene because of fog, transferred them to an ambulance.
Mr Nicol said they were told there was a 5 per cent chance of seeing their son alive.
Initially he was in a drug-induced coma and on a life-support machine.
While Chris recovered from that accident, there were no miracles this time round.
The day Chris was discharged from hospital after his accident, Mr Nicol buried his sister, who had died from cancer. The first time Chris had stood for any length of time was at her grave.
When Chris' damaged spleen was removed after the accident, Mr Nicol said it took away his fighting defence. When he got melanoma "it just ran rampant" and the cancer was now in "numerous places".
He recently managed to act as "best man and bride giver-away" for his sister Natalie's wedding. The service was conducted beside his bed in Oamaru Hospital.
The wedding had been brought forward from February as he wanted to see his sister married.
It was a small family service and Chris was "really chirpy".
"I think he was glad to hand his sister off to someone else to look after," Mrs Nicol said.
Chris was now spending all his time in bed, reduced to "skin and bone", while his family endured long days and nights.
"Hell" was how his brother Daniel, 18, described it, while his mother said the family were "doing it hard".
The family were grateful for "brilliant" support, especially from staff at Dunedin and Oamaru hospitals. Oamaru GP Steve Dawson, whom Chris did not know, even took him "for a blast" in his Porsche.
Cars - particularly Skylines - and cows were the young dairy farm worker's biggest loves, as well as his dog Smoke and his 4-year-old niece Nikita.
Mrs Nicol said Chris loved the open air and the country and that was probably why he got melanoma, as he was always outdoors.
She recalled battles trying to get her sons to wear sunscreen.
"I'd like to make some of these young ones who think they are indestructible realise they are not."
Otago Daily Times
