A father who died from brain cancer just four weeks before his daughter was born told the little girl that he ‘never gave up’ fighting the disease in an emotional letter.
Scott ‘Fergs’ Ferguson, from the NSW Central Coast, was diagnosed with stage four glioblastoma, the most aggressive and fast-growing of brain tumor, in early 2018 and told he only had years to live.
As the cancer spread throughout his body, the 33-year-old married the love of his life Jaymie in 2019, before they bought their dream home and started IVF to have a family.
Ten months later, the couple were ecstatic when they found out they were going to be parents.
Scott tried to fight to stay alive long enough to meet baby Isla but, as his condition worsened, he knew he would never meet her and left a heartfelt message for the youngster before he passed on March 31.
Scott ‘Fergs’ Ferguson met his future wife Jaymie (pictured together) in 2010 and married her in 2019. They had one child together, Isla, before he died
Pictured: Scott and Jaymie at their baby shower. Scott’s treatment didn’t stop the young couple from celebrating significant milestones such as getting married
‘Grow up dreaming. Follow your dream. You don’t have to live like everyone else. Your mum and dad will always be proud and think of you every day,’ he wrote.
‘When you get married, just know that I will be watching and walking you down the aisle.
‘As long as you smile once every day, everything is going to be OK.’
Isla was born four weeks after he died and while Jaymie was thrilled to be a mum, the moment was bittersweet because her loving husband wasn’t there to hold her.
‘He would have been such a great father,’ she told 7 News.
‘It’s really devastating I get to do all this amazing stuff and he is missing out.’
Scott left a heartfelt message for the youngster before he passed on March 31, 2021 (pictured: a book he wrote for her)
Pictured: Scott and Jaymie before his tragic diagnosis. The couple got married and bought a home afterwards and tried to make the most of their final years together
She said he was always rubbing her belly and talking to his unborn child, and telling Jaymie all the things he wanted to do with the little girl once she was born.
Scott also never missed a pre-natal appointment, no matter how sick he was.
His diagnosis came when he collapsed in a shopping centre in 2018.
He was raced to Sydney’s North Shore Hospital where doctors told him that he only had a few years left to live.
Throughout his three year battle with cancer, Scott had two brain surgeries, 56 sessions of radiation, ten months of chemotherapy, 27 sessions of targeted therapy, and more than 35 seizures.
But his treatment didn’t stop the young couple from continuing to celebrate significant milestones and outliving five life expectancy predictions by doctors.
Scott went though three rounds of radiation – more than the doctor had ever given anyone – and he lost the use of the left-hand side of his body (pictured with Jaymie during treatment)
‘Doctors would look at his diagnosis and say, “you should be dead”,’ Jaymie told the network.
They had never seen anyone bounce back as many times as he had and were constantly surprised at how well he looked – he was determined to stay alive for his daughter but, eventually, he couldn’t fight it anymore.
On April 1, Jaymie announced her husband’s death in a gut-wrenching Facebook post.
‘It is with the most shattered heart that I have to share with you all that Fergs grew his wings yesterday, he passed peacefully at home in no pain exactly as he wished.
On April 1, Jaymie announced his death in a gut-wrenching Facebook post. Pictured: Scott before his diagnosis (left) and after (right)
‘Throughout this entire journey he was nothing short of incredible, he fought till his very last second, never giving up, looking after me and his little girl till the very end.
‘It’s goodbye for now baby, but I will see you on the other side. I hope you’re doing wheelies into those pearly gates, ride high baby bear, I will love you for all of eternity.’
A GoFundMe page was created in the young family’s honour by friend Scott Schmidt, who described his late friend as having an ‘infectious smile’.
On top of having a huge heart and a genuine, humble personality, Scott liked to travel, ride his dirt bike and enjoy a ‘beer or two with mates’.
