Jamie Robert Arnold was born at 17:52 on Tuesday 4th October 1988 at Hope Hospital, Salford, and passed away at 15:30 on Tuesday 13th February 2018 at St Rocco's Hospice, Warrington, Cheshire after a short battle with cancer. He is son to Tim and Belinda, brother to Ross and Ashlea and husband to Katie.
Jamie had Lynch Syndrome, which can cause bowel cancer. Lynch Syndrome is hereditary. Jamie should have been tested for it at 25 but he kept putting it off. In July 2017 he began to feel pain in his lower abdomen and went back and forth to his doctor for several weeks where first a bug, then irritable bowel syndrome and ulcers were speculated on, before finally being sent for an X-Ray early in October.
The X-Ray showed something near his apendix, so he was sent for a CT scan and ultimately a biopsy. By the time the results had been seen by his consultant at The Christie Hospital, Jamie's cancer had broken out of his bowel and spread throughout his abdomen. On 7th November he was told that surgery was not going to be possible and the only treatment option would be Chemotherapy, but it only had a very low possibility of being successful and would potentially make him ill.
Jamie decided not to have Chemotherapy, he preferred to have no treatment at all and just watch and wait. The prognosis given by his consultant was that without the possibility of surgery and no Chemotherapy Jamie would have only two weeks to two months. So he decided to make the most of it and do everything he could to enjoy the time he had left.
Only days after hearing the prognosis, Jamie and his girlfriend Katie decided to get married as soon as possible and annouced this on Sunday 12th November. A wedding was arranged very quickly and the following Thursday, 16th November, Jamie and Katie were married.
Immediately after the wedding Jamie and Katie moved into St Rocco's Hospice in Warrington where Jamie recieved the best of care. They had regular days and some nights out, their last trip out was to London only six days before Jamie passed away.
He was a huge fan of Formula 1 and amongst others, one of his favourite drivers was Fernando Alonso. When Fernando heard about Jamie's illness he and Paul di Resta sent him this video message in January:
Jamie was an avid motor racing fan, following in the footsteps of his Dad, Tim, a racing driver and motorsport instructor and driving coach. He regularly attended track days and race meetings with his Dad, picking up driving tips on track days by riding as a passenger and eventually driving on track days himself when he was old enough to drive. Jamie wanted to race but sadly never got the chance. He was planning to race in 2018 but it wasn't to be. He did however do a test in a racing car in October 2018, shortly before his illness was diagnosed, and he was immediatley fast and on the pace.
Jamie wanted some good to come out of his illness and to help other people. So the purpose of this website is to raise awarness about Lynch Syndrome and raise money for St Rocco's Hospice, while keeping Jamie's memory alive.
Jamie and his family are from Northwich in Cheshire and it was in Northwich that Jamie spent most of his life growing up, attending Church Walk primary school then Leftwich High School.
He has a younger brother, Ross, a budding movie director, who currently lives in Manhattan, New York City, and a younger sister, Ashlea, who still lives in Northwich where she runs her own hairdressing business.
Jamie had various jobs, ranging from working at KFC to several sales jobs and ultimately running his own business with his mum, Belinda, before branching off on his own to open a trendy bar in Lymm, Cheshire.
As a young boy Jamie spent a lot of time with his Granddad, his Dad Tim's father, who he called "Gramps". Gramps was in the construction business and had links with McAlpine's who built the stadium in Wigan where the Rugby team Wigan Warriors play. His 'gramps' was frequently given tickets to watch Wigan Warriors and took Jamie along to the matches. Jamie became a lifelong fan of the team - the cherry colour used on this website is the team's colour.
Shortly after Jamie received the prognosis that his cancer was incurable, his friend Joel contacted one of the team's top players and they gave him an amazing treat, the night before his wedding, the two players came to visit him at the hotel, the venue for the wedding, and spent the evening with him. And it didn't end there...
The following morning, on his wedding day, the entire team cancelled a training session and came to visit Jamie:
During this visit Jamie told Wigan player Sam Tompkins "Win the Super League for me!" Tompkins told him "We will!" And on Saturday 13th October 2018 at Old Trafford, Manchester, they kept their promise and won the Super League Grand Final!
Jamie also had a great taste in music and liked a wide range tracks from many different era's. One of his favourite's was this awesome cover of the Simon & Garfunkel classic, The Sound Of Silence, by the heavy metal band Disturbed. Due to the circumstances of his prognosis, Jamie was able to plan and organise his own funeral, and he asked his friend James, a rock musician, to sing Disturbed's version of The Sound Of Silence during the humanist service, which he did. Here though is The Sound Of Silence by Disturbed...
