Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Ellon dad loses “inspirational” battle with cancer

Post Thumbnail

An Aberdeenshire dad has lost his four-year battle with cancer.

Alec Main had surgery and gruelling radiation therapy after he was diagnosed with a brain tumour in June 2010.

The father-of-three, from Ellon, died on May 17 – five days before his 45th birthday.

Yesterday his oldest son, Steven, described him as a “caring and lovely” person while his mother, Margaret, said he was an “inspiration”.

Steven said his father, who was cared for at Auchtercrag Care Home in Ellon, never complained, showing his “positive mentality to beating his illness”.

The 23-year-old said: “He was a very caring and lovely person.

“He was very popular outside the nursing home – he spent all of his life in the Ellon area.”

The keen fisherman, who was also dad to Craig, 16, and Jodie-Leigh, 12, grew up in Tarves and after leaving Ellon Academy became a gamekeeper before moving on to farming. He then went to work for butcher John Bain in Tarves.

He had an operation to remove the tumour after he was first diagnosed in 2010, but another one appeared and he was kept in hospital for a month while doctors decided how best to treat him.

His condition rapidly deteriorated and he was transferred to the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield for stereotactic radiosurgery – a form of radiation therapy that focuses high-power energy on a small area of the body.

Mr Main’s eyesight started to fail and he lost all movement on the left side of his body as the disease took hold.

His mother, Margaret, said it had been “heartbreaking” to watch his “inspirational” fight.

She said: “The children knew he was getting worse which was hard to take.

“He couldn’t do anything for himself but continued to remain determined that he would beat the cancer.

“Alec could barely speak for the last few days which was devastating for the family.”

Mr Main’s family are now planning to hold an event later this summer to celebrate his life.