Vale Paul Fishenden

Born and raised in Griffith, Mr Fishenden made valuable contributions to the community and became a hero for his strength dealing with cancer, ever supported by his wife Roz.

With his beautiful friend Dr Jaya and the help of Dr Kennedy and Jenny Bell and the wonderful team at the oncology he fought this nasty disease with all he had, Mrs Fishenden said.

Dr Jaya farewelled his friend as a young man in the prime of life a talented, humble, unassuming gentle human being, a loving husband and father; a man who excelled at sport, skiing, martial arts, music and his job.

How does one handle such a situation? This remarkable gentleman we bid farewell taught us many valuable lessons. He taught us to make the moment count. To make most of the day. To relish the friendship and love we share along the way, Dr Jaya said.

All the staff in the hospital, the oncology department, Dr. Mayson, Dr. Kennedy and I want to express our sorrow on your loss, our gratitude for your friendship and our utter admiration for this wonderful couple and the strength they gave us when hope was gone, to face the end with dignity and grace.

During Mr Fishendens fight with cancer, Griffith CanAssist helped the family over the years with flights to Sydney and provided help paying for the many medications he needed.

President of Griffith CanAssist Olga Forner mourns the loss of a sincere and caring man.

I am very sad to see he lost his long battle. Like all cancer victims, he deserved a full and happy life especially after being so strong.

The Leukemia Foundation also helped them on their journey with accommodation in Sydney when Paul was having treatment.

Our amazing family and friends organised a fundraiser to help us out financially. Having these wonderful people and organisations have made our lives a lot more bearable as the struggle is financially and mentally costly and draining, Mrs Fishenden said.

Paul James Fishenden was born at the Griffith Base Hospital in 1969 as the third child of Jimmy and Heather Fishenden, and brother to Margaret, Daryl and Leah.

His wife Roz Fishenden shares her stories of Paul and his strength through the heart-breaking journey.

His mum Heather was saving up for a new bathroom but they drove to Sydney and bought him a new drum set and he still has it. Pauls first band was System Matics, 21st Century Music Club and Valid Until.

Mr Fishenden has had a few different jobs over the years starting at Collier and Miller 1987, followed by a stint in Parle Foods 1991.

Paul got sick of the smell of gherkins and went to work for his dad Jimmy at the Griffith Aerodrome 1992 and also work at Cosme, Mrs Fishenden said.

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After Mr Fishendens dad Jimmy passed away he sold the business at the airport and went to work at Griffith City Council in 2002 as a mechanical fitter for the water and sewer depart.

He used to say he was taking care of everyone business, Mrs Fishenden said.

Griffith Mayor John Dal Broi offered his condolences to his family, and said his loss would be greatly felt in the Griffith Community.

Paul lead by example, he wasnt scared to get in and get his hands dirty, and he just had this infectious personality that would make it very hard not to like him. He was extremely well respected by his work-mates and his friends, Cr Dal Broi said.

He was a much loved, all-round nice Australian guy.

Mr Fishenden met his wife Roz in 1986, after being set up by his sister Leah, who told her he had a crush on her.

And as they say in the movies the rest is history and we were married March 28, 1992.

A stalwart family man, Mr Fishenden loved his children.

We had our first child in 1992 a daughter Ashley, and Paul loved being a hands on Dad. Our second child was a son, Jamie, who was born in 1997.

Paul loved being involved with the kids when Jamie started playing rugby league so did Ashley, so Paul decide to help out and became a junior rugby league referee.

He also helped out on the committee and became the president of the Griffith Junior Rugby League Club.

Mr Fishenden loved to play touch footy with Roz and played together with their friends.

Off we would go with the kids refereeing all over the state. We also become state badge referees and refereed at State and National level.

Mr Fishenden and his family loved camping a the local river at Darlington Point and would have many friends tag along for the weekend.

When the kids got older we both got our motor bike license and that started our new adventure. We got one bike we shared for a while then got a bigger one for Paul. Weekends away with family or friends on the bike were great fun.

In 2005 he was diagnosed with a plasmacytoma at the age of 36, and had to go to Prince of Wales Hospital to have it removed. The vertebrae was removed and a cage, rod and screws were inserted. He then had five weeks of radio therapy in Sydney.

In 2008 a week before his 40th birthday he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma.

In January 2009 after a week long period of injections we went to St Vincent's hospital in Sydney to harvest Pauls stem cells. It took four hours to harvest before being taken to be cleaned up and frozen.

February 2009 Paul had his first stem cell transplant, which meant a month in hospital killing off his immune system then giving him back half of his stem cells that they had harvested in January.

It was rough going but Paul never complained he always said there was some else worse off than him and he was still he able to fight, Mrs Fishenden said.

After the transplant, the family had five years respite before it came back again.

In 2015 he broke his arm after reaching for a BBQ plate in the shed, as the cancer had eaten through the bone.

He was airlifted to Sydney to see what they could do but the break was too close to the elbow joint and there was nothing they could do, Mrs Fishenden said.

So Paul being Paul decided to do physio on himself and got his arm working again. Then in April a few weeks later his lower spine collapsed and he was flown back to Sydney were he had more rods and screws inserted.

He got himself moving again and back to work. By September of the same year he was back to St Vincent's for his second stem cell transplant.

It was much harder the second time around, and was home a month later.

In 2017 after driving the Great Ocean Road Mr Fishenden wasn't feeling himself, and after months of testing he was diagnosed with Meyodisplasia or faulty bone marrow.

He tried two new drugs that were coming out but they only made him sicker.

We had a wedding in Newcastle in October for our adopted kids we took under our wings when they moved to Griffith, and he didn't care how sick he was - he was going.

In November 2017, after a week in St Vincent's, Mr Fishenden was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

There was nothing they could do and we came home to spend what time we had left with our family and friends.

Paul was truly loved by everyone. An amazing husband, dad, son, brother and friend. Nothing was ever too much trouble and he was the first one in to help and the last to leave. He loved to help everyone, Mrs Fishenden said.