A CANCER sufferer and former pub doorman who was exposed to nuclear explosions has succumbed to the disease after a two-year fight for life.

John McIntyre, of Third Avenue, in Heworth, died of bowel and liver cancer on May 20 at his home.

The former RAF firefighter and York doorman was diagnosed with the disease two years ago and since then has undertaken six courses of chemotherapy. But at the beginning of this year doctors at York Hospital decided to stop the treatment as it was having no effect on the cancer and was doing Mr McIntyre more harm than good.

Mr McIntyre, 70, was later featured in The Press asking members of the public for information about alternative treatments so he could continue his fight for life.

Today his daughter Fiona paid tribute to her father. She said: "He was a character-and-a-half, everybody loved him. He was well-known in the area and we've had some beautiful cards from people saying he will be really missed."

She said her father was born in Kilmarnock on February 2, 1938, leaving school at 16 to join the RAF. During his service he was posted to Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean and was exposed to atom bomb testing which he later believed caused him to suffer from eye cataracts and tinnitus.

In an article in The Press in 1997, he described the nuclear explosions. He said: "You had to turn round and kneel on the ground with your hands over your face. The flash was so bright you could see the bones of your hands."

After Christmas Island he was posted to RAF Linton-on-Ouse. On a trip to York, he met his future wife Veronica and they married in 1959, living in Main Street in Fulford.

The couple had twin girls, Carol and Sylvia, and then moved back to Scotland where Mr McIntyre worked as a lumberjack. Another two daughters, Fiona and Tracy, were born before the family moved back to York in the late 1960s, living in Naburn Lane, while Mr McIntyre worked at the sewage works during the day and as a bouncer at the Cat's Whiskers and Painted Wagon pubs in the evenings.

In the early 1970s the family moved to Heworth and Mr McIntyre worked for British Gas, retiring at the age of 55.

His funeral was held yesterday at York Crematorium and Fiona thanked all those who gave donations to Cancer Research and friends for their support.

Mr McIntyre is survived by his four daughters and nine grandchildren.


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