Good News! Rick Bower may well be on the long road to recovery. It’s a five set match and he is fighting back from 2 0 down. Send him a message via Gareth Evans at Prestbury

This is heart-breaking news that a much loved and respected squash player has fallen victim to this horrid corona virus. Rick’s daughter has, throughout his illness, had the courage to share with us and here is her latest message:

FINAL CHAPTER – RICHARD vs COVID-19:

It has been a long, long road to get here for the Bower Family but unfortunately there is no light shining at the end of this tunnel.

This afternoon we got a call from Richard’s Drs, confirming what we have been preparing for over the past week. Although my Dad has been able to make it through the fight with COVID-19, it ravaged his body and has left his brain irreparably damaged. He has been taken off all sedation and is still not waking up and now tests have shown that his brain waves are abnormal and he will never be waking up. 

After the tracheostomy was inserted, he was taken for scans and the Drs called to let us know they had discovered that he has suffered a stroke some time in the past few weeks since he has been on the ventilator. The sodium in his blood has also been extremely high due to his kidneys not working efficiently and his brain has been starved of oxygen over a long period of time whilst suffering with virus. It is likely we will never know which of these issued caused the brain damage but that is somewhat irrelevant now as we know the damage is irreversible.

Anyone who knows Richard would know how much he would hate for his body to be left on life support in this state if there is no hope of recovery. In order to preserve his dignity and his memory we now have to be the ones to turn him off.

We have an approx 48 hour period where some final tests will be run and discussions with neurologists will take place (legal tick boxes) before we will be called in as a family to be with Richard and hold him tight whilst they shut down the support that is keeping him alive.

As much as this is a horrific and tragic situation for us all, we can take some comfort in the fact that Richard lived what life he had to the absolute fullest. One of his favorite mottos was ‘There are no withdrawals from the Bank of Experiences’ and now we are eternally grateful for all the shared experiences we have tucked away in our own personal ‘Banks’.

Now we begin the process of slowly grieving and learning how to live in a world without Richard, whilst being deprived of the comfort and support of having friends and family around us, as we are confined to our house during an extended lockdown.

I’m truly sorry that I cannot bring you good news, but this virus is a killer and it has taken my heart along with my Dad. Thank you for being a support in this nightmare path we have had to walk.

We will let you know when his time has finally come.

The Bower Family

The thoughts of all Cheshire players and club members are with the Bower family at this time