Monkey-mad dying man visited by marmoset at hospice

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-39210708

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A dying cancer patient who loved monkeys got to spend his final day with one after his hospice arranged a visit.

Ian Cadman, who "was crazy about monkeys", met two-year-old marmoset Millie at Wigan and Leigh Hospice on Tuesday.

A few hours after the visit the 58-year-old died surrounded by his family, the hospice said.

Mr Cadman's twin sister Karen Lund said: "To know he's had a real monkey there with him, meant so much to us."

Mr Cadman, from Beech Hill in Wigan, had been diagnosed with cancer of the colon five weeks before he died.

Her brother had been "obsessed" with monkeys "since he was tiny", Mrs Lund said, adding that he "had over 800 fluffy monkeys in his flat".

After noticing he had toy monkeys on his bed and learning Mr Cadman had wanted to visit Monkey World in Dorset, the nurses arranged for Millie to be brought to the hospice in Hindley.

Nurse Emma-Jane Ritchie said the staff were "all so enthused by the idea of Ian seeing real monkeys before he died".