Sacha Borthwick 1971 – 2007
 “..every so often in life we are privileged to meet someone who we know..Sacha was such a person. You felt his sincerity, his genuineness, kindness and honesty from the first few moments of meeting him”
This is how a business associate of Sacha’s chose to remember him just after he passed away. I feel this pretty much sums up how all of his family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances felt about him. All of us who knew him had, and will continue to have, our own personal and particular memories and experiences of Sach.
 Sach had a huge influence on all of those people he came into contact with in whatever capacity. In fact, it was only after his death last July, when the tributes came flooding in after his long and courageous fight against cancer finally ended, that many of us realised just how far-reaching his influence was.
It is hard to pay tribute to the life of a man whose life was so filled and whose life influenced so many others in such a beneficial way. And it is remarkable that in a life which latterly was clouded by this terrible disease, it is it’s richness and Sacha’s constant energy, drive and passion that come very much to the fore.
 As an older brother Sach was instrumental in guiding me through my early years, and played a huge role in teaching me the right way of doing things, and helping to try to instill those traditional values and morals which he held so closely himself.
Even when his own problems were looming over him, he always took time to listen to, and offer support and guidance on, the problems of his friends and loved ones. I still have, and doubtless will for many years, the instinctive urge to pick up the phone to call Sach when I have some problem or issue that I need help and guidance on; he was my first and best port of call and had an amazing ability to offer intelligent, sensitive and unerringly wise advice without ever being judgmental. For that I, and doubtless many others, will never forget him.
 I therefore feel a responsibility to honour his memory and to hold his legacy dear, so that his passing will never have been a waste.
Unfair? Yes.
Untimely? Without doubt.
But in vain? No. That is for us, his family and friends, to ensure.
With this in mind we are setting up this Foundation in order that Sacha’s death may not have been in vain, so that his memory and legacy may continue perpetually. From tragedy there must come some good, some purpose, some focus with which to seek a way forward, for without these none of us have the necessary armoury to deal with the inevitable challenges and hardship that life may throw at us.
 The Foundation will aim to assist organisations who’s efforts and work, in terms of research, nursing and compassionate care and counselling, may go largely unnoticed by the general public, yet are enormously important and essential to the individuals and families who’s lives have been blighted by cancer.
The Foundation will also seek, via a panel of professionals in the mining industry who were very close to Sacha during his working life, to award a scholarship or similar industry award to young professionals within this industry who have shown particular and outstanding courage, ability and determination in overcoming their own hardships to achieve their aims and goals in the profession.
Below is a (by no means exhaustive) of the organisations that the Foundation will seek to support either on a perpetual or individual basis:
Ian Rennie Hospice
St Bartholomew’s Hospital
The Anthony Nolan Trust
Macmillan Nurses
The Lymphoma Research Trust
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Last Updated on Sunday, 15 February 2009 18:38 |
