Life Saving Journeys

September 2013, Monmouthshire

A Visit to the Dentist

Kim drove to the dentist, hoping for some much-needed relief. His wisdom tooth was impacted and growing into his jaw. It was causing unbearable pain.

After months of suffering, he was finally scheduled for surgery. Under general anaesthetic, the tooth was removed, leaving behind a deep wound.

But something wasn’t right.  Months passed, and the wound refused to heal.

The pain lingered.

Concerned, Kim returned to his dentist, who took a scan to investigate further. What followed would change his life forever.

Kim received a call and was quickly scheduled for a biopsy. The next two weeks were agonising, a waiting game filled with worry but also reassurances from family and friends that everything would be fine.

Then, the results came in.

Kim had an aggressive, slow-growing cancer, an adenoid cystic carcinoma, lodged deep within his sinuses (pterygoids). It was one of the rarest, most difficult cancers to treat.

The doctors were blunt: he had, at best, one year to live.

Even the medical team struggled to agree on a way forward. The location of the tumour made surgery incredibly risky, and they had seen very few cases like his. Time was running out.

After a tense week of deliberations, a team of specialists devised a plan. It would require immense skill, precision, and luck.

It was his only chance.

A nightmare come true

It Came as Such a Shock

We always assume these things happen to someone else. That cancer is something distant, something we might have to face later in life.

But the reality is stark. Between 2014 and 2016, an average of 363,484 new cases of cancer were diagnosed annually in the UK (Cancer Research UK). Despite the statistics, nothing prepares you for it.

Kim Kemp is my Dad.

I’ll never forget the day he called me.

"Are you sitting down?" he asked.

Then he told me the worst news imaginable: that he had this deadliest form of cancer, and the doctors didn’t know what to do next. It felt like a nightmare, except I was wide awake.

A lifeline for so many people

The Role of Community Transport

It was during my Dad’s radiotherapy treatments that I first learned about community transport.

Before then, I hadn’t even known services like this existed. But as I watched my Dad rely on community transport for his appointments, I quickly realised just how vital these services are.

Community transport is not simply just about getting people from A to B. It is also about helping people reach these places they desperately need to be, often during the most frightening, uncertain, and vulnerable moments of their lives.

And yet, despite the importance of these services, they are so often overlooked and underfunded.

I remember speaking to the volunteer driver who regularly took my Dad to his appointments. He explained that the entire service was run by volunteers and operated on extremely limited funding.

Some passengers had no other way of reaching their medical appointments.

Almost every available resource, funding, donations, and community support went towards simply keeping the vehicles on the road: fuel, maintenance, insurance, and repairs. And even then, there was uncertainty about whether the service would still exist in a few months as funding pressures continued to grow.

That troubled me deeply, especially knowing that my Dad’s quality of life, and ultimately the time he had left, depended upon being able to access his radiotherapy sessions, follow-up appointments, and ongoing care.

It was my first real understanding of how community transport becomes a lifeline for people facing some of the hardest periods and challenges of their lives.

In my Dad’s case, community transport gave him access to the critical appointments, treatment, and support he needed during the final years of his life.

Thanks to the dedication of surgeons, NHS staff, volunteers, community transport services, and close family around him, Dad was able to access the care he needed and live for almost 12 more years before passing away peacefully in May 2026.

Something had to change

Why I Started Road XS

It was during my Dad’s radiotherapy treatments that I first learned about community transport.

Before then, I hadn’t even known services like this existed. But as I watched my Dad rely on community transport for his appointments, I quickly realised just how vital these services are.

Community transport is not simply just about getting people from A to B. It is also about helping people reach these places they desperately need to be, often during the most frightening, uncertain, and vulnerable moments of their lives.

It's more than a journey.

And yet, despite the importance of these services, they are so often overlooked and underfunded.

I remember speaking to the volunteer driver who regularly took my Dad to his appointments. He explained that the entire service was run by volunteers and operated on extremely limited funding.

Some passengers had no other way of reaching their medical appointments.

Almost every available resource, funding, donations, and community support went towards simply keeping the vehicles on the road: fuel, maintenance, insurance, and repairs. And even then, there was uncertainty about whether the service would still exist in a few months as funding pressures continued to grow.

That troubled me deeply, especially knowing that my Dad’s quality of life, and ultimately the time he had left, depended upon being able to access his radiotherapy sessions, follow-up appointments, and ongoing care.

It was my first real understanding of how community transport becomes a lifeline for people facing some of the hardest periods and challenges of their lives.

In my Dad’s case, community transport gave him access to the critical appointments, treatment, and support he needed during the final years of his life.

Thanks to the dedication of surgeons, NHS staff, volunteers, community transport services, and close family around him, Dad was able to access the care he needed and live for almost 12 more years before passing away peacefully in May 2026.