The printing industry has thrown its support behind the family of 35-year-old Adrian ‘Aido’ McManis who passed away last Wednesday after a 12-month battle with cancer.
Aido leaves behind his wife Jaimi and their two young boys, Oscar, who is about to turn two and three-year-old Toby.
A Go Fund Me page was set up last week to help the young family as Aido continued to confront a steep battle against the disease with over $44,000 now in the account.
Jaimi told Sprinter she has been overwhelmed by the support shown to her family and all the people who love Aido for the support they have shown through phone calls to reminisce on the good times and the financial support.
“The Go Fund Me has blown up, Linda D’Arcy is just amazing for setting this up for us. She contacted me and said she was setting it up and I just can’t believe it. Thank you just isn’t enough as there is not enough words to be grateful for what they have done,” Jaimi said.
“I am so grateful for all the people that loved him.
“We weren’t able to have a funeral for Adrian due to COVID so when we can have over 100 people we are planning a “Festival of Aido” and we will get a big conference room to celebrate Adrian.”
Jaimi has also reflected on her time with Adrian after they met when she was 21 years old while working at Sydney print business Lindsay Yates with Adrian later taking up a senior account management role at Rawson Print Co.
“Adrian was wild. I met him when I was 21 so we had been together for 10 years and he really was the life of the party, once he walked into the room, he captivated it and he was never shy to have a drink with everyone,” she said.
“He always made everyone feel so welcome. I have had over 200 plus people contact me who he had met over the years. We did quite a lot of travelling together before children and I’ve had people that we met for two days in Thailand who have contacted me and reminisced about the time they spent with us.
“He definitely lived every day to its fullest that is for sure.”
Adrian was diagnosed with bowel cancer last year but after surgeries and repeated rounds of chemotherapy the cancer took hold.
Jaimi works as a hairdresser and also teaches babies to swim but she has been unable to work since Adrian’s diagnosis due to the care he required. COVID restrictions have also impacted her ability to work.
“He had many different rounds of chemotherapy with many different variations up until January this year. Unfortunately the cancer was a horrible mutation which was quite aggressive so he fought such a big battle and unfortunately it took him away from us which is sad but also a relief because watching someone go through multiple rounds of chemo and still have to keep fighting to be here is very hard,” Jaimi said.
If anyone would like to contribute to the Go Fund Me to help support Jaimi and the boys at this time, please click here.
Comment below to have your say on this story.
If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at editorial@sprinter.com.au.
Sign up to the Sprinter newsletter