Lochmaben native Andrew Boyd, 24, lost his dad, Derek, in May 2013 after he suffered a cardiac arrest, aged just 52.
And his new book — The Journey Caused By Heartache — covers the moment he received the phone call telling him his dad was ill, to the moment his father’s life support machine was switched off.
It ends with Andrew channelling his grief into a charity bike ride. The HMP Dumfries prison officer is now hoping to sell as many copies as possible in aid of Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland.
Discussing how he transformed his grief into a book of hope for others, he said: “I started writing the book about six months ago as when I first lost my dad I began suffering from anxiety and struggled to cope with what my family were going through.
“I couldn’t talk to anyone as it became too difficult to speak with family members and friends as it just made us all upset.
“Often I would take hours to finally settle at nights when I went to bed as I started thinking I was suffering a heart attack and complications with my breathing and would start hyperventilating and shaking and became very unsettled.
“I knew it was all in the head, but my dad had his cardiac arrest in his sleep and I always thought about it when I was trying to sleep.”
He added: “Once I got that under control I started writing down how I felt and kept a blog and I ended up finding it very therapeutic.”
The youngest of three brothers, Andrew has written fondly about his close relationship with his dad, who was a security service worker, and how their shared love of cycling spurred him on to complete a charity challenge.
Brave Andrew recently raised just under £4000 from cycling Lands End to John O’Groats and the cash was used to install a newly unveiled defibrillator on Lochmaben High Street.
The Journey Caused By Heartache is on sale now.
