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Lee William Knowles born 11th July 1968, Lee was a very talented sign writer and graphics designer who had a flair for the unusual, he was a very accomplished musician in his own right and would always be seen with guitar in hand at any festival when camping and socialising was to be found.

A very popular and friendly guy who loved Llandudno and North Wales, nothing would be too much trouble for Lee and he was always  at hand to give advice whether you wanted it or not! From birth Lee suffered with heart problems, but this never stopped Lee from doing what he wanted to do, but by the age of Five it became apparent something had to be done and in 1974 Lee had to undergo ground breaking surgery to have a new Aortic valve replacement, it was deemed a short term fix at the time, fast forward to 2014 by now Lee had become a Third Dan black belt karate instructor and lead an incredibly active life, was a surfer, snowboarder, mountain biker and all round outdoor fanatic but still with the same replacement valve from 1974.

Lee was starting to feel ill effects of the valve as it was starting to deteriorate. So it was decided after months of consultations that Lee would have a valve replacement operation at Broadgreen Hospital in Liverpool on 8th September 2014, the operation was not without risks and was a “Challenge” as described by Lee's surgeon afterwards, over the next week or so Lee made a steady and reassuring recovery from the surgery, on the day of his scheduled discharge from Hospital Lee suffered massive heart failure and was taken into immediate surgery where after 14 hours was put onto a heart and lung bypass machine, as Lee had suffered catastrophic heart failure, over the next four days lee battled for life and was surrounded by family and friends throughout, but on Saturday 20th September after consultation with Lees surgeon it was decided by the family that Lee's life support should be switched off.

Lee Knowles passed away that afternoon, a fighter until the very end, he has left a huge gap in the lives of everyone that knew him, his funeral on 3rd Oct 2014 was attended by over 600 people and his hearse was a converted VW Camper van that epitomised the man he was, a free spirit, dependable and always ready for the next big adventure.

The Knowles family could not praise the staff and facilities at Broadgreen Hospital enough, they gave Lee a fighting chance and their professional and personal support was outstanding and a credit to the NHS, we are raising money to try and purchase life saving equipment for Broadgreen . We would like to raise £3,000 and are confident that we will eventually raise this money to give another family a chance of life should it be needed, a fitting and worthy legacy to Lee and one he would have supported entirely.

Thank you for donating to this worthy cause, and visiting Lee again.

The Knowles family

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