A HEARTBROKEN family are demanding answers following the death of a grandad-of-four from CJD.

Only a month after Alan Cowley, 58, was diagnosed as suffering from the human form of mad cow disease, he died at Hope Hospital.

Tragically, his death came shortly after the self-employed joiner had returned to work following a battle against bowel cancer during which he had had a colostomy.

And while the cause of Alan's death has officially been given as CJD, his family say they are still waiting to find out how and why he contracted the incurable disease.

They hope a post mortem report, due to be released in about three months, could hold the key to why he developed CJD.

But his widow, Winnie, claims she has already been told by experts who visited Alan and his family, that it is not thought he contracted CJD from infected meat.

Mrs Cowley, 57, of Scott Street, Leigh, said: "I want answers, but at the end of the day I don't think I will get any because not enough is known about this.

"It makes you wonder how many people this has happened to but nothing has been done about it.

"This could be a bigger killer than Aids or cancer because they do not know what causes it or how to prevent it."

It is believed Alan may have developed Sporadic CJD, one of four forms of the rare and fatal brain disorder, characterised by the spongy appearance of brain tissue.

Last Friday - the day that Alan should have been celebrating his 59th birthday - his family buried him at Leigh cemetery.

Confused

He first fell ill in November, becoming generally mixed up and confused. After two visits to his GP, Alan was admitted to Wigan Infirmary before being transferred to Hope Hospital.

He underwent a series of tests before CJD was diagnosed in December. He died on January 10 with his family at his side. He was unable to speak, feed himself or even swallow.

Mrs Cowley, who works as an inspector at Westhoughton-based Supercraft Garments, added: "Every night we went to see him something else had closed down in his body. We had to sit and watch him go through it all.

"Everybody has been so good with us. The staff at Hope Hospital were great and the staff and managers at my workplace have been very supportive.

"I was with him all the time before he died. Afterwards I just had an empty feeling but there was a sense of release for him.

"I think everybody should know about this disease, even though I suppose people might think there's a stigma attached to it." It is the second case of CJD to hit the Bolton area, coming just months after 39-year-old Kearsley father-of-three, Graham Wood, died from the disease.

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