Dying Devon businessman uses his final days to speak about Jehovah's Witnesses

A well-respected Devon businessman has been overwhelmed with love and support since publicly announcing that he has only days to live after being diagnosed with tongue and neck cancer.

A simple tweet saying poignantly 'I am being admitted to the hospice today' has had more than 2,300 likes, thousands of messages of encouragement and 175 retweets.

Now Andrew Mogford, the managing director of Kandy Solutions Ltd, has told DevonLive how he is using his final days to campaign to convey the 'cruelty of the Jehovah's Witnesses', claiming they shun people who choose to leave through a process called 'disfellowshipping'.

Andrew and his wife Chrissie - both former Jehovah's Witnesses -  say they are very aware of the pain and trauma on both sides when someone wants to leave the Jehovah Witness religion.

They said: "The one leaving faces a terrifying leap into the unknown, cut off from all friends and family. Those remaining face a test of loyalty and feel rejected."

Andrew says he is now using his last days to bring healing and reconciliation where he can.

And despite his difficulty in talking Andrew is making a series of videos called 'So Long and Thanks for All the Fish' about his story, growing up as a Jehovah's Witness from before 1975.

Already Andrew says the videos have been able to help other former Jehovah's Witnesses who have come forward since watching them.

Tragically Andrew and Chrissie were only married last summer - two days before he became ill with cancer. Now she is caring for him in his final days.

Heartbreakingly, Andrew posted a picture of Chrissie sleeping next to him in the hospice, saying: "This is love. Christine sleeping next to me in the hospice for the third night in a row, despite the fact that I am on a nebulizer which makes the noise of a 1950s farm tractor.

"Chrissie has barely left my side throughout the whole of my cancer treatment going back to August."

And throughout his ordeal Andrew has maintained his sense of humour. When there were no beds in the Oncology ward and he was put into the acute medical ward he posted: "Who knew there is a ward for cute patients?"

And when his cancer was pronounced terminal on New Year's Eve, the pro-European campaigner said: "I have only months at most to live. On the plus side, with Brexit it's probably a good time to leave." This tweet has been viewed 73,000 times and had 14,000 interactions.

Throughout his illness he has posted brave and truthful messages about his illness.

On January 22 he said: "Can't believe how quickly things have gone downhill, I was putting in full days of work last week."

The database and software developer, who lives in Bampton on the edge of Exmoor, is now looking forward to a bed being delivered to his home so that he can leave Searle House, the hospice alongside Wonford Hospice in Exeter.

He said: "I'm very happy at the hospice. It's been amazing. But I want to get home. When I first moved there in 2012 I said 'This is where I want to die'.

"My family ties to Exmoor go back many generations. It’s where my heart has always lived.”

Both Andrew and Chrissie are ex Jehovah's Witnesses who faced 'disfellowshipping' when they chose to leave the Christian movement.

Chrissie said: "Andrew has been out for eight years. Coming out of the Witnesses is so scary. Everything you know, your whole world, is Witnesses and you are left with no friends and no family.

"We have carefully recouped our families. This has been a very healing time. We have to be very careful and diplomatic. Andrew is just being honest and talking about his own experiences and he has been able to spread the word.

"By doing that we have been able to help several people who were ex Witnesses who have already come forward.

"Ever since Andrew became ill it has been bittersweet."

Now Chrissie says medication is helping and Andrew is stable: "We have got longer than we had hoped for - perhaps weeks instead of just days."

A spokesman for the Jehovah's Witnesses said: "On the specific subject of disfellowshipping, those who were baptized as Jehovah’s Witnesses but no longer attend our meetings, perhaps even drifting away from association with fellow believers, are not shunned. In fact, we reach out to them and try to rekindle their spiritual interest.

"We do not automatically disfellowship someone who commits a serious sin. If, however, a baptized Witness makes a practice of breaking the Bible’s moral code and does not give evidence of stopping the practice, he or she will be disfellowshipped. In doing so, Witnesses take their instructions from the Bible and on this subject the Bible (Corinthians 5:13) clearly states, 'Remove the wicked man from among yourselves'.

"Disfellowshipped people who reject improper conduct and demonstrate a sincere desire to live by the Bible’s standards are always welcome to become members of the congregation again."