Snowy, bad luck mate, I'm honestly gutted for you - I've had my fair share of letters like that and they are always a real kick somewhere painful.
However, you've kept this thread alive for a long time now, there're a lot of (quiet) people (me clearly included) who've followed it with interest as a result of your openness and it took guts for you to take that to conclusion by posting the bad news. I wish you the absolute best of luck for future schemes.
Happy birthday by the way
BM