A much-loved Keith GP who defied his terminal diagnosis to go on a road trip around Europe with his family has died.
Tributes have been paid to Dr David Gould, of Keith Health Centre,, who died on Monday aged 53, after being diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer out of the blue in January, 2014.
After a brief stint of chemotherapy, he was given 18-months to live and the keen adventurer set to work on getting the most of his remaining time with his wife Louise and three daughters, Hannah, Laura and Caitlin.
Mrs Gould said “When we got the diagnosis we decided we were going to go on a road trip.
“So we took five weeks last May and went from Spain to France and Italy in his Triumph Stag — his pride and joy. We never talked about his cancer. We just left it on the doorstep here and had a really fantastic time.”
A particular highlight from that trip which typified Dr Gould was his staggering 13-mile ascent of Mont Ventoux in the French Alps on a fold-away Brompton bicycle — six months after his diagnosis.
Eldest daughter Hannah, 25, said: “As a Dad he was always really encouraging and any adventures he just wanted us to experience.
“There was just nothing that would stop him.
“People wouldn’t dream of doing that up Mount Ventoux peak fitness, let alone the way Dad was.
“He had so much more to give.”
Cailtin, 21, said her father was “very determined, very patient and had a great sense of humour.”
Dr Gould joined the Keith practice in 1992 after graduating from the University of Edinburgh and training in Galashiels, Melrose and Hawick.
Mrs Gould described her husband as a “doctor to the very end.”
She added: “He had, ironically, done his palliative care diploma and a lot of people said if you wanted anybody by your bedside, it was David you wanted to have there.
“It’s just so cruel because he was too young, but he was very stoical about it all. He was a doctor to the very end and found it very hard to step back as a patient.”
Dr John Harrington, a colleague of Dr Gould’s for many years, said he was a great source of knowledge and had a particular interest in respiratory medicine and palliative care.
He said: “It’s safe to say under his guidance, we saw a great difference in the health of particularly asthmatic patients.”