Because while Mr Jones still should be teaching, cycling and watching his son and two daughters raise their own families, he is undergoing defensive chemotherapy and focused on making his remaining days count. "It is what it is. I know that's a trite saying but I wish back in 2010 someone had looked at the scan and said, 'You've got a growth, we'll do an appendectomy and you'll be all good.' But they didn't, so..." Mr Jones trails off. "Yeah ... I have good friends and family." In 2010, Mr Jones was treated in hospital for kidney stones. But a urologist had scans done and saw a mass on the image, which concerned him enough to order another image. He wrote notes recommending surgical intervention, but never discussed this course with his patient. Mr Jones and wife Lynn are diligent with their health and adamant that had a doctor raised the growth in discussion they would have gone straight to a specialist. Instead, for reasons unexplained, the urologist just filed the scan and did not advise surgical intervention, and Mr Jones stoically learnt to cope with flare-ups.

But, five years later, he returned to his GP complaining of more pain, and the second doctor failed to detect the mass on his appendix. Again the imaging was filed despite surgery being needed. Loading The Joneses remember another doctor becoming upset a year ago, repeatedly saying, "I'm so sorry," when the cancerous mass was finally detected. By that stage, though, it was too late. An aggressive "washout" of the mucus was an option to prolong Mr Jones' life, but he and his wife, who met as teachers at Melton South Primary School, decided against a procedure so invasive it would have left him housebound and unable at times to have their children visit due to the risk of him catching an infection. "I looked at the quality that this could have given me and I thought I'd rather go to the football with my son or catch up with my mates. If it's a shortened period of time, so be it," Mr Jones said.

"We had Tom Hafey come out to talk to the [school] kids and I always remember his comment, 'If you think you're having a bad day, try missing one.' "So when people ask me, every day is a good day." Having just moved to Point Lonsdale, the Joneses are making the most of their remaining time together. Some days they sit on the couch binge-watching television, on others they take a drive to watch a movie or eat Japanese food. Ms Jones has been painting her husband's fingernails and toenails amid concerns they will crack and fall out, and their devotion to each other is evident through constant physical contact – as subtle as her putting her fingers on his – as they sit next to each other on the couch. But where her husband is philosophical and can't see where anger will get him, Ms Jones boils with fury and regularly leaves the room when close to becoming distressed.

"Someone didn't do their job properly. That's what it boils down to and I'm going to lose my husband," she said. The Joneses sued the urologist and GP for negligence and last summer, while Mr Jones was undergoing intensive chemotherapy, the parties reached a confidential settlement. Ms Robinson, from Shine Lawyers, describes the case as one of the most heart-wrenching she has worked in her 10 years in the field of medical negligence. Had doctors detected the mass that was clear in scans, Mr Jones' life would have been saved. Instead, the lump was as big as a house brick when removed, and by that stage had done too much damage. "I have never seen a case this tragic in medical negligence," Ms Robinson said.

This winter Mr Jones wants to try paddleboarding, watch the Saints play a few more times and keep writing his Fearless Four books, a series derived from a working life devoted to encouraging boys to read and write stories. His family hopes the legislation they are pushing for, which the Joneses' daughter Aimee likens to a mechanic itemising every part of a car service, would ensure doctors are more communicative and required to explain every part of their consultation. "An architect's mistakes are for everyone to see," Mr Jones said. "A doctor's mistakes are buried."