Heartbreak for Simon Thomas as his father-in-law dies from same cancer that took his wife
24 January 2019, 10:59 | Updated: 1 April 2019, 08:11
Heartbreak for Simon Thomas as his father-in-law dies from same cancer that took his wife
Simon Thomas has paid tribute to his father-in-law after he lost his life to cancer - just over a year after the same disease took his wife.
The 40-year-old, who quit his TV presenting job to raise his young son Ethan, 9, after Rebecca died in November 2017, announced the sad passing on Instagram.
He wrote: “Life can feel very cruel. Last night Gemma’s dad’s life reached its end as Myeloma took its final toll.
“It’s devastating for Rebecca who in 14 months has lost half of her family to #bloodcancer and heartbreaking for Ethan who only a month ago said, ‘Why do I keep losing everything I love?’
"Now he’s lost the man with whom he had the most special of relationships — the man he called ‘Pompa'.
The ex-Blue Peter presenter, 45, was left left a single dad after Gemma died just THREE days after being diagnosed with a Acute Myloid Leukaemia.
The couple had been married since 2005.
Since her passing, Simon has been sharing his grief on social media, helping other widowers and single dads handle the ups and downs of becoming a single-adult family.
In November, Simon revealed that he had found himself in the "early stages" of a new romance - and he says that one of the reasons he has embarked on this new relationship is for the sake of his son Ethan.
Read more: Simon Thomas takes off his wedding ring five months after his wife's death
He said: “Sometimes I struggle with the phrase ‘moving on’ – I don’t think you ever really do move on from what’s happened.
“That hole that a loved one leaves doesn’t shrink over time. Life begins to grow around it.
“You begin to deal with some of the challenges grief throws up, being a single parent throws up."
But despite his new found happiness, Simon did admit that meeting someone new and moving on didn’t come without its challenges - and that he knew that introducing her to his wife’s family was to be handled very sensitively.
He said: “The hard thing for Gemma’s family – they’ve not met her yet.
"She doesn’t want to appear insensitive, launching in there, ‘here I am guys’.
“When the time comes for them to meet, this will be a very physical representation, it will be a very painful reminder of the physical absence of Gemma.
"We do need to take our time. The stuff that goes on around us can be quite difficult to navigate at times.
“The rules of engagement around it are really quite difficult.
“She has in truth chosen a much rockier path than she could have done.”
