I lost my husband and father to brain tumors months apart — it was awful
A woman from England is mourning the death of her husband and father after they both died from a brain tumor just seven months apart.
Sue Meehan, 47, described her husband Adrian “Adie,” 45, and dad Malcolm Kirk, 69, as “best friends.”
“It was so hard to deal with what happened to Adie, everything happened so quickly, and everything changed in the blink of an eye,” Meehan told South West News service.
“When dad was diagnosed, it was really hard to get my head around it, and it was really hard for dad who was also grieving for Adie,” she continued.
Meehan’s husband, who worked as a car delivery driver, was first diagnosed with a brain tumor in March 2015, after he came back from a shift feeling a little strange.
Later on that evening, she noticed that his entire face was twitching and he then collapsed.
Adie was rushed to the hospital, where doctors diagnosed him with two metastatic secondary brain tumors, which is caused from cancer spreading to other parts of the body, per Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Meehan’s husband was also diagnosed with stage four lung cancer, suffering two more seizures before passing from a pulmonary embolism in August 2015.
He only received three weeks of radiotherapy and chemotherapy before his death.
“Before then, Adie had no symptoms at all,” Meehan claimed.
“I thought as long as he doesn’t die, we can cope with anything, but it wasn’t to be.”
But in the midst of her grieving, Meehan’s father suddenly became unwell just two months after her husband’s death, in October 2015.
His brain tumor was discovered during a routine scan in order for him to be fitted for a hearing aid.
“I thought ‘here we go again’ and I had to put my grief on hold so I could be strong for dad, mum and my sister,” Meehan admitted.
“After Adie, it felt awful knowing what was going to come for dad.”
The 69-year-old was told that he only had six months to live, and unfortunately passed away in March 2016.
Now, Meehan is turning her sorrow into sweetness as she is currently raising money for the brain tumor charity Brain Tumour Research, which aims to discover a cure and new treatments for patients.
“Adie and Dad’s deaths can’t have been for nothing; I’m doing it for them, and I think they would be really proud of me,” she said.
In order to raise money, Meehan is participating in a 10,000 steps a day challenge.
Matthew Price, community development manager at Brain Tumour Research, told SWNS that he is “grateful” for her efforts.
“It’s only with the support of people like her that we’re able to progress our research into brain tumors and improve the outcome for patients like Adie and Malc who are forced to fight this awful disease,” Price told the outlet.
