TV sports star’s wife dies three days after being told she’d cancer
Presenter Our son is in bits.. he says he wants mummy back for Christmas
My boy had time with her but she wasn’t able to speak to him
Sky Sports host Simon Thomas says he is “crushed with indescribable pain” at losing his wife to cancer just days after she fell ill.
The heartbroken former Blue Peter presenter revealed their eightyear- old son Ethan told him all he wants for Christmas is to have his mummy back.
Gemma, 40, died on Friday, three days after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia.
Simon, 44, revealed she started to feel unwell last weekend and by Tuesday had started chemotherapy.
She initially responded well but quickly deteriorated and shocked Simon was told on Friday morning that she had just hours to live. He said: “My little boy had a little time with her but she wasn’t able to speak to him. She passed away just before 6pm.
“There was a real sense of peace. Today is the hardest pain I have ever felt.”
He said Ethan was “in bits”.
Fighting back tears, Simon added: “He said he wants Playmobil and other gifts for Christmas but most of all, ‘I want mummy back’, and I can’t help him with that.”
Gemma went to the GP three times last weekend and was given tablets and told to rest.
Simon said: “On Monday we took her to the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading. After lots of tests they diagnosed her with blood cancer.
“A few hours later we were rushed to specialists in Oxford.”
Gemma began chemotherapy on Tuesday evening.
Simon said: “For the first couple of days she was responding well then went downhill very quickly. She had bleeding on the brain.
“I was told on Friday morning she would be gone in a few hours.”
The couple, who live in Caversham, Berkshire, met at a party in 2001.
Simon said it was love at first sight. He added: “Our eyes met and that was it.” They married in 2005.
Acute myeloid leukaemia is a rapid and aggressive form of cancer that attacks the white blood cells. It is rare, with about 2600 new cases every year in the UK.