Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Bradley wanted us to have a bath together.. I knew it was our last
Gemma shares Mother’s Day pic
GENTLY cradling her sick son Bradley in the water, this is Gemma Lowery’s final bath with the youngster.
The grieving mum shared the touching black and white picture on her first Mother’s Day without the six-year-old, who died of a rare cancer last July.
Gemma, who posted the snap on the Bradley Lowery Foundation Facebook page, wrote: “I can’t put a brave face on today, I can’t be strong today. I’m heartbroken and my grief is hurting me so bad.
“This is my first Mother’s Day away from my baby boy and it’s painful and I miss him so, so much.
“This photo that I have used in this post is a hard one to see and not everyone will agree with me putting it on but this is reality. Bradley asked for a bath with me.
“I knew it would be our last ever bath. I don’t want a parent to ever have to do this. I’ve also put one on that is happy memories because that’s what Bradley is known for, his big smile.”
The picture shows Bradley, with a drip attached to his chest, shortly before he died of neuroblastoma.
He was diagnosed with the disease at 18 months and his bravery moved the nation. After learning his cancer was terminal, Bradley, of Hartlepool, Co Durham, appeared as mascot for his beloved Sunderland AFC and struck up a bond with striker Jermain Defoe. The foundation was launched to raise awareness and cash to help treat Bradley. Generous donations flooded in, raising £700,000 for pioneering treatment in 2016. But doctors could not save him.
It now raises money for treatment not available on the NHS for other children with rare cancers.
SKY Sports host Simon Thomas spoke of his first Mother’s Day with son Ethan, eight, since his wife Gemma died of cancer in November. He said it was “impossibly hard” when Ethan tells him, “I want Mummy”.