Sam’s story: Living life after loss

February 2026

This World Cancer Day, we speak to WAY member Sam, who was widowed to bile duct cancer in November 2025 and is determined to live life positively, both for herself and for her husband…

“My husband Chris passed away on 25 November 2025. He was 58 and had been diagnosed with bile duct cancer only five weeks earlier. Everything happened so quickly that I don’t think it has really sunk in yet. He passed away peacefully at home, cared for by our son and me. It was a privilege to look after him in his last moments on earth.

Losing him has brought so much sadness to Cade and me, but we have so many beautiful memories. We were together for 30 years, and I still remember first seeing him out of the window when I was 19. His mum and my mum lived on the same road in Accrington, and I used to watch him going for a run in his little shorts! We eventually met in the local pub, got married in 1999, and built a wonderful life together.

People often expect you to be angry when someone dies so young, but I don’t feel like that at all. I feel incredibly grateful because we had a great life together. Chris worked in the gas industry for 31 years, but he retired three years ago due to arthritis in his knees. I sold my social care business at the same time so we could spend time together.

Making the most of every day

I am so glad we had those last three years to truly enjoy life together. We had so many adventures, including celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary in the Maldives and my 50^th birthday in Ibiza. We shared a love of sunsets and making the most of every day. In September, we had what was to be our last holiday together in Crete. The last photo I took of Chris is of him in the pool jacuzzi, smiling in his favourite sunglasses.

He was so proud of our son, Cade, who is 23 and living his best life in Southampton as a sports scientist. Chris was always on the sidelines cheering him on at every football match or sports event. Seeing Cade secure his dream job within football last year was one of Chris’s proudest moments.

Shortly after Chris died, two different people told me about WAY Widowed and Young on the same day. I went online, looked at it and thought, ‘That’s exactly what I need’.

When you are widowed at 50, your needs are different. You’ve still got plenty of life left. I’m also part of other bereavement groups and the value is the instant understanding. Friends and family are wonderful, but unless they’ve lived it, they don’t always know what to say.

In a peer support group, you don’t have to deal with insensitive comments. You can talk about your partner comfortably without feeling like a nuisance. If you go to a social event and burst into tears, it doesn’t matter. Everyone there knows exactly what that grief feels like.

Learning to walk a solo path

For New Year, I decided to go on my first solo trip to Fuerteventura to escape the festivities and get away from everyone talking about Chris.

I’m quite an independent person, but I’ll admit the first night in Fuerteventura felt a bit strange. I just went and got a drink, sat down and a lady said to me, ‘Are you on your own? Come and sit with us.’ That was the end of me being on my own! There were about 15 of us solo travellers by the end. It was absolutely the right thing to do; it let me deal with my own emotions rather than having to manage everyone else’s back home.

This year, I’ve decided to keep as many of our original plans as possible. Chris always told me I’d ‘need a purpose’, and he was right. Last June, I started a new job with a charity, and even when Chris was in hospital, I’d take my laptop in and work while he was resting. It gave me something to do other than just thinking about how unwell he was.

As well as working for a local charity, I have a full year of travel ahead of me now, including trips to Spain, Greece and the Dominican Republic. My message to anyone who’s been widowed young is that your life isn’t over. It is going to be different, and there will be moments that are incredibly hard, but it is still possible to live happily.

I’m keeping busy, I’m getting out of bed every day, and I’m making sure I have things to look forward to. Chris loved life and he wouldn’t want me to sit in alone when I can be doing things like we used to do together. It’s still early days for me as a I learn to manage my grief but I want to stay positive and show that it’s possible to live happily after a loved one has passed.”