I wanted to introduce myself. My name is Julie and my husband John died on 7 July 2026 so as my heading says, it is early days for me.
John was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer in June 2024 with metastasis to the liver. Although it was inoperable we were told he was the first person in Scotland on the list for a liver transplant as a curative path. We had to maintain stability for two years but we were looking at the first stage of removal of the primary tumour in Spring 2026. Unfortunately scans showed us in February 2026 that there had been spread to his bones so that path was removed.
Left only with third and fourth lines of chemotherapy the liver started to deteriorate. At the end of May we were told he had 4-8 weeks left. He lived for 6 but died peacefully and pain free at home surrounded by me and our children.
We have been surrounded by family and friends since then and have organised the funeral for Saturday 25 July.
It just seems so unreal that I will never see him again, ever. That foreverness is just too big to cope with. The thought of my future without him is heartbreaking. Our children are 22, 19 and 17 so will be out in the world themselves before I know it and then it will be me. We had so many plans for our future and I really feel robbed of what should have been. I promised John that I would create a life for myself going forward but it is so hard to even think about that without him.
This will be a very familiar post, I have read so many people having similar feelings.
