John Stapleton has told how he still has some ‘really bad moments’ following his wife’s death – and sometimes wakes up and ‘thinks she’s here.’
The 74-year-old broadcaster’s wife Lynn Faulds Wood, 72, who had Antiphospholipid Syndrome (APS), died in April following a ‘massive stroke’ at their home at St Margarets in south west London.
‘I still have some really bad moments. I wake up and think she’s here, and the pain on realising she’s gone… it’s very difficult to live with that,’ said John, speaking to The Telegraph. ‘I think what I miss most is not having someone to do nothing with.’
The presenter was best known for fronting the BBC consumer show Watchdog alongside Stapleton from 1985 to 1993.
John Stapleton, 74, has told how he still has some ‘really bad moments’ following his wife’s death – and sometimes wakes up and ‘thinks she’s still here.’ Pictured, Lynn and the broadcaster at the Variety Club Showbiz Awards at the Grosvenor Hotel in London on 15 November 2009
Lynn died in April following a ‘massive stroke’ at their home at St Margarets in south west London. Pictured, with John in 1996
John Stapleton, one of the presenters of the BBC’s ‘Nationwide’ programme with his bride, 29 year old journalist Lynn Faulds Wood, after their wedding at Richmond Register Office
John, who had been married to Lynn for 43 years, went on to say that he received 70,000 tweets and over 400 letters of condolence following his wife’s death.
‘But I could only hug Nick and Lise,’ he said. ‘We got special permission from my doctor for them to come and live with me for a few weeks, and they helped me with everything, especially the bureaucratic nightmare after a death.’
‘I simply cannot believe how hard that was, and I wouldn’t have got through it without them.’
He added that many of the bereavement organisations were shut which made matters even worse – adding he’d struggle to sleep worrying about it.
Presenters John Stapleton and Lynn Faulds Wood in the gym ‘The Time The Place’ TV Programme in 1992
Portrait of television presenters Lynn Faulds Wood and John Stapleton, photographed for Radio Times in connection with the BBC show ‘Watchdog’, November 1986
Six months since Lynne’s death, and John says he’s still not ready to sort out her belongings.
‘I’ll clear Lynn’s things later when I’m ready, and her sisters will help me,’ he told the publication.
‘You have to forge your own path through grief, and I also realised I can’t do Christmas here, as Lynn was at the centre of that, so Nick has booked a house for us in Hampshire and even organised someone to do Christmas dinner – if lockdown allows.’
John and his son Nick previously appeared on Lorraine, where they called Lynne a ‘pioneer who saved lives’ due to her work raising awareness about bowel cancer and said she was ‘smiling until the end.’
The journalist and Nick said Lynn had been living with ASP, an autoimmune disease for four years and recalled what had happened when she was taken ill.
John said: ‘We came back in from clapping the NHS, she was as enthusiastic as ever, we came back watched a movie, she tried to get up and collapsed at the sofa.
‘So I phoned an ambulance, she was taken to Charing Cross hospital and died the following day at midday with Nick and Lisa there.’ [John was unable to go due to Covid: 19.]
John continued: ‘One of the main reasons [we’ve come on here] is to make people aware of APS, it’s an autoimmune disease that can cause blood clots, and DVT and heart attacks and strokes.
‘It is thought to be genetic and it can be a real factor in miscarriages, as well as stillbirths, but if you are in any doubt, Google it or speak to people like Dr Hilary.
Nick added: ‘There are a number of symptoms which overlap with other things so it’s difficult to know if you have it unless you have all those complex symptoms all together.
Special lady: Lynn pictured meeting and speaking with Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, during a reception for Women in Journalism at The Ned in London back in February 2018
‘Mum lived for four years with this condition on quite a lot of medication and it’s possible to live a long life but the medication does have side effects.
She was an amazing mum to me and an amazing mentor to a lot of people who tried to follow the same path as her in investigative journalism.
‘I’ve had lots of messages from people wanting to thank mum for getting them into that line of work.
‘I’m really proud she was able to that and incredible proud of her as a mum to me, she was a fantastic person.’
The presenter did a lot of campaigning to raise awareness about bowel cancer.
John said: ‘When Lynne started campaigning there are people in their business, there were some who couldn’t even say the word cancer, they said they came back from a long illness.
‘She went onto talk about poo and bottoms and even got Prince Charles to talk about it. I remember her on GMTV talking about symptoms and we got 27,000 enquiries after that. She was quite a pioneer and she saved lives.’