Laura Byrne broke down in tears as she announced her step-father Neil has sadly passed away after a long battle with prostate cancer.
The Bachelor star, 38, shared the emotional news on her Life Uncut podcast with co-host Brittany Hockley as she explained her absence from the show last week.
Laura explained that her beloved step-father Neil had been diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer nine years ago and was given five years to live at the time.
A heartbroken Laura was overcome with emotion as she confirmed that Neil had sadly passed away last Tuesday.
‘I know normally we start these episodes and we’re all light and it’s all funny but the reason why I wasn’t here was because I did have some full on family stuff,’ she shared.
‘You guys know that over the last few months I’ve been speaking about Neil my step dad who has been in palliative care and he has terminal prostate cancer.’
‘So on Tuesday night last week, Neil passed away,’ she tearfully continued.
‘It was really hard for the family, we’re all kind of going through it now but he’s not in pain anymore and he fought right until the end. My God did that man fight.
Laura Byrne broke down in tears as she announced her step-father Neil has sadly passed away after a long battle with prostate cancer
‘He was really convinced that he was going to get a miracle. He was on borrowed time and eight and a half of those years were amazing, really amazing.’
She told how she had spent Neil’s final day sitting by his bedside with her mother, sister and Neil’s two children, but sadly she wasn’t there when Neil passed away.
‘I left to put my kids to bed with the intention of coming straight back and when I was on the way back that’s when I got the call,’ she said.
‘So I still made it back in time to be with him but I wasn’t there when he passed away.’
Laura said she wanted Neil’s story to be a wake-up call to listeners about the importance of having conversations with the men in their lives about getting their prostates checked.
‘I just wanted to reiterate that, if you haven’t had that conversation with the men in your life, don’t just assume that they have done it,’ she said.
Speaking on her Life Uncut podcast with co-host Brittany Hockley, the 38-year-old made the tearful announcement while explaining her absence on the show last week
‘Neil hadn’t gotten his checks done that he needed to and there’s this such an immense sense of loss now because, had he, maybe we would be in a different situation.’
Laura said she was buoyed by the amount of listeners who had told her they had such conversations after she had previously brought up Neil’s story on the podcast.
‘So many of you were so amazing,’ she said. ‘You guys messaged and said you’d had gone home and had conversations with your dads or your uncles or your husbands around whether they had their prostates checked.
‘Just starting the conversations cuz its such a weird thing to talk to the men in our lives about.’
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