‘My absolute soulmate’: Radio host whose first husband took his own life reveals tragic news her new partner has died of cancer – after quitting her job to be by his side in his final days
- Robin Bailey’s second husband Sean Pickwell has died after battling cancer
- Ms Bailey resigned from her breakfast radio post at Triple M Brisbane this month
- She hoped to focus on spending more time with her husband and their family
- Mr Pickwell was told his cancer was terminal more than a year ago
- Bailey’s first husband and father to her kids, Tony Smart, commit suicide in 2014
A breakfast radio host who lost her first husband to suicide has revealed her second husband has died of cancer.
Robin Bailey, 50, resigned from her breakfast radio post at Triple M Brisbane earlier this month to spend as much time as possible with her husband, Sean Pickwell.
Sadly, Mr Pickwell, 56, died in his wife’s arms their Brisbane home on Thursday morning.
Ms Bailey shared the devastating news on her public Facebook page.
‘What can I say .. my big beautiful panda has gone . He died as he lived … his way ….at home with us holding him…. early this morning,’ she wrote.
The couple travelled to Europe and the United States, and are sharing as many memories as possible from Mr Pickwell’s bucket list
Earlier in the week, Bailey went to a tattoo parlour where she got Mr Pickwell’s heart beat inked into her forearm
‘In this moment there are no words or feelings that can truly express the love and gratitude I have for my husband Sean Pickwell . He came into our lives and healed us . He loved me so hard and taught me so much and now whatever life throws at us we will be stronger , wiser and more fierce because of him .
‘He was my absolute soul mate, the true love of my life and whatever I do from now on he will be in my heart and in my corner cheering me on.
A memorial for family and friends will be held in the coming weeks.
The pair married in November 2018 after a whirlwind three-year romance.
Mr Pickwell proposed days after he learned his liver cancer had spread to his bones, blood and other organs.
He was given just six months to live more than a year ago, and now lived every day with the knowledge that his death was ‘imminent’.
Ms Bailey previously told The Sunday Mail she spent a lot of that time searching for a cure to his condition, but the pair have now accepted the prognosis.
Bailey said she and Mr Pickwell decided to bring as much happiness, joy and love to their lives as they possibly could in the time they have left together
After accepting that he was going to die, Mr Pickwell ‘had to fight’ for doctors to allow him to stop treatment and return home.
‘That wasn’t living,’ he said. ‘What I’ve been able to do in that acceptance is live even more than I ever have before in my life. I came home and would literally stop every single day and think ‘I’m so grateful’.’
The couple travelled to Europe and the United States, and are sharing as many memories as possible from Mr Pickwell’s bucket list with their blended family.
Ms Bailey said she and Mr Pickwell decided to bring as much happiness, joy and love to their lives as they possibly could in the time they have left together.
She said her children Fin, 19, Lewin, 17, and Piper, 14 – who lost their own father to suicide in 2014 – had found the process somewhat healing.
Bailey said the boys she shared with her first husband, Tony Smart, were ‘resilient’ after losing their dad, but that this experience had been entirely different.
‘I think the process has actually been really healing for my kids,’ she said.
Mr Pickwell agreed, saying their experience with their father was that he died overnight, whereas the boys have had a longer time to process his diagnosis and are really working hard to connect with him.
‘However this ends, it ends in love,’ Bailey added.
More to come
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