Broadcaster Red Symons opens up about the death of his son, 27, who had battled brain cancer since he was just four years old
- Red Symons has spoken about the grief he still suffers after son Samuel’s death
- Samuel Symons died from cancer last year after first being diagnosed aged four
- Skyhooks guitarist thanked doctors for caring for Samuel for as long as they did
- Broadcaster also said he struggled to properly convey his sense of loss and pain
Broadcaster Red Symons has spoken openly about the grief he still suffers to this day more than a year after he lost his eldest son Samuel to cancer at the age of 27.
Samuel, who was first diagnosed with brain tumours as a four year old, passed away in October of last year after another growth was found in his brain in 2017.
Speaking candidly about the loss of his eldest son, the former Skyhooks guitarist thanked the doctors who cared for Samuel for allowing him to live for as long as he did.
Broadcaster Red Symons (pictured left with his late son right) has spoken openly about the grief he still suffers to this day more than a year after he lost his eldest son Samuel to cancer at the age of 27
‘I have to of course thank the medial profession from top to bottom for sustaining him where 100 years ago he would have just been gone,’ he told Channel Nine‘s Deborah Knight.
When first diagnosed, his son had just an 18 per cent expectation of living.
Symons, a former Australia’s Got Talent judge, said he could only express the pain he has suffered to parents who too had lost a child at a similar age.
‘It is impossible as a father to convey – I can only convey the grief – I don’t need to convey the grief to somebody who has been in exactly the same circumstance,’ he said.
The ex-radio presenter also revealed an emotional insight into some of his son’s thoughts about death in the final weeks of his life.
‘He said “It doesn’t worry me. It has been a part of my whole life”. I figured “what is this, the Buddha?” It is wise, simple and true’.
Samuel, who was first diagnosed with brain tumours as a four year old, passed away in October of last year after another growth was found in his brain in 2017 (pictured right with his broadcaster father)
Symons (pictured), a former Australia’s Got Talent judge, said this week he could only express the pain he has suffered to parents who too had lost a child at a similar age
On top of his eldest son’s premature death (pictured together centre and far right), the former ABC breakfast host had a scary fall that landed him in a coma before splitting with his wife of 25 years and losing the steady job he’d held for 15
In an interview earlier this year, Symons said he still cries regularly after losing his son.
On top of his eldest son’s premature death, the former ABC breakfast host had a scary fall that landed him in a coma before splitting with his wife Elly of 25 years and losing the steady job he’d held for 15.
He spoke candidly about the myriad of misfortune he’s suffered in a tell-all interview with Good Weekend in March.
The brutal years began in 2016, when he and his wife Elly split after a quarter-of-a-century.
They sold the Melbourne home they had lived in since the 1990s and went their separate ways.
Only months later, Symons suffered a devastating fall.
He was comatose and hospital-bound for three weeks, but again bounced back.
The fall gave him a new lease on life and encouraged him to take up a healthy fitness regime and he now swimsswimming every morning.
But his employer, ABC Radio, decided not to renew his contract a year later, despite decent ratings and an amicable track record.
Then came the news he and his estranged wife had been dreading.
Their son, Samuel, had lost his lifelong battle with brain cancer at age 27.
‘I still cry every day about that,’ Symons told Good Weekend.
On top of his eldest son’s (centre) premature death, the former ABC breakfast host (right) had a scary fall that landed him in a coma before splitting with his wife Elly (left) of 25 years