'Utterly lost and empty': Husband's heartbreaking tribute to wife who died of cancer at 31
A grieving young man has paid tribute to his childhood sweetheart and late wife on their first wedding anniversary, three months after she passed away from cancer.
Jack Coates and Emmy Collett met when they were both just 11 years old and dated for a number of years before drifting apart during university years.
Even though Mr Coates was working as a doctor in Sydney and she was a teacher in London, the couple managed to reconnect and rekindle their romance after "ten long years".
But the day before the pair were due to set off on holiday to the Philippines in March 2016, Ms Collett receieved the "heartbreaking news" she had thyroid cancer at just 30 years old.
Mr Coates had planned to propose on the holiday, but after they were advised not the fly, he instead asked her in bed with a cup of tea.
"Given the circumstances and a new outlook on life we thought ‘why wait’ and I will be walking down the aisle to meet him on September 3rd 2016," Ms Coates wrote on a Just Giving page.
The young woman tragically died in June, just shy of a year of marriage and on Sunday Mr Coates shared a photo of his wife to his Facebook page.
"This time a year ago I couldn't sleep. I was way too excited that I was going to get to marry this girl, the love of my life, in the morning," he wrote.
"There wasn't a day that went by when we were together that I didn't pinch myself - why someone like you would choose someone like me.
"But I'll forever be grateful that you did. We made the best team. Miss you more than ever my gorgeous girl."
Before she died, Ms Collett and Mr Coates participated in a 2000 kilometre tandem bike challenge from London to Copenhagen to raise money for The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.
The young woman started a Just Giving page to raise the funds and on it explained how she always considered herself a fit person until she started showing symptoms.
"I felt tired all of the time, had irregular bowel habits which were often painful, and frequently felt quite severe, unexplained muscle aches and pains in my tummy and back," she wrote.
It took months before Ms Collett was finally diagnosed in March 2016 after a neck biopsy.
"My case is particularly rare, with only 300 cases in the UK over the last 12 years and I am one of the youngest ever reported," she said at the time.
"I have stage 4 disease meaning I have a 20% chance of living 5 years, however I remain optimistic."
In June, Mr Coates confirmed his wife had passed away in a Facebook post, saying he felt "utterly lost and empty without her."
"She was my north, my south, my east, my west. The reason I wanted to wake up every morning and be a better person," he wrote.
"My co-captain on my bike. My best friend. My lobster. My wife. And truly my hero."
