UK TV Presenter Admits Losing Wife Suddenly to Cancer Is 'Biggest Test' of His Christian Faith
Simon Thomas Says He Cannot Abandon God Because It Would Remove Hope of Reunion With His Wife
British television presenter Simon Thomas says that losing his wife to cancer suddenly last year was the "biggest test" of his Christian faith, but added that he cannot bring himself to abandon God.
Thomas, formerly of an anchor with Sky Sports, said in an interview with BBC Breakfast on Wednesday that the hardest thing about losing his wife, Gemma, to a type of blood cancer just three days after she was diagnosed in November 2017, was breaking the news to their 8-year-old son, Ethan.
Thomas said that informing his son about his mother's death from acute myeloid leukemia was "the most crushing, brutal thing you will ever have to say to anyone," as reported by the Press Association.
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In the context of his Christian faith, he added that "it's the biggest test it's ever had."
Still, he said he continues to trust in God.
"If I take God out of the equation, the faith that I've had throughout my life, then the hope disappears because the hope is that one day I see Gemma again," Thomas shared.
Speaking further of how he and Ethan have processed the tragedy, he said: "I think, as the weeks have gone on, the reality of daily life, of mum not being around, has begun to hit home."
Thomas continued: "He finds it difficult when he's alongside families, where he's with his friends that he's grown up with for the last eight years. And for the most part he's playing like he would have done any other time, but quite often when it's home time or they leave, he goes very quiet and often the tears begin to flow.
"Because he sits there and while he's enjoying himself, the brutal reality of seeing his friends still with a mum, still with a dad, hits home."
The former sports presenter positioned that people in the U.K. have a difficult time with expressing grief.
"I just think so often in life we want to present that strong front. But I've learned in the short time I've been going through this is we don't like talking about grief in this country," he added.
"We are not a society that does grief very well. But you know what? What I have begun to understand is that people do want to talk, they just need permission to talk."
On Sunday, Thomas posted a touching tribute to his wife on Twitter on what would have been her 41st birthday, writing: "To the girl I struggle to live without. Happy Birthday. I will never ever stop loving you."
Two days earlier, he posted a photo of a newly planted tree surrounded by candles.
"The tree we've planted in memory of Gemma lit up ahead of our party to celebrate her life and what would have been her 41st birthday this weekend. #lightindarkness," he wrote in the description on Twitter.
