SUNDAY Brunch host Tim Lovejoy has opened up about the tragic death of his brother saying it left him feeling numb.
The 52-year-old lost his brother James to pancreatic cancer 16 years ago when James was just 37.
Speaking on the On the Marie Curie Couch podcast, Tim spoke candidly about James’ experience, which started with stomach pains on his honeymoon that doctors claimed was down to Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
But tests soon revealed that the ailment was in fact terminal bowel cancer.
Tim revealed that James was too “scared” to talk about death in his final few months.
The TV star said: “I wish I could have had conversations with him about death, if I’m honest with you, though it happened so quickly at the end that there was never an opportunity to do that.”
The last time he saw James, Tim said that he had next to no energy and refused to talk.
James died the next day.
Tim told the podcast: “It was absolutely incredible and numbing. No one knew what to do. It was mixed emotions.
“You have anger – it was anger towards why this had happened to my brother and there’s a myriad of emotions that hit you.”
For Tim, the best way of getting through the pain has been to talk about his experiences.
He confided: “I just talked a lot about it to people. I want to talk about him and I want to talk about cancer.
“You can’t just suppress them constantly. I do recommend, for anyone who’s going through anything to do with this… talk, talk, talk. Discussions, it’s all about discussions.”
Of his own death, Tim said: “I want them to have a celebration of my life, not a celebration of my death. I’d just like them to get together somewhere and have a drink for me. That’s it.
“What I would like my kids to do is get on with their lives.
“I feel that, having watched my brother die, that if you call it a soul, it leaves the body.
“When you were born, it was an experience where you came into the world and something amazing happened. When you die, you never know, it might be amazing too.”
