Losing a Spouse to Cancer
- Real Housewives of Atlanta star Nene Leakes lost her husband, Gregg, to colon cancer earlier this month at 66 years old.
- Nene just recently shared his comforting last words to her before he passed in their Atlanta home. Still dealing with feelings of shock, Nene told PEOPLE that she feels like he’s just on a trip and will come walking back in the door.
- Moving on from losing a spouse is one of the toughest experiences of life, that’s why widow Doug Wednt tells SurvivorNet he prefers to “move forward,” expressing that he will never be able to move on from his late love.
“I’m not going to leave you. God is going to bless you,” she told PEOPLE of their moving moment. “He said he wanted me to move on with my life.”
Read More"We talked a lot, and we made peace with what was happening,” she said.
When she finally experienced the loss, Leakes simply shared the word “Broken” on her Instagram.
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“He took a deep breath, and then he stopped,” NeNe said. “I thought I would be scared, but I just held him and kissed him.”
A lot of times, it takes awhile for the finality of a death to sink in, especially a life partner that you shared a home and daily activities with.
“I keep thinking to myself he’s away on a trip and he’ll be right back,” she said. “I’m still waiting for him to come home.”
The Toughest Conversations: Losing a Spouse to Cancer
Gregg’s Colon Cancer Battle
Gregg was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer in 2018. He underwent chemotherapy and surgery. The following year, he announced that he was cancer-free, but unfortunately his cancer came back in June. He had another surgery and was in the hospital for six weeks. Unfortunately, there was nothing that his medical team could do, as the disease had unfortunately progressed.
NeNe and Gregg first married in 1997 and divorced in 2011. They remarried in 2013.
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After Gregg initially beat his cancer, he thanked his wife for her support. "Thank you to the best caregiver I could have ever had and one who is a vital part of my beating cancer, my wife," he wrote.
Moving ‘Forward’ When Losing a Spouse
Doug Wendt lost his wife of 25 years, Alice, to ovarian cancer, and spoke with SurvivorNet about moving forward after losing a loved one to cancer.
Losing his wife has been extremely hard on Doug; she was a light in his life, and he glows speaking about how the clients at the business they ran together loved working with her so much. He explains to SurvivorNet that he'll never really get over losing Alice, but he does hope to move forward.
"We're never gonna move on, I don't even think I want to move on, but I do want to move forward," Doug said. "That's an important distinction and I encourage anybody who goes through this journey as a caregiver and then has to face loss, to think very carefully about how to move forward."
‘I Don't Want to Move On; I Do Want To Move Forward’ Doug Wendt Says After Losing His Wife to Cancer
The Toughest Conversations: Losing a Spouse to Cancer
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