The children of two cancer sufferers have shared a heartrending picture of them holding hands shortly before they died.
Mike Bennet had been fighting a brain tumour since 2013. His wife Julie was diagnosed last May with cancer that began in her liver and kidney and spread rapidly to other organs. The couple died within a few days of each other in a Merseyside hospice.
Their children took a picture of them holding hands shortly before Mike died last week. Following Julie’s death, they decided to share the picture as a tribute to their parents’ love for each other.
Friends of the family have now launched a fundraising campaign to help the couple’s three children, Oliver, 13, Hannah, 18 and Luke 21.
Family friend Sue Wright said: “I told her the community would come together to help look after her kids – and she opened her eyes and smiled.”
A friend of Julie, Heather Heaton Gallagher, said the “down-to-earth” family are “known to all for their generosity” and “love for life.”
“Words cannot express our desperate sadness for such a beautiful family.
“Julie has kept the children in a normal routine whilst dealing with Mike’s illness over the past few years.
When Julie became ill, she made it her purpose to create as many memories as a family for the children to hold onto.
“We have set up a JustGiving page and overnight that reached an incredible £15,000, but these three kids need to have a future.”