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Sheree Ward was devastated to receive a breast cancer diagnosis two months ago.
Now the 46-year-old faces the disease alone, following the sudden death of her husband while awaiting a double mastectomy.
Routine exams found her cancer in early August, two days after she started a new job.
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Sheree Ward faces a double mastectomy as she mourns the sudden death of Mark, her husband of 23 years.
The North Canterbury woman was booked for a double mastectomy in September.
Days after surgery, her husband, Mark, was admitted to the hospital with MRSA and septicemia, believed to have originated from a scratch on his leg.
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A fit and active engineer, the 54-year-old had been out for a 38-kilometer bike ride just days before falling ill, Ward said.
He spent a week in the hospital before undergoing surgery to repair his heart. He died during the procedure, leaving his grieving wife to organize the funeral and face her own surgery without him.
“It was a big shock, they had called since the surgery to say that everything was going well,” he said.
Joseph Johnson / Stuff
Facing a double mastectomy while crying for her husband, Sheree Ward is overwhelmed and exhausted.
“Later that night they called to say he had to come in now.”
He was in surgery for 11 hours, but the medical team could do nothing to stop the bleeding, he said.
“The worst part was that we were not allowed to see or touch it afterwards because it was very contagious, it is very difficult to close it because of the way it happened.”
Joseph Johnson / Stuff
Mark Ward, pictured with his sons Kate and James, now 17 and 20.
Ward said she was overwhelmed, stressed, tired and struggling to get in the right frame of mind for her own surgery, now booked for October 27, which falls within breast cancer awareness month.
She was worried about her children: James, who turned 20 three days before their father’s death, and Kate, 17.
“I’m scared for them because Mark died in the theater; losing two parents so young would be very sad.”
Her short-term goal was to take it one day at a time, but it was hard to keep going without her 23-year-old husband by her side.
Joseph Johnson / Stuff
Sheree Ward is just trying to take it day by day and stay strong for her kids.
“I wish he was here every day to support me on my cancer journey, but I have to try to be strong, knowing that now he won’t be there when he comes out of surgery.”
Though she had to face her battle for health alone, Ward said she was grateful that her doctor recommended a mammogram and urged other women to do the same.
Her own mother died of breast cancer when she was 48 years old.
“The projection we now have in New Zealand saved my life, although it came too late for my mother.
“I need a double mastectomy but it’s not terminal and it could have been a different story if I hadn’t gone.”
His biggest immediate problem was keeping up with his mortgage payments and covering funeral costs on one salary. Another was simply not knowing what to say.
“People don’t know how to react; you would think that breast cancer at my age would be the worst, but losing your husband is also so unfair.”
A Givealittle page has been created to help the family financially.
