My husband John

Regular readers may have noticed my long absence and wondered why. I'm heart-broken to have to tell you that my beloved husband John died on 24 April after a short illness.

John and I enjoying a hike in the countryside near Jumilla

One reason that I'm sharing this with you is that I hope you will talk to the men in your life (whether it is your husband, partner, father, son or someone else) and ask them not to be brave and strong or to suffer in silence as so many men do. Tell them to share any pain that they feel, to be honest about nausea, weakness or any other symptoms that indicate they may be seriously ill. I will never know how many days it was until John told me he wasn't well, though I don't think it was that long as I could usually sense these things. All I do know is that, when he first mentioned his symptoms, I told him to tell his doctor when he went to renew his prescription for statins a couple of days later. On his return, I asked John what the doctor had said and what he had prescribed. Nothing!

I wasn't happy with this response so made another appointment for John and this time I accompanied him, having written down the many worrying symptoms in Spanish (we live in Spain and our doctor doesn't speak English), so that the doctor would be fully aware of the seriousness of the situation. I also emphasised that John had been ill for at least 10 days and that this was very unusual. This time our doctor prescribed three different medications and told John to come back the following week. Sadly, John never made that appointment. He collapsed on the Sunday, so I rang for an ambulance and he was rushed to hospital. John died a couple of days later.

I don't want anybody else to have to go through the pain that I've gone through, when my fit and healthy, seemingly indestructible husband died so suddenly. That's why I'm telling you this, in the hope that lessons can be learnt from my heart-breaking experience.

I would like to end on a more positive note though. I was fortunate to have spent over twenty six years with John, having met in London through the running club when we were both in our forties. We packed so much into those years, including travelling around the world twice. The first time was when John was best man at his friend's wedding in New Zealand and the second time was to compete at the Masters Track and Field championships in Australia. As well as sharing a love of travel, we had similar tastes in art and music and have been to many concerts in our local theatre since moving to Spain nearly ten years ago. We both enjoyed athletics (though John was a far superior athlete to me!) as well as watching other sports.

We adopted our dog Lisa not long after moving into our own apartment here in Jumilla, and I must say that she has been an enormous comfort to me. I also have so many precious memories of life with my kind, fun-to-be-with and loving husband. I am fortunate too in having so many lovely supportive friends here in Spain, as well as my wonderful family and many good friends in the UK.

Finally, I am flying to London on Wednesday to see family and friends, but will be returning to Spain on 8 June. Lisa will be staying with a friend who lives in the countryside a few miles away and hopefully will enjoy her holiday there. Once I return home, I plan to resume blogging, as John always encouraged me in my writing.

¡Hasta luego!