Annabel Croft's heartbreaking tribute to husband after nurse's cruel comment

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Annabel Croft
Annabel Croft's heartbreaking tribute to husband after nurse's cruel comment

Tennis star Annabel Croft has already won hearts in the sporting world, and her new challenge of competing in this year's Strictly Come Dancing means that she's already gained a whole new fanbase with her dancing skills. For the mum, the BBC show has been some sort of therapy after the devastating loss of her husband earlier this year.

The 57-year-old admitted that she still cries every day after her husband Mel Coleman died from stomach cancer just 16 weeks after his diagnosis. The couple had been married for 26 years and shared three children together.

Annabel Croft's heartbreaking tribute to husband after nurse's cruel comment qhiddrixritqprwAnnabel and husband Mel Coleman (Getty Images)
Annabel Croft's heartbreaking tribute to husband after nurse's cruel commentAnnabel Croft and dancing partner Johannes Radebe (BBC/Guy Levy)

She told The Mail of her agonising journey as her husband started to deplete: “I just went into total freefall. I was one of those wailing women in the hospital car park. Poor Mel was the one who’d been told he was going to die, and he was comforting me.

"Three months later, I was picking up a death certificate and our three children were having to process the fact their dad's name was on there." But there was one particular moment that Annabel recalls, with the nurse discussing death in front of Mel.

Annabel Croft's heartbreaking tribute to husband after nurse's cruel commentJohannes was Mel's favourite dancer (BBC)

"When she started to talk like that, I said: 'Can you please come over here and talk to me privately first. I don't want him to hear this.' But she said: 'No, he is the patient. He has to hear that he is dying.'"

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Charlie, her son, asked the nurse if his father had "months or weeks" to live. The star then reveals the nurse said: "'Huh!' Almost laughing, mocking our son. 'No — hours.' Mel heard that, all of it. It was just awful."

Annabel is partnered up with professional dancer, Johannes Radebe, who was her husband's favourite dancer. “I find the performance terrifying. I feel physically sick, but the effort involved means your brain doesn’t have room for anything else," she said.

“It’s bringing joy, or at least a glimmer of it, back into my life… Johannes is like an angel who came into my life to alleviate the pain, a little.” Annabel, who has been unable to collect her late husband’s ashes from the crematorium, recalled the day the couple were told he had “cancer, and it is everywhere”.

Serena Richards

Talent shows, Strictly Come Dancing, Annabel Croft, BBC

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