There are countless factors that can lead to your death.
As Senior Coroner, I deal with almost 4,000 fatalities a year.
Every single person in this mortuary that has died unnaturally
is under the control of the coroner.
LESLEY SHARP: The coroner can make any inquiries necessary
to find a cause of death.
As the police, if the coroner asks you to do something, you do it.
With unprecedented access, we follow the full investigation
into unexplained deaths...
Forensic medicine is all about being very suspicious.
...from the moment of arrival in the mortuary,
to the final conclusion of the inquest.
All rise.
I'm sorry that you're attending court under these circumstances,
and I appreciate that the evidence
that you will hear today may be distressing.
It's tearing my family apart.
I wanted to know what happened - why, how? All those answers.
If you die here,
if it's violent, unnatural, or of an unknown cause,
it's my job to find out how.
We kind of thought on the way there,
maybe Mum was just sat at the side of the pool. Mm.
She might have gone a bit light-headed or something like that.
We didn't expect to be walking into what we walked into.
Police, paramedics, first response, it was traumatic.
Her heart had stopped. Obviously, in a bit of a state of shock,
shouting to Mandy, you know, "Come on, Mandy, stay with us.”
We were only in there seconds, and then police said,
"Come on, you know, you don't need to be seeing this,
"they need to work and do their job."
We were clinging onto hope.
Mandy Lewis' heart had stopped suddenly.
The 52-year-old mother-of-two was transferred
to Royal Blackburn Hospital's intensive care unit.
Mandy had CPR for about 90 minutes in total,
and her heart eventually started
to pump blood independently without CPR.
After Mandy's heart was beating by itself,
a series of tests and investigations started.
So she had a CT scan of her brain,
she had a dye test looking at the arteries of her heart
to see whether she'd had a heart attack.
But the dye tests showed
that all the arteries of the heart were completely unblocked.
She then had a CT scan of her lungs
to look to see whether she had a blood clot,
which can sometimes cause a cardiac arrest,
but there was no blockage to the blood flow to the lungs.
So, at this point, there isn't a clear cause.
CT scans showed early signs
that Mandy's brain had been deprived of oxygen and blood flow.
Had a conversation with Mandy's family and told them
there's a higher likelihood that Mandy's not going to survive this,
and this might be signs that her brain's under a lot of stress.
Just spent the rest of the time with her.
We even got to take the dog in.
She went running in and jumped on my mum's bed.
Sort of nuzzled her and licked her,
and then just laid down quietly, didn't she?
Whilst Mandy was in hospital,
her mum flew back from her home in Gambia.
I didn't pack a bag, nothing.
I just picked my handbag up, boom, gone.
When I finally got there, my God, when I walked in there,
just grabbed her, you know?
And, er...
...I'm talking to her, "Mandy, come on, wake up, wake up."
Then we sat there for about an hour or so,
and then doctor come, and everything, and said,
"Very soon, we'll turn t'machine off."
I said, "No, you're not. You can't turn the machine off."
SHE SNIFFS, SOBS SOFTLY
So... we kept on till about six o'clock.
And then they said,
"Look, to be fair, we need to turn it off."
And then that were it.
Sorry.
It's difficult.
We've had a referral from the medical examiner's office.
They've had the death of Mandy Lewis, who's 52 years old.
So, she was swimming in her local swimming baths with her friend,
and she's suddenly become unwell,
and she was taken to hospital.
She remained in hospital in the ICU for two days,
and she sadly passed away.
This is an unexplained death.
For me, looking at the information that I've got,
it doesn't really make sense.
She's medically fit, she's no medication, she's under 60,
there isn't an obvious reason as to why she should just pass away.
So I'm gonna run this by Dr Adeley, the senior coroner,
and see what he thinks.
She's no medical issues, nothing,
so how can somebody like that just die?
It doesn't really make sense.
I just need to know what was the cause, what was the reason?
We need answers.
I'm coming to see Dr Adeley about Mandy.
Due to the circumstances
and this being a sudden unexpected death,
I just want to go and have a conversation with him
and give him all the information so that he can make
any necessary decisions that need to be made.
We first met when we were 11 years old at school.
1991 is when we actually started dating...
...and never looked back.
She was just a beautiful soul inside and out, you know,
everybody thought the same.
VICAR: Mandy Jane, will you take Richard Norwich to be your husband?
I will.
The day after we had to turn t'machines off,
I actually went back to the baths, I didn't sleep,
so I got up about half-four, and I went off on a six-mile walk
that myself and Mandy used to do.
Literally cried all the way there, cried all the way back,
and I just thought, "I need to get down to the swimming baths."
Just felt I needed to go there.
I walked in in a complete mess.
Within minutes, I just, phew, calmed right down and just felt...
I don't know, just felt she were there.
Like I was closer to her,
cos that's where she passed, as far as I'm concerned.
It definitely did me some good
because I did feel some form of comfort from it.
Hello, Becky, how are you?
Hiya. I just wanted to run something by you.
I've got a lady called Mandy Lewis, she's 52 years old,
and she has suddenly passed away.
She was swimming as usual with her friend
at a local swimming baths,
and she's become unresponsive.
The paramedics attended,
she was in ICU for approximately two days,
and unfortunately, she passed away. OK.
She hasn't got a significant medical history,
she's very active, and she isn't on any medications.
Now, the doctor at the hospital, they have actually offered
a cause of death as sudden adult death syndrome.
And the family had also highlighted to me that there is a history
of sudden deaths in the family
that they believe to be heart-related.
OK. There are diseases that run in families
for sudden adult death syndrome, and some of them are treatable,
some of them aren't.
So, this needs to have an invasive postmortem.
Samples need to be sent to Professor Mary Sheppard
in London for specialist cardio pathology.
And we're also running a pilot with Manchester
for genetic analysis, so we need a sample of spleen
to go to them for analysis.
So you require to get the consent for that, all right?
OK. That's fine.
LESLEY SHARP: Sudden adult death syndrome
affects around 500 people in the UK every year.
To investigate the possibility
of Mandy having an inherited condition,
she will be the first person from Lancashire to be referred
for a pioneering genetics trial
at the Manchester Centre for Genomic Medicine.
Mandy Lewis is a lady who is very active, rides horses,
swims three times a week. It's an unusual death.
Sudden adult death syndrome is a diagnosis of exclusion,
and what that means is you have looked for everything else,
coronary artery disease or any other factors
that might have caused the heart to malfunction electrically
or stop beating, and you can't find anything.
The difficulty with sudden adult death syndrome
is that it may also affect close family members,
and what we are trying to do is to get as much information
to provide as much safety as we can for them.
Both her grandads had heart attacks and died.
I think one was in their 80s, the other one was in their 70s.
But then, her cousin, which we now know was coronary artery.
But then, her other cousin, I'm sure, was only about 32.
You start thinking, well, there are signs, you know?
Whether they're linked, who knows?
Is it hereditary, is it something
that the kids need to be tested for going forward?
And we don't want it to happen to any other family, if we can.
If one person survives from being checked and doing this pilot scheme,
then it's worthwhile.
That's it, itch him there, H.
He absolutely loves a good itch. With your nails.
It's his favourite.
I got my first horse when I was 12,
and then in the September of 2020, we got King.
Mum found him, and because he were three, he wasn't broken.
He were just in a field.
He basically came over and rested his head on Annabel's shoulder.
I just thought. "Yeah..." He's a softie.
"..he's sort of chosen her.”
Mum helped me brake him. So, like, you have to stand in the middle
and lunge them and do a lot of groundwork.
So, Mum would do that while I was riding.
But I wouldn't have been able to do it without Mum
cos she's had horses all her life.
I ride him now and I think,
"Well, this is something me and Mum have done."
I've never really jumped any of my horses,
I'm a bit of a wuss,
but Mum were always like, "Go on, just give it a try, give it a try."
Quite nice, really, cos we did the tiny, tiny jump,
but Mum were able to see that.
Cos we did that on the Sunday as Mum fell ill on the Thursday.
So, it were quite nice that she saw just before she passed,
she did see me, a tiny jump.
So, I know Mum would be very proud if we carry on doing those.
You're finding it tough, aren't you? Yeah.
Yeah. Missing your mum, aren't you?
Yeah. Yeah.
Mum took good care of you, didn't she? Yeah.
Now it's my job, innit?
Yeah. Yeah?
And we're soldiering on, aren't we? Yes.
And you have your good days and your bad days.
But having animals and kids keeps you going, doesn't it?
WHISTLES
And Mandy were a doer.
She weren't one for wallowing around.
It were, like, "Come on, let's get on, let's get on.”
And that's what she'd want us to do -
just get on and make her proud, so that's what we are doing.
Sudden adult death syndrome is rare.
To determine if Mandy has a genetic condition,
she must undergo an invasive postmortem.
Her heart will be taken for examination
to a specialist in London,
and her spleen sent to Manchester for DNA analysis.
There's about 500 cases per year in the UK
of youngish, healthy, previously quite fit people
who just keel over and die,
and there's no other cause identified.
In cases where people die suddenly and unexpectedly
and we think it might be a sudden cardiac death,
then the heart's removed intact and sent to Professor Mary Sheppard.
She works at St George's Hospital, London.
We will also be sending some tissue off
to Manchester for genetic testing.
It's thought that there is a genetic cause
in quite a lot of these cases.
I think we're done anyway, aren't we? We are, yeah.
The testing is key in this. If there's only 500 cases like this
in the UK every year, then a pathologist like me
working in a district general hospital
might only see one or two cases a year.
That's no way to get any expertise in a specialised subject.
This is why cases like this now are centralised
and sent to expert centres.
We need to sort out exactly what this lady's died from,
because we don't know at this moment in time
exactly what's happened to her.
At Royal Preston Hospital in the Coroner's Office,
Alice is dealing with a new case
that's very close to home for the team.
So, we received a referral from St Catherine's Hospice
in relation to a lady called Irene Wright.
Irene was a police officer for 30-plus years.
But for the last ten years of her service,
she was a coroner's officer here
at Royal Preston Hospital in this office.
This job is difficult dealing with death every day
and dealing with bereaved families,
but it becomes more difficult
when it's somebody that you know and that you've worked closely with,
and you have that personal relationship with that person.
Dealing with Irene is different.
Irene comes with memories, with feelings.
This is one of ours.
It's a personal death.
Irene was one of the first two coroner's officers I recruited.
She was a comms officer, she was brilliant to talk to,
she was great with families.
Hi, Justine.
Hey. Can I speak to you about Irene?
Yeah. OK.
Between her and Justine, they basically wrote the book
on how to do the job.
They invented it from scratch, and they became superb.
Living in the location,
you obviously deal with a lot of people that you do know.
I know when I lost my mum, I worked with Irene at the time,
and she was a brick. And now she's passed, it's just...
I think because she was known to a lot of people here.
I know Dr Adeley's upset about it.
And it's just difficult to deal with when it's somebody you know,
somebody who you was close with
and worked very closely with for ten years.
We need to go and have a drink and raise a glass.
Yeah, definitely. Definitely.
We'll have a few. we will.
Cocktail, though,
cos we had some amazing cocktail afternoons with Irene.
We did. Good times, good memories. They are.
Irene first became ill six months ago.
Last summer, she said she felt like she wasn't herself.
There was something not right with her head,
like really lethargic and not feeling well at all,
so she went to the GP.
They referred her to the ENT department,
because she'd been having this sort of whooshing sound
in her ears, so they said, "We'll do an MRI scan.”
Then she went back for the results of that scan,
and she came back here and said, "It's not good.”
And I said, "What do you mean?" "They think I've got a glioma.”
And I said, "well, what's a glioma?" She said, "It's a tumour.”
And that's when my stomach just went woof.
Irene's glioma was in her brain.
To find out if this tumour was benign or cancerous,
a biopsy was arranged by a consultant neurosurgeon.
This brain tumour exists in three different places.
The back, the middle and what we call the insula.
These front two locations
are in critical brain areas where any complications
or any attempts to do a biopsy
can be met with severe risks and consequences.
And therefore, we chose to take a biopsy
from the posterior part of the brain.
When Irene managed to go home successfully,
we were all satisfied.
She came out on Good Friday, and she'd done really well,
she was really upbeat.
But then on the Wednesday, she was sitting on the side
of the bed and she was holding her head.
I said, "What's up?" She said, "My head, it's just unbearable.”
DOOR BUZZER
Hello? Hi. I let you in.
Hello. Hiya.
Are you OK?
LESLEY SHARP: The coroner is investigating
the unexplained death of 52-year-old Mandy Lewis,
whose heart suddenly stopped whilst at her local swimming pool.
Mandy is the first person from Lancashire
to be referred for a trial scheme
which will look for any genetic faults in her DNA.
The cause of death at this time is unknown,
but the cause of death is important both for Mandy
and also for her family, who may have a genetic component
and may be at risk of this disease.
The cause of death provides a way of detecting these conditions
and possibly assisting other family members
that they don't suffer the same fate.
Mandy Lewis's heart has also been sent to cardiac specialists
at St George's University of London.
The research centre currently holds data
for over 8,500 hearts from across the UK.
So, this is a 52-year-old female.
They've got no medical history, and she was not on any medication.
The heart weighs 416 grams,
so we would consider this a normal heart weight in a female.
Our heart beats 70 times a minute
for an average of 70 years of our life.
That electrical activity has to be very tightly controlled,
and if it goes wrong, it results in the heart stopping,
as tragically happened in this case.
In addition to the investigations carried out on Mandy's heart
when she was admitted to hospital,
Mary Sheppard's team will conduct a full examination.
So far, the coronary arteries are very clean.
At this point, I'm going to examine the upper chambers of the heart,
and I'm looking to see whether there might be any blood clots
or anything along those lines.
And we consider this to be a normal heart.
It's not a classic example
of any particular condition we're aware of.
We'll wait for the histology with a microscopic detailed examination,
which, hopefully, will help us to get a specific diagnosis.
We want to rule out any other possible conditions
that could have resulted in this lady dying
before we make a diagnosis of something
that potentially may be genetic.
Along with Mary Sheppard's assessment,
the DNA taken from Mandy's spleen
will undergo analysis in Manchester
to look for any genetic abnormalities.
From the dead, we learn about the living.
You have to determine the cause of death,
if we don't know the causes, how can we cure them?
We will hope that a diagnosis will be made
which will save other direct members of Mandy's family
from getting a sudden cardiac death.
I do want to get the answers because I want to get to the bottom
of it for all the family, for the grandchildren
and my nieces and nephews.
I'm hoping that they don't find anything with any of us,
but I think it's a good thing that it should be done.
You know, why does it happen to somebody that's a nice person
that loved everybody?
We enjoyed life together, right up to the very end.
We spoke every day.
She were brilliant, fantastic sister.
I just try and get on with my day...
...best I can. Keep busy.
Yeah. I think about her every day. I do.
That was at Giant's Causeway. Yeah.
And then that big trek back up the hill.
And this was her birthday last year.
I remember she said she liked it. Mm-hm. Yeah.
Yeah, it was good.
Friendship and family were two very important things for her.
It's black or white. Yeah.
"You're my friend, you're my family."
If she was your friend, then you were very, very lucky.
It didn't matter where I was, she was there.
That was at a Valentine's dinner dance.
Oh, right, and that was the top she said she was going to bin.
All the sequins fall off it. Yeah.
She loses more and more every time she wore it.
THEY CHUCKLE Yeah.
When her and Justine started work for Dr Adeley,
the pair of them said,
"I didn't know you could die from so many ways", you know?
But I think that in the end, the fact that she did know...
...all the ways that you can die and the way it affects people,
not only how you die,
but what happens to your body leading up to it.
I think that was what she was afraid of.
Irene had been diagnosed with a brain tumour
and had a biopsy to determine if it was cancerous.
She was terribly stressed after she was told that it was a tumour.
She said, "I don't wanna die."
She'd seen so many deaths.
The files come across her desk, she'd work with the families,
she'd learn the history of the person, knew what had gone on,
and also, I think, knowing what's coming.
She was just terrified, absolutely terrified.
Ands that's when she came out with a Zimmer frame.
You wouldn't think it was the same person.
Gosh, the difference. I know. Yeah. Bless her.
She said, "If it was anywhere else in my body, I would be able to cope,
"the fact that it's in my brain is harrowing."”
Irene started to have hearing problems,
and went to see her GP
who referred her for a scan, which diagnosed a tumour.
And to see what type of tumour it is, they needed to do a biopsy.
Now, the biopsy was straightforward,
but there was unfortunately, complications from surgery.
Three weeks after Irene's biopsy,
she became unconscious and was rushed back to hospital.
A repeat scan shows that the whole side of the brain
had swollen up including the tumour,
and that is generally quite bad news.
Irene had suffered a sudden increase in the pressure inside her skull,
which had caused her to lose consciousness.
She had a CT scan of her brain, which showed
that there was a large amount of swelling and increased pressure,
and she had a decompressive craniectomy,
and that's where the side of the skull is removed
to allow the brain to swell and reduce the pressure
inside the skull itself.
After that, she was admitted to the intensive care unit.
We managed to rush through the tumour processing,
and it unfortunately came back
as a malignant cancerous brain tumour called a glioblastoma.
Despite our best attempts, including surgical means,
medical means, and keeping her asleep,
we weren't able to keep the pressure low enough
for the brain to be happy.
The brain is a unique organ, it's who we are,
it defines what we do, and when that no longer works,
the person is no longer there.
And the family understood,
and they agreed to make Irene comfortable.
Irene was transferred to St Catherine's Hospice
for end of life care.
She sadly passed away ten days later.
Best thing for her was to withdraw treatment.
And... let her die with dignity.
You know, they took her off the ventilator, and thankfully,
she didn't regain consciousness.
It's so much better than watching her die
from the usual course of a glioblastoma.
Possibly the personality changes, the loss of physical function,
she would have hated it.
She would have absolutely hated it.
So, yeah, I'm thankful that...
that's... that's gone.
It's a shock for everybody that knew her, you know?
Cos we've got to get used to her not being here,
and she was such a huge part of so many people's lives.
She was a very kind person, and very generous.
She'd do anything for anybody.
She was brilliant. She really was.
The results from Mandy Lewis' heart examination in London
have been sent to the coroner.
Professor Sheppard says that Mandy Lewis' heart is normal.
But she goes on to say
that there are a number of other conditions
that you need to screen the family for in life,
to detect these conditions,
which would assist in determining Mandy's cause of death.
Until we have all the pieces,
we can't give the family the answers they need.
'I'm a little bit gutted that Mary Sheppard didn't find anything.
'| was hoping for an answer.'
We do need to find out what's happened
cos I wouldn't want it happening to my brother
or any other family member, or even myself,
cos it's just not nice on people that you leave behind.
It's over there, look, where your mum is.
Can you see the picture? Yeah. Yeah.
So, this is gonna get put on the network.
We're gonna get a plaque made for underneath here in memory of Mandy.
And the thing is with here is,
it's quite a big show centre -
some weekends, there might be 150, 200 horses come.
So there's a lot of people around. So, you never know,
at some point, it might be needed.
With what happened with Mandy having a cardiac arrest,
this could be here to save somebody's life.
You know, you just never know.
We chose here cos it's close to the family's heart,
and it's in memory of Mandy.
With examinations of Mandy's heart revealing no abnormalities,
the family now hope the genetic tests
at St Mary's Hospital will give them the answers they're looking for.
Today is a joint consultation, so we'll sort of talk about
the genetics side of the appointment
and the cardiac assessment side of what we can offer you guys.
If we know that someone has this increased risk,
there is management and treatment to keep people safe and lower the risk.
Whilst the lab analyses Mandy's DNA for any genetic defects,
the family undergoes ECG tests and ultrasound scans
to look for any cardiac abnormalities.
I need you to turn on your side facing that way. OK?
Bit of cold jelly on your chest now.
That's your heart there. How weird.
So, I'm basically just looking at the structure of your heart,
make sure everything is working as it should.
Doing all this is helping me personally
with my grieving process - it still hasn't sunk in with me.
It's comforting that something's being done,
and I just hope it's not hereditary
and it's not been passed down the genes.
That's what I'm hoping for as a father,
that's probably the best outcome of a sad situation.
It's four months since the sudden death
of 52-year-old Mandy Lewis.
Her family are receiving the results
of the DNA analysis of Mandy's spleen
to discover whether
there is a hereditary condition in the family.
PHONE RINGS
Hello.
Hi, it's Kim Clarke phoning
from Manchester Centre for Genomic Medicine. How are you?
'I'm all right, Kim." OK, so...
Richard, we didn't identify any changes
within any of Mandy's genes analysis that would account for why
she passed away suddenly and unexpectedly.
Right, OK.
'OK? So, we didn't identify an underlying
'inherited cardiac condition.'
Right. Right. 'OK.'
So what this means is there isn't any further genetic testing
we can offer to the kids or to Mandy's mum or sister.
Yeah, yeah. 'OK?" Yeah.
'Because we haven't identified an underlying genetic cause.'
That's ultimately the outcome I was hoping for,
and I think the family were.
Although we haven't identified an underlying genetic cause,
it doesn't exclude it - there is still a small chance
there is an inherited cardiac condition.
Hopefully, everybody's fit and well, and... 'Yeah.'
...ultimately, I suppose it's a freak of nature
of why Mandy passed.
Thanks for your time, Kim.
"Bye.' Bye-bye.
No, it's positive, it's definitely positive.
We've got to look at it, it's a positive.
Nobody else has got the same thing.
It's just hard getting your head round.
Mandy has suddenly died of a cardiac death.
There is no abnormality in her heart.
She has also undergone genetic testing to see
whether or not there is a marker for any type of genetic disease
within her heart, and that is negative as well.
It doesn't happen very often, there is usually an inkling
on one test or another, but in this case,
there is nothing that we can find to say what she's died of.
It's rare that it happens, but it's happened in this case.
It's very sad, it's very unsatisfying,
both from our side and the family,
but that's the state of medical knowledge at this time.
You haven't got an answer still at the end of it, have you? No.
As to why it happened.
And I find that hard.
Oh, yeah, I think about it every day,
and I just think why did it happen when she was swimming?
Would it have happened if she hadn't have gone swimming?
Results from the cardiologist showed that Mandy's son and sister
both presented with a mild heart-valve condition
that will require future monitoring.
Cos it must be hard for Harry
to process everything and try and move on a bit and...
Not just Harry, but Annabel as well.
But Harry, he's away on respite.
While packing his suitcase, he went,
"Oh, I want to wear my red love-heart top,"
so meaning the British Heart one,
and he were like, "I want everyone to see my mum."
He wears it with, like, supreme pride.
Just sad. Mm, it is.
LESLEY SHARP: At the coroner's court,
Dr Adeley has a final conclusion on Irene Wright's death.
At Irene's original biopsy,
there was a small bleed after the operation.
That's not unusual for biopsies in the brain.
She recovered, she went home.
But then, very quickly, she lost consciousness,
and what we were worried about was that the bleed has extended.
In this case, it is not the bleed extending,
but the tumour has suddenly expanded.
Tumours of this type have this particular feature,
and that is what has caused her loss of consciousness
and the rise in inter cranial pressure that led to her death.
It's nothing to do with the original operation,
and consequently, because this is a natural death
from the tumour misbehaving, there is no inquest.
Irene can now be returned to her family,
and funeral arrangements can be made.
DIALLING TONE 'Hello. Jo-Ann Telford.'
Hi, Jo, it's Alice Swarbrick, coroner's office manager at Preston.
'Hello, hi.' Hi, how are you?
'I'm all right, thank you.' OK.
I just wanted to call
to let you know everything's been authorised by the coroner,
everything's been sent over to the registrars.
The funeral directors will have been notified,
they'll have the relevant paperwork,
so they can go and collect Irene for you.
So, yeah, everything should be in hand.
'0OK, marvellous. Thank you so much, Alice.'
No problem. Any problems at all, give me a call.
'All right.' All right, then.
Take care. 'Bye-bye.' Bye-bye.
It's time to go and say goodbye to Irene.
How are you getting to the crematorium?
I'm driving myself. OK.
Today is saying goodbye to Irene
and the person that she was.
What this job teaches you
is there are deaths that do affect you emotionally.
You can see similarities between your life
and somebody who's lost theirs in tragic circumstances.
But you need to be there for the families.
You cannot afford to fall apart
because otherwise, they're getting no service.
With this, it is very different.
This is our death,
this is our friend, this is our colleague.
So, yes, there will be more emotions today than there are normally.
'Irene didn't suffer fools gladly.
'Definitely a matriarch, huge personality.'
She was somebody who was a great person in the world,
was a queen.
When I went to see Irene at the hospital after her first operation,
her first words to me - "Justine, when I'm better,
"we're gonna have a bloody big party.”
And, yes, Irene, we are having a big party.
Unfortunately, you're not here to join.
She'd be looking down and saying, "Have a few cocktails on me."
It was never gonna be easy,
but Irene would have loved today.
She'd have been absolutely overwhelmed
at the amount of emotion from people
and the sheer number of people that turned out.
It's been lovely.
I was her person, and she was my person,
and I'm like, "Who's gonna be my person now?"
I miss her all the time.
ANNOUNCER: Good morning, ladies and gentleman. Welcome to Colne!
Let's have a big cheer!
CHEERING
It's the Colne annual soap box challenge.
I'm just gonna sit here.
I'm number one, aren't I? So... Number one.
And today, Richard is fund raising for charity in memory of Mandy.
This is doing him good.
He's a bit of an adrenaline junkie, is my dad,
so I think going off this high ramp, I think he'll probably like it.
He's not... He's not really taken a moment to sit.
I think he's just keeping busy so he's not thinking about it.
Although mum never went on holiday,
it feels as though she's just gone on holiday
and she'll be coming back.
But if you just keep busy,
it does distract your mind a little bit from reality.
ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentleman, we have our first car coming up now.
CHEERING
Yes, I wanna raise funds, but mainly awareness.
If there's any way that they can detect it
and stop it from happening to any other family in the future,
then that's what I wanna try and achieve.
ANNOUNCER: In three, two, one.
Let's soapbox! AIR HORN BLARES
There you go, right down.
I miss Mandy immensely.
And he goes right past that easy...
We always talked about growing old together and, you know,
just holding hands and walking on a beach somewhere
and, you know, just doing what we were doing as a couple.
I haven't got that now.
The main thing is myself and the kids
start adjusting to the new way of life, ultimately.
And I'm hoping that, one day, I'll meet her again.
Whether that happens, I don't know.
I just hope it does.
The love we had, it was special.