Simon Thomas reveals heartbreak at losing father-in-law one year after his wife's death: 'Life is cruel'

Simon Thomas has announced the tragic death of his father-in-law to cancer, a year after he lost his wife Gemma to the same disease.

Thomas, 45, posted a picture of Gemma’s father with their nine-year-old son Ethan, telling his followers: “Life can feel very cruel.”

He posted: “Last night Gemma’s Dad’s life reached its end as Myeloma took its final toll. It’s devastating for Rebecca who in fourteen months has lost half of her family to #bloodcancer and heartbreaking for Ethan who only a month ago said, ‘why do I keep losing everything I love?’ Now he’s lost the man with whom he had the most special of relationships - the man he called ‘Pompa’.”

He also shared pictures of his late wife with her father before later posting a picture of a “breath taking sunrise”.

“Even on the saddest of days there is still beauty to be found,” he wrote.

The news comes just over a year after Thomas lost his wife Gemma, aged 40, to acute myeloid leukaemia. Thomas broke the heart breaking news on Twitter, three days after Gemma was diagnosed.

“Today I am crushed with indescribable pain,” he wrote in November 2017. “Just three days after falling ill with Acute Myloid Leukaemia, my dear wife Gemma passed away yesterday evening surrounded by her family and friends. If you are a prayer – pray for my boy Ethan. 8yrs, precious and in bits. Thank you.”

Thomas has spoken openly about his grief and the “brutal loneliness,” but recently revealed he is in a new relationship with someone who is helping him to “define life again”.

“I’m very aware she was someone I didn’t know before and have got to know over the last few weeks and months,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“From the early stages – she had this empathy towards myself and Ethan. She’s Christian as well and that’s important to me as a man of faith.

“She’s been an incredible support for me. She was the only person who would always pick up the phone… and when she said my phone is always on, she meant it.”