{"id":149,"date":"2025-12-14T12:58:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T12:58:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/luxuury.net\/?p=149"},"modified":"2025-12-14T12:58:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T12:58:18","slug":"i-wrapped-christmas-in-smiles-while-hiding-a-devastating-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/luxuury.net\/?p=149","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I wrapped Christmas in smiles while hiding a devastating truth\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Packing away the\u00a0Christmas<\/a>\u00a0decorations in January 2022 was one of the hardest things Mike Freeman ever had to do.<\/p>\n

\u2018I knew thatthe next time I\u2019d see them again life would be very, very different\u2019, the father-of-two from Solihull tells\u00a0Metro<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Just a few weeks earlier, Mike\u2019s wife Kerry had been told she likely had\u00a0cancer<\/a>. Normally fit and well, the yoga teacher had started feeling fatigued, then in November she had found a lump in her abdomen and went to her GP who quickly referred her to specialists.<\/p>\n

\u2018That December was all colonoscopies and tests.\u00a0Doctors<\/a> told us to try and have a quiet, relaxed Christmas and that they would see us in January for the full diagnosis,\u2019 Mike, 47, remembers.<\/p>\n

\u2018But Kerry and I were in shock. There was\u00a0anxiety<\/a>\u00a0and worry, and neither of us felt comfortable not being open with the children. Whispering behind closed doors didn\u2019t feel good. I love Christmas, but it was hard to be part of it when you\u2019ve got something going on like that.<\/p>\n

\u2018We tried to remain positive as we didn\u2019t know how serious it would be, and we tried to create a nice Christmas atmosphere, but it was challenging as our families were equally worried.\u2019<\/p>\n

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Normally fit and well, yoga teacher Kerry started to feel tired and found a lump in her abdomen (Picture: Supplied)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As their children Tommy and Chloe \u2013 then seven and five \u2013 got hyped up about gifts, Santa and advent calendars, Kerry and Mike put on a brave face and gave them the happiest Christmas they could.<\/p>\n

But on January 6, 2023, Kerry received the devastating diagnosis of bowel cancer. Mike immediately stopped working so he could take care of his wife and the kids ahead of surgery and treatment in Spring of that year.<\/p>\n

While Kerry did start to feel a bit better after some initial chemotherapy, the cancer was aggressive and by\u00a0Easter<\/a>\u00a0she was told that it was incurable.<\/p>\n

\u2018We were told we would probably get six to nine months, which would have taken us up to Christmas\u2019, Mike remembers.<\/p>\n

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Kerry tried to remain positive despite her diagnosis (Picture: Supplied)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018Kerry was so strong minded and positive. She always dismissed timelines and was always going to overcome it in some way, shape or form. So we planned for the worst and hoped for the best.\u2019<\/p>\n

With doctors experimenting with different treatments, Kerry lived her life; looking after the kids, seeing friends and being as physical as she could be. When she felt well enough she worked to build her yoga business online with the hope of getting back into teaching again. But after an active trip to the\u00a0Cotswolds<\/a>\u00a0that summer, she fell very ill with a life threatening bowel perforation and was rushed to hospital in\u00a0Birmingham<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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What is bowel cancer?<\/h2>\n
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Bowel cancer<\/a>\u00a0is a type of cancer found anywhere in the large bowel. The large bowel is part if your digestive system and helps to absorbwater from your food and removes waste from your body.<\/p>\n

Changes in your stool, a lump in your tummy, bloating, weight loss and extreme tiredness can all be\u00a0symptoms<\/a>\u00a0of bowel cancer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018We were at home when it happened and we didn\u2019t know what was going on,\u2019 remembers Mike. \u2018We called the ambulance and in hospital they were blunt; we were told there was nothing anybody would be able to do. We were plunged straight back into shock and fear as we didn\u2019t expect a catastrophic event like that.<\/p>\n

\u2018It almost immediately became about how to get Kerry out of hospital to hospice and that gave us determination and focus which got Kerry to hang in there.\u2019<\/p>\n

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The couple broke the news to their children while Kerry was in the hospice (Picture: Supplied)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With the children still not knowing how ill Kerry was, Mike enlisted the help of the\u00a0Marie Curie<\/a>\u00a0Hospice in Solihull who \u2018moved heaven and earth to get Kerry out of hospital and into the hospice\u2019, which was just around the corner from their house.<\/p>\n

Having been told that Kerrymaybe had \u2018a week, possibly two,\u2019 the couple summoned a funeral celebrant and started making arrangements.<\/p>\n

\u2018We went and sat with the children in the gardens and we told them, and it was just awful. The kids just cried. We had to quickly turn the conversation into how we were going to make the most of the days ahead of us, and reassure them that everything was going to be okay.<\/p>\n

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After a bowel perforation, Kerry and her family were told she had \u2018a week, possibly two\u2019 to live (Picture: Supplied)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was particularly tough going home afterwards, taking the kids and leaving Kerry alone.<\/p>\n

\u2018However, it also brought quite a lot of calm at that point, because suddenly, all the worry went away and you begin to accept that the time has finally come.<\/p>\n

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Kerry and Mike told their children in the garden at the hospice that she had a short time left to live (Picture: Supplied)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Comp<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Comp<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018Being in the hospice was a positive experience in a way. They set Kerry up with a huge family room with a TV so they could have sleepovers and film nights.<\/p>\n

\u2018Friends and family could come and go and there were therapies available to Kerry, including massages that helped her sleep, which became a nightly ritual. Tommy said it was \u201clike a five-star hotel for poorly people\u201d.\u2019<\/p>\n

Kerry used her time in the hospice to prepare keepsakes for the children, including Christmas cards, birthday cards for their later years and handprinted pillow cases so she could be with them as they slept. They aren\u2019t deep and meaningful messages, just seasonal greetings with hearts, signed \u2018love from mum\u2019.<\/p>\n

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The hospice helped the family make memories together (Picture: Supplied)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, as the family prepared to say their goodbyes, remarkably, Kerry rallied.<\/p>\n

\u2018She had different ideas, and she started to recover from the bowel perforation, which is unheard of,\u2019 says Mike. \u2018Her friends would visit her and speak to me afterwards and say \u2013 she just doesn\u2019t look like someone who\u2019s about to die. And she started to say she was feeling better and she turned a corner.\u2019<\/p>\n

Kerry went for more tests and amazingly was discharged from the\u00a0hospice<\/a>\u00a0three weeks after she fell ill. Doctors were cautious \u2013 still warning the family that she may only have a week or two left, but the mum-of -two walked out of the hospice smiling and feeling positive.<\/p>\n

As December 2023 approached, the family had optimism and hope. They enjoyed a quiet Christmas, feeling thankful for the time that they had been told they wouldn\u2019t have.<\/p>\n

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The family were grateful they got to spend another Christmas together (Picture: Supplied)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018It was a really nice, but I certainly felt like it was the last one. We were just so grateful to have that extra time,\u2019 Mike says.<\/p>\n

Over the months, Kerry\u2019s\u00a0health<\/a>\u00a0started to falter and although she was determined she would bounce back, as her third Christmas since she fell ill approached, her condition worsened and she went back to the hospice.<\/p>\n

\u2018Kerry was still quite adamant, but the nurses were quietly telling me I should start making plans.\u2019<\/p>\n

On 8 November 2023, Mike dropped the kids at school and received a\u00a0phone<\/a>\u00a0call asking what time he would be getting to the hospice. \u2018I arrived at nine and very suddenly, she just slipped away just after 11,\u2019 he remembers. Kerry was just 43.<\/p>\n

It was a heartbreaking loss but amid his grief, Mike was relieved the children were spared that difficult final goodbye. Instead, Kerry had recorded videos for the children.<\/p>\n

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The children didn\u2019t get to say goodbye to their mum, but Kerry had made special videos for them (Picture: Supplied)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019d never watched them and had saved them in about a million different places. The day that Kerry passed away I sat with the kids, and we watched them.\u2019<\/p>\n

The family\u2019s first Christmas without Kerry was a quiet affair, with them going for lunch with another family at a local hotel. However, Christmas 2024, was very different.<\/p>\n

Kerry, who loved to journal, had planned an Australian Christmas years before, and it was important to Mike that the family make that trip on her behalf. So in December, they flew to Perth and Melbourne, where they visited the beach and saw kangaroos and koalas.<\/p>\n

\u2018It was quite a different Christmas. It was enjoyable, awesome, amazing in parts. We saw\u00a0sharks<\/a>\u00a0and Chloe got stung by a jellyfish and has a little scar on her wrist, which she is quite proud of. It was exciting, and fun and we revisited the botanical gardens where Kerry and I got engaged in 2008.\u2019<\/p>\n

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[photo move if one of Aus]\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Mike says Kerry is around the family all the time (Picture: Supplied)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As the family prepare for another Christmas without their mum, Tommy now 11, and nine-year-old Chloe are doing well, Mike says. They forego anniversaries and rituals, talking about their mum every day instead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Packing away the\u00a0Christmas\u00a0decorations in January 2022 was one of the hardest things Mike Freeman ever had to do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/luxuury.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/luxuury.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/luxuury.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/luxuury.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/luxuury.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=149"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/luxuury.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151,"href":"https:\/\/luxuury.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149\/revisions\/151"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/luxuury.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/luxuury.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/luxuury.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/luxuury.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}