Gary Speed's widow Louise has tragically lost her second husband after a brave two-year fight with brain cancer.
Louise found love with Quinton Bird, 53, and the two were married in December 2021, 10 years after the death of the ex-Leeds and Newcastle star Gary.
Mother-of-two Louise and Mr Bird had been business partners for six years, and were both directors of successful new build and renovation company Bow Property Development in Chester. The two were wed in a stunning ceremony at Peckforton Castle in Cheshire just before Christmas 2021, with former Newcastle and England striker Alan Shearer - a close friend and former team-mate of Gary - in attendance.
Tragically, Bird succumbed to an aggressive form of brain tumour last year - a condition he had been battling for two years. His father Roy gave a touching tribute by saying that he was "devastated" to lose his son "at such a young age is beyond words". He added that Quinton was a "wonderful" father and the entire family "had been left with a wealth of beautiful and extraordinary memories".
Mr Bird, a father of three, had helped Louise cope with her loneliness following Gary’s tragic death, after he had taken his own life in November 2011 at the age of 42. Speed and Louise were just 15 when they went on their first date together in the eighties.
She opened up about the impact his death had had on her in November 2021. "It was like being in the worst nightmare possible," she said in a brave interview. "There were no answers and no Gary walking through the door again. Nothing was ever going to be right again. I was trudging through life, just functioning. If I could have been anybody else apart from me, for a long time, I would have happily taken it.
"But we are 10 years on now. It's a cliche but time is a healer even if it takes years. I have learned that life can be good again, can be great again.
"I don't think you move on from something like this as the same person. I have become wiser. I am probably more confident than I was.
"But I tend to wear a body of armour around me the whole time, if I am honest - so that I cannot be hurt again. I don't know if that body of armour has developed over time or whether I deliberately put it on at some point. All I know is that it is there now and it wasn't 10 years ago.
"I just want to protect myself from life. I don't want to feel or go through anything like that ever again. I hope that makes sense."
Speed had suffered with depression throughout his adult life and wrote a letter expressing suicidal thoughts as a 17-year-old but never sent it.
"That was the first I knew of it," added Louise. "But my conclusion is that to do what Gary did you must be unwell in your mind. He couldn't talk, didn't want to talk. He had all the opportunity through people like the League Managers Association."
If you need to speak to someone, Samaritans are available 24/7 by calling 116 123 or by emailing jo@samaritans.org
