A local football coach and devoted family man has passed away after a swift and shocking decline in health. Dean Stonehouse, a well-respected girls’ football coach from Cardiff, began feeling unusually tired in May last year. What initially appeared as simple fatigue soon spiraled into a life-altering ordeal.
Within weeks of feeling “under the weather,” Dean collapsed, prompting his wife Amy to rush him for medical tests. Reflecting on that moment, Amy recalled, “We still didn’t think it was that serious” as they sought answers from doctors, as reported by the Daily Record.
The test results delivered a harrowing diagnosis: the 38-year-old was battling stage four cancer. Adding to the family’s distress, doctors “just couldn’t find it” when it came to identifying the primary source of the cancer. The news came as a complete shock to the family, who had no prior history of the disease and knew Dean as a man of robust health, maintained through his active lifestyle and commitment to coaching.
Despite the grim prognosis, Dean’s fighting spirit shone through in his final months. Amy told Wales Online, “Dean fought every step of the way,” adding that her husband would always say, “We are going fight this” as he clung to hope. “He was always thinking of others and was the best dad and husband,” she continued, her voice heavy with both pride and sorrow.
Amy poignantly remembered, “He was only diagnosed at the end of May and died at the beginning of October. We met at university and had been together for 20 years, we love him always and forever and miss him so so much, but we are determined to do this for him.”
The devastating diagnosis not only upended the lives of Amy and their daughters, Sophia and Leila—who were merely 13 and 11 at the time—but also left a void in the local community. Amy described the painful process of breaking the news to her children, saying, “Having to tell the girls was one of the worst things I have ever had to do. Shortly after that, we had the girls’ birthdays, and then there was Christmas.”
“I had to get the girls the flowers for Valentine’s Day because that is something their dad always did. It has been so hard, some days it is hard to face the day and the emotions can hit you out of the blue, but we have so much support from family and friends. My work has been fantastic and Dean’s colleagues at Mon Motors in Newport and Cwmbran have been there for us all. We just all want to make sure that Dean’s wish can come true.”
Even in his final days, Dean expressed a desire to “get better” and fulfill one last wish—to walk up Pen-y-fan, South Wales’ highest peak. Though he never had the chance, Amy is determined to honor his memory by organizing a sponsored walk up the 2,900-foot peak.
“It is a fantastic room, and it was great for us to spend time as a family and was less frightening for the girls than the ward,” she recalled of the family room at Velindre Cancer Centre where he received care. “I know Dean would be very happy and proud that we are continuing to do this,” she added. “We loved walking Pen y Fan as a family.”
