A Scots widower has told how he watched his wife die from cervical cancer in a bid to raise awareness of the silent killer.
Liam Stewart, 37, lost sweetheart Eilidh, after a brave fight against the disease.
Wife Eilidh, 40, was diagnosed just four months after the couple's dream wedding.
Liam said: "If sharing Eilidh's story helps save one life, or encourages one person to get checked at the GP, then it's worth it."
The electrical engineer first locked eyes with Eilidh in a Dundee pub in 2013 and the pair were soon inseparable.
He got down on one knee on the banks of Loch Lomond in 2016 and the lovebirds said 'I do' in Italy two years later.
Wedded bliss was brought to a tragic halt four months after their nuptials, in October 2018, when Eilidh spotted bleeding while using the toilet.
Within days the accounts manager was sent by her GP to Ninewells Hospital and, after an examination and CT scan, was diagnosed with Stage 2B cervical cancer.
In May 2021, two and a half years after being diagnosed, Eilidh passed away aged 40 leaving bereft husband Liam devastated.
He told the Record: "I remember when Eilidh was first diagnosed she was in total hysteria.
"We had to cancel our honeymoon to get on with treatment, we were only married four months.
"I knew I had to be strong for Eilidh, as did her parents, Graeme, 66, and Anne, 65 and brother Ranald, 38 but it has been really difficult for everyone.
"She never had any health issues before so it was a real shock."
Eilidh was put on a course of chemotherapy and radiotherapy and scans in early 2019 showed 'no traces of cancer'.
The couple began to enjoy newly married life again but in February 2020 scans showed a tumour had returned to her cervix, close to her bladder and bowel.
In a major operation doctors removed 'as much of the visible tumour as possible' as well as her bladder and part of her bowel.
"Eilidh was in hospital for eight weeks after that surgery to recover as the country went into lockdown," Liam added.
"That was really difficult as she could only have one visitor at a time and she was in Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
"We had a mortgage to pay so I would split my time between work and driving to Glasgow.
"She was such a trooper."
At the end of 2020 the cancer returned again in her pelvic area.
She was put on immunotherapy that December but medics warned that, as the cancer kept returning, they feared it could not be cured.
Liam 'mentally prepared' for the worst as he watched his new wife appear visibly more ill by the day.
"Eilidh would get weaker and weaker towards the end of 2020," he added.
"We celebrated Christmas together but I remember calling my mum to say 'I think this will be our last'.
"It was like I was watching her waste away."
In another blow for Eilidh's family, she contracted deadly sepsis in February 2021. Despite beating the condition Liam lamented that 'by this point she was very weak and couldn't walk.'
In March she was put on a final round of immunotherapy but her scans showed the treatment was not working and the cancer was continuing to spread.
Eilidh was told she had around two months to live and in late April was admitted to Roxburghe House; a palliative care unit in Dundee.
"Eilidh had really deteriorated by this point, treatment wasn't working and the cancer was spreading again" Liam said.
"She was reluctant to go there as she knew it as a place where people would go and pass away soon after.
"The staff were amazing and let us all be at her bedside."
Not long after being admitted, Eilidh would fall in and out of consciousness but her family still marked her 40th birthday by her bedside with the help of 'amazing' staff on May 3.
She sadly passed away five days after her birthday.
In his beautiful wife's memory Liam raised £12,000 for Roxburghe House with donations from loved ones, colleagues and total strangers.
The cash bought a bladder scanner, electric reclining chair three iPads twelve inflatable beds.
"Roxburghe House were amazing with Eilidh and with her family in her final days,"Liam said.
"People's kindness has been overwhelming and hopefully the money will help other families.
Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust offers information and support to those affected by the disease.
Visit their website or call 0808 802 8000.
For more information on the support Roxburghe House provide head to their website.
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