A man has told of how he kept his wife’s dead body with him for six whole days after she died and kept sleeping next to her.
A heartbroken husband idebtified as Russell Davison, is a man who slept next to his wife for six days after she died.
The man has now revealed how he was comforted to have her near him.
According to The Sun UK, Russell Davison’s wife Wendy, 50, was determined to die at home, surrounded by their four sons, when she died after a valiant 10-year battle with cancer.
They decided instead of her body being whisked away to a morgue or a funeral directors, the family would keep her at home and sit with her in vigil.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, the dad said: “There was nothing that upset me about being in a room with her.
“She looked absolutely beautiful, just as she always did in life – radiant.”
The Derby man added: “It gave my mind time to realise that yes, she was dead, and yes, I did miss her. But it also showed me life had to go on and helped me understand she wasn’t coming back so I could start grieving.”
Russell, a property landlord, said while some family members struggled with the idea of being confronted by Wendy’s body, most found it a comforting way to say goodbye.
Wendy amazed doctors by living for 10 years after she was first diagnosed with cancer in 2006, just after the couple’s joint 40th birthday party.
She underwent a hysterectomy, but shunned chemotherapy and radiotherapy, instead focusing on natural health.
Russell said the pair “lived like monks”, cutting out sugar and alcohol and eating only organic wholefoods.
But the tumour eventually returned, and three years ago Wendy was given six months to live.
She and Russell decided to tour the world in a caravan, visiting 15 countries across Europe.
Their adventure sadly came to an end in September last year, when the pain forced Wendy and Russell to return home to Derby.
She wanted to die at home with Russell, her sons Luke and Dylan Nichols and Russell’s sons Benjamin and Dominic Davison, and their faithful dog Elvis.
The pair nursed her round-the-clock until she died peacefully at 4.40am on April 21.
Russell had previously opened up about the decision to keep Wendy’s body home, telling This Morning: “It really helped our grief process.
“We realised we were being helped and healed so much by her presence still being with us.
“We said how on earth would we been dealing with this if somebody just took Wendy’s body away?
“I don’t know how we would have coped if we hadn’t done it that way.
“It seemed so normal for us. It didn’t seemed weird, or unusual, it just seemed totally natural.”
The 50-year-old said: “She said ‘I wouldn’t swap my life with anyone’.
“That for me was incredibly comforting. She really did rinse every last drop of life out.”
