Kelsey Parker has been opening up about her progress with grief after the death of her husband.
Tom Parker, who was one of the members of the boyband The Wanted, tragically passed away in March of last year after being diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour. He was just 33 years of age, and was a father-of-two to daughter Aurelia (3) and son Bodhi (2).
Since his untimely passing, Tom’s wife Kelsey has been sharing the process of her grief, which has recently included taking part in a trek across the Sahara desert, in aid of the breast cancer charity Coppafeel.
Speaking to OK!, the 32-year-old detailed how she felt taking part in the huge trek. "It was emotional because I had people in my team who had stage four cancer, and I’ve just been living with someone who had stage four cancer for 18 months,” Kelsey explained.
In a moving part of the interview, Kelsey described the moment she felt Tom’s spirit with her on her trek. “I knew he was there with me and I thought I’m 100% doing this for him. We got to the top of one sand dune and a butterfly flew past me,” she noted. “Butterflies are my thing with Tom. My team were like, 'He’s here with us.’”
The mum-of-two then went on to share that she bonded with one of her team members over the realities of being a widowed parent. “One of the guys on my team lost his wife to breast cancer three years ago. I felt like we were put on the same team for a reason because I was talking to him about where his daughter was at now,” Kelsey reminisced.
In her interview, Kelsey admitted that she knows she has a tough journey ahead with her two children, but that the members of her team understood her emotions surrounding her situation. “My kids are going to be at that stage after losing their dad and we spoke about the road ahead, like the kids going to school,” she revealed heartbreakingly.
“I can’t talk to everyone about that because they don’t know what I’ve been through or what I am going through. But he actually understood it all and how I felt. It was tough,” Kelsey added.
We’re sending all our love to Kelsey and her children, as well as congratulations to her for completing an incredible trek for a worthy cause.
