THANK YOU FOR THE ADVENTURES

After losing her partner, Sally Liddle, 33, is determined his creative legacy will live on

- RACHEL TOMPKINS, LISA JARVIS

Flinging back the duvet, my partner, Tony, jumped out of bed. ‘Let’s head to London today and look around the galleries,’ he smiled, spontaneous as ever.

It was sometime in 2017 but it could have been any day of the week or year. Because despite being 24 years older than me, Tony was always up early, bursting with energy and ready for the next adventure.

Our passion for art is what first brought us together in 2014. I was 24 and working in a gallery and he was an artist.

Tony was 6ft tall and he had so much confidence, it was hard not to find him attractive. When we became an item after about a year, life suddenly became so much more fun.

Sicilian, but with ginger hair, Tony loved to travel. We went to Miami, New York, LA, Italy, Dubai and every day with him was spent laughing and having a good time.

But it was when we were in Sicily in 2018 that I first noticed Tony acting out of character.

SUDDEN CHANGE

He got really wound up about something trivial. ‘Are you OK?’ I asked.

‘I’m fine,’ he insisted, shrugging it off. But it wasn’t like Tony to get irritated by anything – he was always so upbeat and jovial.

Then, back at home his left leg kept giving way and he had pain in his toe. Our GP thought it was gout and gave him medication but his toe continued to bother him.

Then in February 2019 he got up at 4.30am one morning, screaming. At first I thought he must have seen a spider – they were the only thing that would make him raise his voice – but when I saw that one side of his face looked strange I phoned 999 assuming it was a stroke.