Finding love AFTER LOSS

As Kelsey Parker moves on after losing her husband Tom, we investigate how difficult it is to find love again in widowhood

Unless you've been through it, it's impossible to imagine the pain and grief of losing a long-term partner. Not only do you have to cope with your emotions and a change in circumstances, but also the needs of children and other relatives.

Kelsey Parker, 34, recently announced she's moved on after losing her husband, The Wanted's Tom Parker, then 33, to a brain tumour in 2022. 'Tom would want me to be happy. You've got one life, so you should live it.

That's what he taught us,' she said.

And she's not the only one. After losing her footballer husband Gary Speed, then 42, to suicide in 2011, Louise Speed, then 41, had to bring up their children, Eddie, then 14, and Tommy, 13, alone. She's since admitted she struggled for the first two years.

'I was trudging through life, just functioning,' she said. In 2021, she fell in love with Quinton Bird, 53, but sadly, he died of brain cancer. Now, Louise, 53, says she's blessed to have found love again with businessman Andrew Dickens, 45.

But how do you learn to love again when the worst happens? We speak to a woman who has done just that.

'I WAS GRIEVING FOR A LOST FUTURE'

Lacy Muir, 59, lives in Warrington.

When I first met Jim, then 48, in February 2011, through mutual friends, it was hard not to fall for him. A gregarious, sociable Glaswegian, Jim loved people and brought them together. A Manchester United and Celtic fan with three grown-up sons, he adored my football-crazy daughter Caitlin, then seven, from a previous relationship.

After almost two years of dating, both grappling with geographical distance, careers and baggage, we went our separate ways, but when we randomly bumped into each other at Euston Station in May 2014, it was like it was meant to be - sparks flew!