A "cheeky and fun-loving" dad died just days after being given the all clear from his cancer diagnosis.
At the age of 23, Dean Mollard was diagnosed with testicular cancer, before later being diagnosed with prostate cancer.
From the age of 24 to 33, as the dad-of-three battled the disease, he was in and out of treatment until being given positive news that he was cancer free on May 12, 2021. But devastatingly, just eight days later, Dean suddenly died following an unexpected rupture of the aortic valve.
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According to the British Heart Foundation, this will stop blood being pumped around the body.
Dean, from Upton, was playing with his children when he suddenly began experiencing heart problems. He was rushed to hospital where he underwent gruelling 12-hour open heart surgery before being transferred to intensive care.
But sadly, he couldn't recover and a difficult decision was made to turn off his life support machine. Wife Sam told the ECHO: "We met at 16 and had kept in touch, we were going out a long time and had three little girls.
"He was a fantastic dad, he was fun loving and had so many friends. He'd go out of his way to help everyone.
"He wasn't just my husband, he was my best friend, my left arm. He was just cheeky, everyone knew him as cheeky and fun-loving, always coming up with game night.
"He got the clear eight days before he had heart problems and we were starting to plan the things we wanted to do. He was born with a hole in his heart but he went for regular check ups and there wasn't anything wrong.
"This came completely out of the blue. He was play fighting with the girls but it was so sudden, there were no warning signs. It was completely unexpected."
To keep Dean's memory alive, and to raise funds for two causes close to her heart, Sam will be taking part in the Tough Mudder challenge in September alongside colleagues from Sam's place of work at The Accountancy Partnership.
The 34-year-old will be raising funds for Prostate Cancer and British Heart Foundation as she added: "I was looking for different options like skydiving and we were talking about it in work.
"I said Tough Mudder would be funny because it's the complete opposite of what I like to do. I'm not looking forward to it but it's giving me something to focus on.
"Dean had prostate cancer so it was something that meant a lot to him and my brother and sister's dad died of a heart attack so both causes mean a lot to our family, it seemed a fitting thing to do."
Paying tribute to her husband, she said: "We have so many memories, one we remember as a group of friends is Dean's dodgy jam doughnut flavoured shots he made for a board game. It's a memory we upheld and on the night of the funeral one of our friends tried to remake it but it tasted completely different. We don't know what he added in but it was just his was of doing things."
Sam added: "If you feel or notice anything unusual please see your GP. Dean noticed he had a lump and in the end knew his own symptoms and knew something wasn't right, he went straight to the doctors. If you notice something not quite right, get it checked, you're not wasting anyone's time."
The fundraiser can be found by clicking here.
It reads: "Dean would take any opportunity to help others, and was forever helping friends and family if they needed anything, so I know that he would want to raise money for this charity. He would also find it incredibly funny to know what I’ve decided to do to raise it.
"The idea of mud, water, and being cold literally fills me with utter dread, but knowing that he would take this challenge by the horns is only making me more determined to compete. This may be the only way I can actually beat him.
"After watching videos and reading more about Tough Mudder, it’s pretty clear that we won’t be able to avoid the mud! We’ll be working as a team to complete a number of very high and muddy obstacles, with lots of running (or dragging ourselves) in between."
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