Nicky Wake's life as she knew it was turned upside down when her 'soulmate' and father to her son suddenly became ill.
Husband Andy Wake had begun to suffer from chest pains which just days later resulted in a heart attack.
He suffered a catastrophic brain injury and had to move into a care home, where he died in 2020 after contracting Covid, leaving Nicky heartbroken.
Going from a wife to a widow at just 49, everything changed in an instant as she was forced to adapt to life as a single mum.
Still wanting to find happiness, she started dating six months later but found the world of modern dating was like the 'Wild West'.
It was hard for people to understand what she was going through, but she thought there must have been other widows and widowers going through the same tough time yet wanting to find companionship.
She launched her own dating app, Chapter Two, in November 2022 - which already has thousands of widowers enrolled, all looking for a second chance at love.
But the mum-of-one quickly realised that many people who had just lost a partner weren't quite ready for another long-term commitment.
But they were still craving physical intimacy and human connection, which is known as Widow Fire - the uncontrollable and all-consuming desire for sex following bereavement.
New research conducted by Chapter 2 shows that 63 per cent of widows and widowers experience this phenomenon and 58 per cent reported feeling sexual urges within six months of their partner's death.
Nicky has now set up a second app in response, called WidowsFire, for casual hookups just for widows, which is launching next month.
"A lot of widows are not ready for their chapter two - they are not ready for a committed relationship," Nicky, from Bury, Greater Manchester, said.
"But it is a really well-known and documented fact that widow's fire is a thing.
"It's a term commonly used within the widower's community - and describes the intense, uncontrollable, or all-consuming desire for sex following the bereavement of a partner.
"You lose your life partner - I shared my bed with my husband for 20 years and then all of a sudden he's not there.
"If you have a healthy sex life, that is going to be a gaping void - one of the things about widow's fire is it is finding comfort.
"We all need and crave affection, cuddles and stolen kisses and actually very often widows are not in the right mental space for a committed relationship."
She added: "We want WidowsFire to be a fun and flirty, non-judgemental place for widows and widowers to safely and discreetly satisfy their physical needs with others like them on a no-strings-attached basis.
"I hope it offers a first step for those looking to dip their toes back into the complicated world of dating without fully committing to something they might not yet be ready for."
Nicky and Andy met in 2002 on DatingDirect.com and when they eventually met in person, it was 'love at first sight'.
They married two years later in Jamaica in 2004 before welcoming their son, Finn, now 15, in 2007.
Nicky said: "We were living an idyllic happy life - working on award ceremonies all around the world.
"He was a wonderful stay-at-home dad and did all the school walks and all the cooking.
"He looked after me and made sure I could run our business - Don't Panic Events - and everything was absolutely idyllic."
Speaking to the Mirror previously, the mum said: "He was a beautiful character, I joked he was the 'John to my Yoko'; we were meant to be together, he was my absolute soulmate. He was very politically minded and had real morals, I just loved him from the minute I met him."
Their world came crashing down in July 2017, when Nicky was away for work.
After calling home, she realised Andy was being very quiet on the phone and she didn't know what was wrong.
When she later returned, Andy told Nicky that he had been having chest pains but was reluctant to go to the doctors.
As someone who was always reluctant to see the GP, she dragged him "kicking and screaming" and he was told he had suffered a heart attack.
He was blue-lighted to the hospital for an ECG and was fitted with a stent - and Nicky and Andy felt like they had a lucky escape.
But four days later, Andy suffered another heart attack while sleeping and Nicky had to perform CPR for 30 minutes.
Andy suffered a "catastrophic" brain injury because he didn't get enough oxygen to his brain, which resulted in him then requiring around-the-clock care.
Nicky said: "He couldn't walk, he didn't know who I was, and he didn't know where he was.
"He was hugely distressed and didn't understand why or anything.
"He couldn't vocalise at first.
"Very often he didn't have a clue who I was when I came to visit which is utterly heartbreaking - he wasn't the man I married at that point."
Andy was in a care home for three years.
"Unfortunately, Covid took him in 2020 and we lost him at that point," she said.
"Now it was about me trying to rebuild my life.
"I had to build a whole new relationship with Finn and run a business - it was some of the darkest periods of my life.
"When we lost Andy, I did bereavement counselling and got signposted to an amazing charity called Widowed and Young - and I found a whole new network of friends and peer support through that which was incredibly helpful."
Nicky said her latest app, WidowsFire, aims to be an "uncomplicated, flirty and fun space" for people who are on the same page with mutual understanding.
She explained: "Two consenting adults looking for joy and solace is not a bad thing.
"If we can help people navigate this awful world that none of us wanted to be in that has to be a positive.
"With this app, everyone who is on there understands the playing field and knows why we are there.
"Removing the awkward elephant in the room out of the conversation."
However Nicky has said it is the "weirdest thing in the world" to have a new sexual partner after the loss of your long-term partner.
"Kissing someone new after 20 years with someone who knows you so intimately is weird," she admitted.
"In a long-term relationship, you don't need to overthink that stuff but in a new relationship, it can be daunting.
"I think it is really important to recognise that widows have absolutely natural needs and wants who need to feel, happy, loved and attractive.
"Most widows will have been in a very long-term relationship, so this is a big and scary move.
"We are trying to create this safe space to have those conversations, to have some fun, to flirt and find who they are again.
"When you lose your life partner you lose a sense of who you are.
"For 20 years I built up this identity with my family and all of a sudden that was ripped from me.
"After coming to terms with your loss you have to work out what your next steps are and if you are not ready for chapter two then WidowsFire can be a safe space for you to enjoy."
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