On a day defined by celebration and joy, today, we are thinking of those families for whom this Father’s Day will be one marked, instead, by sadness.
We hold in our hearts the families devastated by a brain tumour diagnosis, for whom today will serve as an excruciating reminder of all that’s been lost – or provoke feelings of fearfulness for what the future might bring.
We are thinking of those fathers who are living with a brain tumour, torn up by the anxiety of leaving loved ones behind, and of the dads who have lived through the heart-wrenching pain of losing a child, for whom Father's Day, once filled with happiness, now just feels hard.
And we hold in our hearts all those without their dads this Father’s Day.
Loving father-of-five Jason Dullaghan lost his life to a stage 4 brain stem glioma in July 2024, aged 54, having battled the disease for more than seven years. Today, Jason’s children – Emily, 13, and George, eight, and his three older children from previous relationships, Danny and Justin, 38, and Chloe, 28 – will face an intensely difficult day, on their first ever Father’s Day without ‘Dad’.
“Our family was everything to him,” said Jason’s wife, Alison: “He was endlessly devoted to us.”
Last year, on what would turn out to be Jason’s last Father’s Day with his children, Emily and George made a beautiful banner for him (above), adding family photos beneath, which the family have kept up in their living room for them to look at every day.
However you choose to make this day Father’s Day special – whether in remembrance of a loved one or making memories you will one day hold dear – we are thinking of you.
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