A man with a heart condition will walk from Dolgellau to Barmouth in memory of his wife who suddenly passed away from lung cancer last year.

Lynn Thomas ignored what she thought was sciatica and was “as busy as a bee” until she was told last summer she had four months to live.

Husband Nigel Thomas is now fundraising for Tenovus cancer charity who helped him take time off in the short months he had left with Lynn.

Nigel, 58, from Dolgellau, said: “Lynn was the love of my life, and I’m heartbroken.

“The consultant said the cancer was aggressive and dire.

“I could tell by his face she didn’t have long.

“There were no breathing difficulties or fatigue, anything like that, and she was running around busy as a bee, like she normally did.

“It is still raw.”

Lynn, mum of four, was a domestic cleaner thought her symptoms weren’t serious enough to take to the doctors.

Then last spring she began feeling a numbing in her bottom which got worse.

She began to feel sick after being prescribed steroids so went back to the doctors in July.

Nigel said: “They found two lesions in Lynn’s body on an X-ray.

“Lynn asked then if it was cancer, and the doctor said he wasn’t going to lie, and that it might be.

“We left the surgery, we hugged, we cried, and we waited.”

She was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer - her only symptoms being the numbness, caused by a cancerous lesion pressing into her sciatic nerve.

The couple then bid farewell to their son, Jack, 18, who was about to fly to the US for a football scholarship just days later.

“We told Jack he needed to do this. We all said he must follow his dream.  “Jack was in tears, and he said to his mum he was worried he might never see her again.

“Lynn gave him a hug, and replied, ‘Yes you will. I will be right here when you come home’.” That was one of the last times Lynn got out of bed.

Jack made it home before his mum passed in November.

Nigel was able to care for Lynn with the help of his son James, 26, and the support of district nurses.

He is now campaigning for people to talk about loss through cancer, and get symptoms checked, however small.

The window frame maker was able to take time off work through the help of Tenovus’ Benefits Advisors to claim benefits to “took the pressure off”.

Nigel will walk the 10 miles along the Mawddach Trail with his sons and family on 9 July, Lynn’s 60th birthday, to raise awareness and money for Tenovus: “I wish Lynn had gone to the doctors sooner.

“Okay, it might not have changed the outcome, but it might have done, and that is the point.

“Your symptoms might not be cancer but, if they are, make everyday count.”

Donate to Nigel’s fundraiser https://shorturl.at/SZlZ2.