My mother was so terrified of living without her cancer-stricken husband she died from a broken heart

By Ellen Coughlan For Mailonline

12:50 13 Jun 2024, updated 15:15 13 Jun 2024

A mother terrified of living without her cancer-stricken husband died from a broken heart when he went into end-of-life care – passing away three days before him.

Sharon Dann, 54, and Wayne Dann, 57, from Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire, had been married for almost ten years and referred to each other as ‘soulmates’.

Wayne, who had previously undergone radiotherapy for cancer in his groin, discovered it had spread to his lungs meaning he had to undergo surgery in October last year.

Despite doctors’ best efforts, the family found out the 57-year-old had a sarcoma in February and would need chemotherapy.

But in March, the landscape gardener was blue-lighted to hospital when his condition deteriorated, with his 54-year-old carer wife refusing to leave his bedside for six days.

Sharon’s daughter, Ellie Steward said her mother struggled to eat or sleep because she was so terrified of living in a world without her husband.

The 29-year-old says their relationship was one that was based on mutual adoration and lots of laughter, adding that they were ‘each other’s person’.

Just three days before Wayne died, Ellie received the life-changing phone call from her mother who was struggling to breathe.

Ellie rushed to Warwick Hospital in Warwickshire straight away but was told by nurses Sharon had suffered a heart attack caused by broken heart syndrome – also known as stress cardiomyopathy or Takotsubo syndrome.

The rare condition occurs when a person experiences sudden acute stress that can rapidly weaken the heart muscle, which can be life-threatening.

Sharon was placed into a medically induced coma but sadly passed away on April 4 followed by Wayne who died three days later on April 7.

Ellie said: ‘My mum had a really hard time. She was really stressed and worried about it all. I tried to be there for her as much as I could as I didn’t want her to be on her own.

‘When Wayne was rushed to hospital, we were told he wasn’t going to make it to have the chemotherapy. The hospital rang us the next day and said ”we think he’s going to die today”.

‘The A&E ward put us in a private room but he didn’t die that day. Every day I was going in with my mum and sitting in this room. The extent of the heartbreak for my mum was huge.

‘She was non-stop in the hospital room with him, she only went home twice. I went home with her to change her clothes.

‘She wasn’t eating, she wasn’t sleeping and I kept trying to get her out of the room. I ordered her a Subway and was trying to make her eat.

‘I was trying to get her to get some fresh air but she just kept crying and saying she didn’t want to be on her own.

‘It got to the Sunday, which was Easter, and my mum rang me. I thought she was going to say my step-dad had died but she was saying she couldn’t breathe.

‘I got to the hospital as quickly as I could. The nurses told me that my mum had a heart attack.

‘I got there and they put her in a coma. She was in a coma from Sunday to the 4th of April and that’s when she died. The doctor said that it was a form of broken heart syndrome.’

Devastated Ellie describes her mother as being an incredibly loving and caring woman and her step-dad as a wonderfully funny man who always knew how to make other people smile.

WHAT IS ‘BROKEN HEART SYNDROME’?

Although it’s best known as ‘broken heart syndrome,’ the condition also has another two names: Stress cardiomyopathy and Takotsubo syndrome. 

The latter name comes from the shape the heart takes during an episode of ‘heartbreak.’ 

The left pumping chamber of the heart stretches outward like a balloon, while the base of the muscle inverts, pulling inward. 

The combined effect renders the heart too weak to pump blood properly. 

And, according to the Japanese scientists that first discovered the phenomenon, the contorted heart resembles a ‘taksubo,’ an octopus-catching pot. 

The sudden heart syndrome causes symptoms similar to those of a heart attack, like chest pain and shortness of breath. 

Broken heart syndrome’s exact cause and mechanisms aren’t clear. 

But it tends to happen after shocks, like physical injury or infection or the news of a loved one’s death.

Scientists think that a sudden influx of stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol cause the heart to go haywire.

There’s no standard treatment for broken heart syndrome. Treatment is similar to heart attack care until the diagnosis is clear. Most people stay in the hospital while they get better. 

The condition strikes over one million in the US a year, and is life-threatening.  

The retail worker now hopes that by sharing her story it will encourage others who are grieving to look after themselves more to avoid the same fate.

Ellie said: ‘They were soulmates, that’s how they described each other. They’d finish each other’s sentences, they were each other’s person.

‘They had a really close relationship. My mum was a carer so by nature she was really caring and loving.

‘My step-dad was really funny, he had a great sense of humour. Right until the last day I saw him, he was making me and my mum laugh.

‘Quite a lot of older people die from broken heart syndrome so I think it’s quite rare for someone of her age and something the doctor’s don’t really see.

‘I wasn’t surprised when they said that’s what they believed had happened as I knew how much my mum was scared of being lonely.

‘My advice to others would just be to be kind to yourself and be patient with yourself. Go through whatever you feel.’