UK man slept with wife's body for 6 days after she lost her battle with cervical cancer

Image credit:Russell Davison/Facebook

New Delhi: A man in the UK has revealed how he refused to accept the death of his wife and slept with her body for six days after she lost her life cervical cancer.

Wendy Davison, 50, passed away at her home in Derby last month in the arms of her husband and son after a 10-year battle with cervical cancer, says report. She died on Friday, April 21.

However, her grieving husband Russell Davison, who has been left 'heartbroken', did not want her body to go to a mortuary, instead he challenged attitudes towards dying. And what her husband did was astonishing.

He ceremonially washed his wife’s body, put her in a “lovely flowery summer dress”, lifted her from the bed into the organic, and placed it into a coffin, which he called 'cocoon' - he said his wife never liked the word 'coffin' - and stayed with her for the next six days.

Mr Russell said his wife died very peacefully, fully sedated, in no pain, adding that she looked absolutely beautiful.

“Wendy died very peacefully, fully sedated, in no pain in mine and Dylan’s arms with our ever faithful dog Elvis smuggled up right next to her too,” Russell said.

“She looked absolutely beautiful, just like she always did in life: no effort, no make-up, just radiant beauty.

It is legal to keep a body at home and Derbyshire Coroner's Court confirmed Mrs Davison's GP reported her death.

Mrs Davison was diagnosed with the disease shortly after the couple's joint 40th birthday party in 2006. The couple, however, decided to take a 'natural' approach to her healthcare,

According to Mr Russell, their approach, which included refusing chemotherapy and radiotherapy, extended Wendy's life 'by a very long time'.

In 2014, after Wendy was given six months to live, the pair went travelling across Europe, where they had “the absolute time of our lives”.

But they were forced to return home last September when her pain became too bad.

It is legal to keep a body at home and Derbyshire Coroner’s court confirmed that Wendy’s doctor had reported her death, the BBC reported.