Sky Sports presenter Simon Thomas has announced that he’s stepping down from his role after 13 years.
Simon’s wife, Gemma, died last November at the age of 40, three days after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia.
In a blog post published on Friday (27 April), Simon revealed that he was quitting his presenting job so he could focus on raising his eight-year-old son, Ethan.
He wrote: “Firstly and most importantly, I’m [leaving] for Ethan.
“I remember Ethan coming up to me in the lounge and through his tears he said these words: ‘Daddy, you know every weekend you go away and do the football and I spend the weekend with Mummy? What do I do now?’ And they have stuck with me ever since.”
Simon went on to say that football “doesn’t matter” to him anymore in the wake of Gemma’s death, noting: “The flames of passion I once had for it are, for now at least, gone.
“I hope one day they will relight again, but at the moment there’s barely a flicker.”
During an interview on ‘This Morning’ back in February, Simon revealed his late wife made three different visits to her GP in the space of a week due to a severe headache.
After a dash to A&E she was eventually diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, and died in hospital just days later.
Simon also recalled during the interview the difficult moment he had to tell his eight-year-old son that his mum had died, telling presenters Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield: “I looked into his deep brown eyes and said, ‘Ethan I’m really sorry they couldn’t make mummy better... mummy’s died’.
“He collapsed onto the floor. I collapsed with him. I just held him. I would never wish that on my worst enemy.”