Brave dad wrote his goodbyes before he lost battle with cancer

JACK PENNED MESSAGES FOR FAMILY BEFORE BEING PLACED IN A COMA

- STEPHANIE BALLOO News Reporter

A DEVOTED Birmingham dad has died at just 29, leaving behind "goodbye notes" for his three-year-old girl and devastated fiancée.

Jack Ricketts bravely battled lymphoblastic lymphoma, a rare form of cancer, after it was discovered during scans when he was 26.

He underwent intensive treatment, month-long hospital stays, chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant. But he developed a complication from the transplant - known as graft-versushost-disease - and was placed into a coma in hospital.

Having written notes to loved ones ahead of the coma, he died on Tuesday, September 2. His daughter Eliza, who turns four next month, is too young to fully understand the tragedy, with the Small Heath family explaining to her: "Daddy's in the sky with the angels."

His fiancée Chloe, and six siblings - three brothers and three sisters - are heartbroken following his death. His grieving mum, Amanda Ross, said the pain of losing her son, who was the second eldest of seven, was worse than any loss imaginable.

"My son was the bravest man and I don't think I'll ever get over the loss of him," she said.