Love after LOSS

As Jess Cooper mourned her husband, she found herself falling for someone all over again

- MISHAAL KHAN and LUCY LAING

There are moments in life that nothing can prepare you for. When I received a phone call from a police officer, telling me my husband was in hospital after being involved in a road traffic accident, my life changed forever.

It was December 2018, and just hours earlier, Paul, then 34, and I had been snuggling in bed with our children, Archie, five, and Emilia, two. We got up, had breakfast and danced round the kitchen, before parting ways. Paul kissed me goodbye as I sat on the sofa doing Emilia's hair, and smiled at me as he walked out the door. Soon, I was on my way to the laboratory where I worked as a dental technician, leaving the kids with my dad, Simon, then 60, who'd get Archie to school and watch Emilia.

Now, as I stood in the lab, the voice down the line was telling me I needed to hurry to Leeds General Infirmary. Paul, a mechanic, had taken a car for a test drive, but in the wet weather, he'd lost control and collided with a tree.

I managed to blurt out what had happened to a colleague, grabbed my bag and waited outside for the police to drive me to hospital. I rang my mum, Tracey, then 56, sobbing as I told her what I knew.

Arriving at the hospital, 30 minutes later, Mum was waiting for me. Doctors said Paul was in critical condition, his brain was badly damaged and his chances of survival were bleak. A nurse asked if I wanted to see him, and I worried that he'd be unrecognisable, but Paul just looked like he was sleeping. I held his hand and gave him a kiss, still in complete shock.