Tributes to beloved dad and butcher who died of rare cancer

MARK, 44, WAS DESCRIBED AS 'PART OF THE FABRIC OF THE COMMUNITY'

- By LOUIS CORBETT

A MOTHER-of-four has paid a heartbreaking tribute to her husband who died on New Year's Eve from a two-in-a-million condition.

Mark Bradbury was 44 when he died after receiving a diagnosis of high-grade appendiceal adenocarcinoma with pseudomyxoma peritonei at King's Mill Hospital in December 2023.

Mark's wife, Maria Bontoft, told the Post how her husband, a much-loved Ravenshead butcher, had never visited his GP Surgery until March 2022, when he reported four months of abdominal pain and bleeding when he used the toilet.

Maria said that despite being misdiagnosed and treated for several conditions, Mark's health worsened.

"Mark called me to say 'the doctors won't tell me the news until you get here'. There was worry in his voice like I'd never heard before, and I instantly knew what they were going to say when I arrived.

"The joy drained out of me like someone had turned on a tap.

"The 15 minutes it took to get from our home to the hospital were the longest of my life."