Tragic story of a father who lost his brother and son, 12, to cancer in the same week

A father was left devastated after his son died in his arms four days after his brother passed away.

Chris Bacon, of Oldham, Manchester, lost both his 12-year-old son Jett and big brother Tim to cancer in May 2016. Jett died a year after being diagnosed with rare bone cancer Ewing’s Sarcoma. Tim, 52, had battled lymphoma, cancer in the blood cells, for 14 years, but in his last two years had developed melanoma.

Recalling the worst week of his life, Chris, 48, said: "To watch your loved ones die in front of you, and Tim was my best buddy, but to watch your own son take his last breath, you can’t ever get over that. It’s incomprehensible really, you wouldn’t wish it on your worst enemy."

Chris, a father-of-five originally from Australia, added: "It’s still very emotional, I cry every day. But I know Tim is looking after Jett now."

Chris said that while he and his older brother openly talked about death, it still came as a shock.

He said: "He [Jett] had a terrible time. That whole period was the most traumatic period of my whole life. What kept me strong was my phone calls to Tim every morning. I miss those calls.

"Tim left us, but he wasn’t allowed to go before Jett. That was our little pact. I said to Tim, 'don’t go before Jett, do us a favour'. He said, 'Chris, I’m not going anywhere, I’ve told the doctors'. But then he went and four days later my son died.

"I went to see Tim to give him a cuddle, and then I went and stayed with my son.’

He said of his brother: "Tim was my big brother, I loved him dearly, he was so charismatic. Tim was the smooth operator, he walked in the room, and everyone would take notice. He was a legend wasn’t he? I tried to copy him."