The Tragic Story Of Father Who Lost His Brother And Son To The Same Disease In Just 1 Week

Chris, (in black T-shirt), lost his son, (centre), and brother, (right), within days of each other

A grieving dad has told of his heartache after losing both his brother and 12-year-old son to cancer within days of each other, saying: “You wouldn’t wish it on your worst enemy.”

Chris Bacon says he will never be able to get over the double tragedy last May.

It saw his drinks entrepreneur brother Tim Bacon lose his 14-year battle with lymphoma four days before son Jett died in his arms from a rare form of bone cancer.

Chris 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.”

Tim had battled lymphoma for 14 years, but in his last two years had developed melanoma.

Jett had been diagnosed with rare bone cancer Ewing’s Sarcoma at the age of 11.

The one comfort Chris takes is his belief that Tim, 52, died first so he could be waiting to look after Jett.

Chris says: “It’s still very emotional, I still cry every day. 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 to go 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.

“Me and Tim we used to talk about death. We’d talk in the early hours of the morning, but the whole situation, you just couldn’t comprehend it. But I know Tim is looking after Jett now.”

Chris, 48, spoke movingly at Tim’s memorial, held inside Manchester’s Albert Hall with thousands of guests from the hospitality world he had so inspired in attendance.

He said: “You either pay homage to these people and you get on with it, or you become a victim and blame everybody else.

“From there on, I probably got a bit more straight to the point in a way.

“Maybe I am a bit abrupt with people, but it’s a bit of a facade for me, a bit of a front.

“I suppose it’s my way of dealing with it.”

Chris’s youngest son was just two weeks old when Jett was diagnosed with cancer.

He said: “That whole period was the most traumatic in my life.”

Dad-of-five Chris is now paying his own tribute to his lost family members with the launch of his Club Arvina in Hale with his wife Laura – named after the Latin word for Bacon, their family name.

He says: “I’d love to feel that if they were looking down they’d love it.”

Tim would be laughing about it, saying why had he not thought of that name? It’s our homage, something to make Tim and Jett proud.”

Chris and Tim both grew up in Tasmania.

Tim headed to Manchester in 1993 to open his first bar while Chris went on to judo glory, becoming European and Commonwealth champion.

He joined his older brother in Manchester to work as a security guard for him – which kick started Chris’s new career.

Tim started a chain of bars and Chris launched his security business.

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