A mourning husband has explained how he slept beside his wife's dead body because he wasn't ready to see her taken off to a mortuary.
Russell Davison's beloved wife Wendy passed away after a decade long fight with cervical cancer at their Derby home.
Keen to temporarily stop her from sent away in a body bag, the leasing agent kept her at home with their four children.
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Davison now wants to encourage others to do similar, to change the way we think about the deceased bodies of our nearest and dearest.
Image: SWNS
Going into intimate detail, Davison revealed he bathed and dressed Wendy's body before placing it in a coffin inside their bedroom, insisting that it helped him and his sons to come to terms with their grief - this should be 'the way we treat our dead', he added.
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"Wendy died very peacefully," he said. "Fully sedated, in no pain in mine and Dylan's arms with our ever-faithful dog Elvis snuggled up right next to her too.
"She looked absolutely beautiful, just like she always did in life: no effort, no make-up, just radiant beauty.
"We have been fooled by TV and films into thinking there is something to be scared about with dead bodies - there is not, I can assure you."
In 2006, after the couple's shared 40th birthday, Wendy learned that she had developed cervical cancer. Three years ago, she was informed she had just six months to live.
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But instead of undergoing treatment via chemotherapy and radiotherapy, Wendy embraced in Russell's words "natural health", purchasing a mobile home to travel around Europe.
Image: SWNS
However last September, Wendy's pain became too much to cope with life on the road.
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Russell revealed he had always been determined for his wife to die in the comfort of her own home.
"I did not want her in the mortuary or handed over to a funeral director, I wanted us to take care of her ourselves at our family home, and have her in our bedroom so I could sleep in the same room," he said.
Russell described having Wendy at home to 'an emotional decompression chamber', which was conducive to her family processing the inevitable.
Russell added: "The idea of her being taken away in a plastic body bag hours after death is so alien to us all now, we really don't think we could have taken it."
Featured Image Credit: SWNS