Annabel Croft, the former tennis champion, admitted that she has one regret following her husband’s death after a short and hard battle with colon cancer in 2023
Annabel Croft is a former Tennis Champion(Image: Manchester Evening News)
Wimbledon’s Annabel Croft made a heartbreaking admission over how she kept her husband close to her after his devastating death. Annabel Croft, the former tennis champion, lost her husband, Mel Coleman, to colon cancer aged 60 in May 2023.
He told his wife he had “funny pains” in his side that “weren’t going away” and were “getting worse”, and after initially brushing the symptoms off as indigestion, scans confirmed Mel had cancer. Annabel told Gaby Roslin on The Mid Point podcast that the colon cancer spread to her husband’s liver, kidneys and even possibly to the brain.
Mel died of sepsis following a perforation of one of his tumours that occurred after a flight to Portugal. His death came just 16 weeks after the healthy former round-the-world yachtsman received his cancer diagnosis.
Annabel Croft shares Colon Cancer symptoms and how late-husband was diagnosed
According to the NHS, colorectal cancer is the world ’s second-leading cause of cancer deaths, with the risk of getting it increasing as people age. Symptoms of colorectal cancer, also commonly known as colon cancer, may include changes in bowel habits, blood in stool, diarrhoea and constipation, abdominal pain or cramps, and weight loss with no explanation.
Annabel spoke on another podcast in 2024 with Amanda Wakeley OBE, a British fashion designer renowned for her luxury designs that have been worn by royals like Princess Diana and Catherine, Princess of Wales, as well as stars like Angelina Jolie and Beyoncé.
On her podcast, Style DNA, she spoke extensively about her late-husband, before making a heartbreaking admission. Following the death of Mel, Annabel admitted that she slept with his scarf next to her when she went to bed.
She said: “So I have his scarf that he was wearing for all the treatments and everything, and it sort of smells of him. So I go to bed and wear, not wear his clothes, I sleep with his scarf by my pillow.
“And he just wore it, that scarf, I didn’t really like it if I’m honest. It’s an awful scarf, but he absolutely loved it.”
Former tennis star reflects on marriage and coping with grief
She also gave viewers a look into the couple’s relationship when she spoke about how complimentary he was of what she wore, and would always give her compliments.
Annabel said: “So recently I went just away for a couple of trips and there was a dress I wore, literally, I bought it days before he died.
“I bought it, brought it back to the house and put it on to show him. And I had visualised that I’d wear that dress with him. He really loved it. And, of course, I didn’t wear it until just recently.
“And then it dawned on me that, oh, my God, that was the dress that I bought just before he died. But I’m not going to not wear it.
“He loved all of my clothes. And he was always incredibly complimentary about what I wore. And he always made me feel like the most important woman in the world.
“I loved wearing clothes for him, actually, because he absolutely loved everything that I wore, always paid me compliments. And, actually, I regret that I didn’t pay him enough compliments.
“I always said he was getting more handsome and ageing way better than me. And he was getting more handsome every day. You know, he was somebody who aged well and actually became more handsome as he got older.”
BBC Wimbledon’s Annabel Croft’s ‘awful’ moment during husband’s final days
Back In 2023, Wimbledon star Annabel spoke out about the challenging ordeal her family endured following the death of her husband, where she described being “haunted” by an encounter with a “cruel” nurse.
While she acknowledged that many of the nurses who cared for Mel during his final days were “angels”, she condemned one woman for her “mocking” attitude as she and her children Amber, Charlie and Lily gathered around to bid their father farewell. “I’ve asked myself, since, if she was a psychopath,” she told MailOnline.
“It felt like it because she seemed to take pleasure in telling Mel he was dying. When she started to talk like that, I said: ‘Can you please come over here and talk to me privately first. I don’t want him to hear this.’ But she said: ‘No, he is the patient. He has to hear that he is dying.’
“She started talking about palliative care and Charlie asked her: ‘What does that mean? Does he have months, weeks?’
“She said: ‘Huh!’ Almost laughing, mocking our son. ‘No – hours.’ Mel heard that, all of it. It was just awful.
“She said: ‘Oh, and by the way, if he has a heart attack, we are not resuscitating him.'” At this point, Annabel revealed that Mel had made his wishes absolutely clear — he did not want a do-not-resuscitate order put in place, a position she firmly supported.
Annabel continued: “This nurse said: ‘Listen to me. He’s got cancer. We are not resuscitating him.’ Like she was enjoying it. I’m haunted by that. So many nights it has kept me awake, remembering the tone of her voice. It was cruel.”
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