Shaun Loughran, originally from Runcorn, was just 42 years old when he died at his home in Prestatyn on October 17.
The dad-of-two spent the last three years of his life battling cancer.
After first being diagnosed with bowel cancer back in January 2020, he underwent multiple rounds of treatment at the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in Liverpool and Glan Clwyd Hospital in Wales.
Unfortunately, the cancer had spread to his liver and abdomen.
The Everton FC fan received this devastating news on the first day of his honeymoon with his wife Jenni in September last year.
But the diagnoses just kept piling on. The following month he was told he had a brain tumour which was removed at the Walton Centre.
Despite all of these health ordeals, Shaun’s sister Siobhan said he was responding well to treatment and had been referred for an operation on his liver just weeks before he died.
Siobhan, 35, told the Liverpool Echo: “After he’d been given that positive news, he’d been getting pains in his head. On October 17, he had one of those pains in his head.”
Despite the best efforts of paramedics and an air ambulance, the dad was pronounced dead. He leaves behind his wife Jenni, 38, and children Grace, nine, and Oliver, six.
Paying tribute to her brother, Siobhan described Shaun as an “amazing person” who was “courageous and charismatic”.
She said: “He was such a devoted dad. In the past four years, since Oliver was two, he’s been living with cancer.
“From the point of diagnosis, it was through lockdown, and I think he was very grateful for the quality time he got to spend with his children through that time.
“Like Jenny said, the children never knew Shaun was living with cancer – it was never spoken about.
“Even on his worst days he would always make sure he was sat downstairs ready for them to come home from school and to talk about their day.
“The amount of people that have messaged or Facebooked me and said even though Shaun was having a rough time, he was always making sure he was thinking of others and tried to keep them positive.”
More than 400 people attended the dad’s funeral on Friday, November 3. Siobhan added: “The amount of people that came out to pay their respects to him was massively overwhelming.
“He was very much a down to earth, family-oriented man. He always had a massive smile on his face and a great sense of humour. He was always up for a joke. He loved a good debate and was never scared to speak his mind. He always stood up for what he believed was right.”
A Gofundme page has been set up by Shaun’s friends to support his family at this devastating time. You can donate by clicking here.
