It had been barely a month since Brandy Geneyn, 24, and Milko, 30, were married when the latter tragically passed away. He lost his battle with cancer, just days following celebrating his 30th birthday. A nightmare for the mother and her five children. “It went so fast. We thought he would pull through. But it was over, ”she testifies in the columns of the Nieuwsblad.
It was on February 8 that Brandy and Milko got married, in Diksmuide, in West Flanders, while Milko, suffering from cancer, seemed to be doing better. “We made a lot of plans for the future and thought the worst was over,” Brandy says sadly. She and Milko have five children, two sons and three daughters, ages two to seven. “The disease proved invincible and hit hard. A month following our wedding, my Milko was taken away. We are devastated with grief,” adds Brandy.
From birth, Milko was diagnosed with a kidney problem. “When he was born, he had one kidney removed, but the second didn’t work properly either,” says his wife. It was in May last year, following her daughter’s communion, that Milko started to feel unwell. He was in terrible pain in his stomach. Once in the hospital, the reality was very difficult to take. A huge tumor lodged in his bladder and had already spread to his lungs and liver. Doctors were very hopeful, but chemotherapy started immediately for Milko. But on Christmas Day, another blow: the headache felt by Milko was due to a new tumor…
Hope
But the family continued to believe in it. “On January 3, he underwent major brain surgery and it worked. The weeks that followed went very well and we made a lot of plans for our future together, ”says Brandy once more. “We got married on February 8, following four years of relationship. It was a wonderful wedding day, with our loved ones and our five children, ”adds the young woman. Brandy explains that last Saturday Milko celebrated her 30th birthday. ” It was a nice day. A big cake with 30 candles, her favorite food, gifts… We didn’t know that we would wake up in the morning in a completely different way”, explains the mother of the family.
On Sunday morning, Milko felt very bad. So much so that he had to be taken away by ambulance. At the hospital, the doctors make it clear to Brandy to expect the worst. “He was plunged into an artificial coma and received heavy treatment. He continued to fight. On Friday they woke him up so I might talk to him. But he didn’t even have the strength to say anything back,” says Brandy. “In the evening they called me to tell me to come urgently. We and the family stayed up all night by his bedside, but he fell asleep at 5:21 a.m.,” she adds heartbroken.
“We are devastated by grief. Milko was such a good man, a wonderful father and his character made him unique, ”says Brandy once more. “Children do not all realize. They only know that dad is a star in the sky, ”concludes the young woman.