WELSH DAD DIES SUDDENLY DURING CYPRUS ANNIVERSARY HOLIDAY AS FIANCÉE PAYS HEARTBREAKING TRIBUTE

CARDIFF, WALES — A Welsh father has died suddenly while on an anniversary holiday in Cyprus with his fiancée, leaving his family devastated and a wedding they had been planning unfulfilled.

Paulo Brockway, 44, from Cardiff, had travelled to Cyprus with his fiancée, Kerry Debono, to celebrate their three-year anniversary.

The couple had been enjoying their time together on the Mediterranean island and had even talked about returning to Cyprus to get married.

But their holiday took a heartbreaking turn when Paulo suddenly became seriously ill on the day they were due to fly home.

A HOLIDAY THAT ENDED IN TRAGEDY

According to Kerry, Paulo was taken to hospital after becoming unwell.

Doctors in Cyprus told her that he had suffered a cardiac arrest following pancreatitis, a condition she said had not previously been diagnosed.

Paulo died on September 17, according to the family’s fundraising page. He was just 44.

Kerry said she was left struggling to comprehend how quickly everything had changed.

“I just can’t believe it’s all happened,” she told the BBC. “I’m absolutely devastated, heartbroken and my heart is in a million pieces.”

The couple had been together for three years and had fallen deeply in love with Cyprus.

Kerry said Paulo had told her during the trip: “This is the place we need to get married.”

They even placed a lock on a bridge on the island as a symbol of their relationship.

“HE HAD SO MUCH TO LIVE FOR”

Paulo’s sudden death has left behind his fiancée, his son, his mother, two sisters and his brother.

Kerry said the family had been completely unprepared for the loss.

“He had so much to live for and he was just gone in the blink of an eye,” she said.

Paulo’s family also remembered him as a devoted father and a man who had discovered a passion for mountain climbing during the final years of his life.

According to Kerry’s fundraising page, he climbed mountains to raise money for charity and loved the challenge of setting himself a new goal.

“He always wanted to reach the next, bigger mountain,” she wrote.

The activity had become something that brought him enormous happiness and gave him something to look forward to.

FAMILY FACES THE COST OF A FUNERAL

Kerry has launched a fundraising appeal to help pay for Paulo’s funeral.

The family said Paulo did not have life insurance and that the funeral was expected to cost around £7,000.

His body is expected to be repatriated from Cyprus to Cardiff, allowing his family to bring him home and begin making funeral arrangements.

As of the latest update available on the fundraising page, the appeal had raised £2,455 from 80 donations toward its £3,000 online target.

Kerry thanked everyone who had donated, shared the appeal or simply taken the time to read about Paulo.

She described him as someone she would love and miss forever.

A FUTURE THEY HAD BEEN PLANNING

For Kerry, the hardest part is knowing that the couple had been making plans for their future only days before his death.

Their anniversary trip was supposed to be a celebration of their relationship.

Instead, Kerry is now preparing to say goodbye to the man she had planned to marry.

The couple’s time in Cyprus had included memories they had hoped would become part of a much longer story.

“We had basically gone to celebrate our three-year anniversary,” Kerry told the BBC.

Now, those memories have become some of the final moments they shared together.

Paulo’s family says he still had so much life ahead of him, while his loved ones continue to grieve the sudden loss of a father, son, brother and fiancé.

For Kerry, the holiday that was meant to mark three years of love has instead become the place where she lost the man she planned to spend the rest of her life with.