TheCable

Five Nigerian children based in England have lost their parents to bowel cancer.

According to Daily Mail, Omena Ubiaro, father of the children between the ages of seven and 19 years, died on Monday morning – five weeks after Makeda, his wife, lost the battle to the disease.

Ubiaro held on to life for three years after being diagnosed with Stage 4 bowel cancer.

The wife’s burial had been initially scheduled to hold a day after his own death.

Charles Busari, a family friend, announced the news of the man’s death, while soliciting for funds to help in the children’s upkeep.

“It breaks my heart to report that sadly our dear brother Omena has lost his fight to cancer in the early hours of Monday 4 September 2017,” Busari wrote.

“I would like to offer a heartfelt ‘THANK YOU’ to everyone who has contributed so far financially, with prayers and with words of encouragement.

“Unfortunately, our worst fears have been confirmed and we now need your donations now more than ever to support the children. No amount is too small, as a little stream makes a mighty ocean.”

Before his death, Ubiaro had focused on raising money for the five children. A gofundme page had been created for the family shortly after the wife’s demise.

The couple during their wedding

While on sick bed, he had thanked individuals for supporting the family in one way or the other.

“Thank you so much to everyone that’s been supporting myself and my family,” he had said in a video filmed on August 16.

“Myself and my five boys, we’ve just lost my wife, they’ve lost a mother, and they’ve also lost their best friend as well.

“I know at times people say ‘Be strong, be strong, be strong,’ but sometimes guys, it’s tough.

“Where do I find that strength from? I cannot lie. It has been the toughest thing that a husband and a father has ever had to face.”

Femi Iloyi, said to be Ubiaro’s best friend, told Mirror, shortly before the man’s death, that the friend was “so determined” to stay alive for the children.

“Omena is a big, muscly guy but right now he is about 8st,” he was quoted to have said.

“Omena is such a humble guy, since he was diagnosed he just pulled his socks up and carried on. I’m not he has fully processed his wife’s death he is just focusing on being there for his children.”

The couple reportedly got married in 2004 after they had met as teenagers in college.

Both were aged 38 at the time of their death.

Photo credit: Daily Mail