When doting Auckland parents Graham and Mery Brooke-Smith fell in love 15 years ago, and started discussing a future with marriage and kids, they never anticipated their plans would include creating goodbye videos for their young children.
But in January this year, after complaints of a sore lower back, civil engineer Graham was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, which has spread to his spine. Tragically, just five months later, businesswoman Mery learnt she also had the same killer cancer.
“It’s weird we were diagnosed with very similar lung cancer when neither of us smoke” says Graham, 50, talking to the Weekly from his Auckland home while his wife, 52, is in hospital. “The oncologist said it probably started at the same time, but Mery’s didn’t reveal itself until five months after mine.
“There are so many variables that could have caused it and it’s all a bit of a guess, so they say they’re sorry, they can’t help
