Radio star Colm Hayes announces sad death of 'beautiful' wife after cancer diagnosis

Irish radio personality Colm Hayes has shared the heartbreaking news of his 'beautiful' wife Anne Laird-Caffrey's passing. Anne passed away peacefully on Tuesday, surrounded by her loved ones at St. Vincent's Private Hospital. The Blackrock native had been courageously battling cancer for six years.

In a heartfelt tribute to his wife on Instagram on Wednesday, the Classic Hits presenter said: "My beautiful wife Anne passed yesterday morning after living with cancer for 6 years. She was an amazing, brave woman who lived life to the very end. Her smile will never be forgotten."

Anne's death notice reads: "It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved wife, mum, sister, aunt and friend, Anne Laird-Caffrey.

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"Anne was the glue that bound us all together; her incredible kindness and warmth will be felt forever by all who knew and loved her. Predeceased by her mother, Margaret O'Neill, she is survived by her loving family: her father Sylvester, husband Colm, daughter Holly, son Alex and his fiancé Laura, and her siblings Paul, Mark, Trish, Martin, Therese, Steven and Tara.

"Her loss is deeply felt by her uncle, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, nieces, nephews, extended family and wide circle of friends.

"Our beautiful Anne will repose at Massey Bros. Funeral Home, Newtown Park, on Friday 19th September, from 5pm to 7pm. Her Funeral Service will take place in the Victorian Chapel, Mount Jerome Crematorium, on Saturday 20th September at 10am."

Mr Hayes' Classic Hits co-host Lucy Kennedy was among the first to offer her condolences at the passing of Ms Laird-Caffrey. She wrote: "Haysey, I love you very much and I’m here for you all, whenever you need me. X."

Earlier this year, Colm revealed his “most treasured possession faltered” after Anne was diagnosed with cancer. The 40 Day Health Challenge contestant said in January: "We’ve never spoken about this publicly but my wife is going to speak about it on a podcast soon - five years ago she was diagnosed with stage-four metastatic breast cancer.

"So that means we never get to have a party where the balloons are blue and we lift them and they all go up in the air and we go home. Anne is in third level chemo now, she goes to chemo every Monday for three weeks and then a Monday off across the five years.

“It’s huge, obviously. How that woman continues, I don’t know how she does it. I always remember thinking about the AIB ad ‘If Brave Is’ and they’ve a woman opening the coffee shop at 8 o’clock in the morning and ‘If Brave Is’ and there’s a man milking his cows and I used to say, well ‘If Brave Is’, it’s Anne."

He added: "So I think, when that happens, your life shifts and changes completely. Your priorities change, you think your future is going to change. We have to be careful about that, we talk about living with cancer as opposed to dying by cancer.

"That’s really important and I know there’s loads of people out there but when it’s your life partner, that’s your bubble.

"I think then over the last couple of years I didn’t possibly . . . well I was dealing with it on the outside really well and people would say, ‘You seem to be dealing with it really, really well and you’re really positive with Anne’. Inside not really.”

The Macmillan Support Line offers confidential support to people living with cancer and their loved ones. If you need to talk, call us on 0808 808 0000.

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