'He was my soul mate'

The devastated widow of a father-of-four has spoken of her grief after the sudden death of her ‘soul mate’.

Mechell Simons told the Bermuda Sun she was still struggling to come to terms with the tragic passing of her 38-year-old husband, Shannon.

Mr Simons was rushed to hospital on Saturday afternoon after he collapsed at home as the family prepared to celebrate his youngest daughter Xyiah’s first birthday.

He remained in hospital overnight, with his family by his side, but died in the early hours of Sunday morning from a suspected heart attack.

Mrs Simons said: “I’m taking it one hour at a time at the moment.

“It still seems like a bad dream to me.

“I feel like Shannon is going to just show up at any time and he’s going to walk around the corner.

“I can not look ahead too far at the moment, it’s just too hard.

“He was my soul mate. We have been through everything together over the last 15 years. I just can not imagine not having him there.

“Now it’s up to me to keep Shannon’s memory alive with his children.”

Mr and Mrs Simons first met in 1999 through a mutual friend, and later married in Las Vegas in 2007.

They have two daughters, Xyiah, one, and Xhe’Naye, four, and Mr Simons third daughter, Nahzjse, 16, also lives at the Pembroke family home. Mr Simons also has a 15-year-old son, Shannon, who lives in the US.

Mr Simons said: “My four-year-old understands what has happened.

“She tells me her daddy is with Jesus and the angels.

“I really have been amazed by how she and Nahzyse have taken it so far. They have been a real strength to me.

“Shannon’s family and his children were everything to him. He was a wonderful husband and a fantastic dad.” Mrs Simons, of Pembroke, is now making the heartbreaking arrangements for her husband’s funeral.

“It all just came so out of the blue,” she said.

“One minute we were all a family and now he is gone.

“He started feeling ill in the middle of last week, and had these flu symptoms.

“Then he got a headache, but we did not think anything was wrong until he collapsed on Saturday at home.

“I am grateful he made it through the night so that Xyiah will not always have to associate her birthday with her father’s death.” She added: “Shannon always had a way of making me smile and making me laugh, even when I was cross with him.

“He was generous to a fault, and even in tough times, he would give us everything he had.”