Michael says people have no idea how serious the ‘silent killer’ can be
A man says his wife’s final months on Earth were a “living hell” as she suffered with a condition 4.5 million people have in the UK. Christina Gavin had Type 2 diabetes and had been managing the disease until the stillbirth of her daughter, Angelica.
The 47-year-old’s health took a significant downward turn, including losing her eyesight, sepsis and subsequent amputation of her right leg and stage five kidney failure. “I’m too young to be a widower,” said her husband, Michael, from Dagenham, London.
“Everything went wrong. The things she went through, you couldn’t make it up. The blood stopped flowing to her right hand and her index finger went really black. She was delirious and screaming.
“It was terrifying for me. She couldn’t even move that well at that point and she struggled with everything. I asked doctors to look at her finger because it was black, smelly and the fingernail had fallen off. I thought it needed to be amputated like her leg.
“It was such a battle. People don’t realise that diabetes is a silent killer.”
Christina, a housewife, was diagnosed with gestational diabetes in 2009 and was prescribed insulin. After the stillbirth in 2012, though, things only continued to go downhill. In 2014, she was registered blind after five operations to fix her eyesight had little to no success.
Christina had a detached retina in her right eye caused by diabetes. Then, five years later, she developed an ulcer on her foot, which turned septic and later resulted in the amputation of her right leg above the knee.
Her condition only continued to worsen and in 2023, she was diagnosed with stage five kidney failure after getting back pain, weakness and fatigue. Michael, a former construction worker, became her full-time carer as the disease began impacting each part of his wife’s body.
The 46-year-old said: “Christina had to have dialysis three times a day. Because of the dialysis, she had to have a fistula, and it went wrong. The blood flow wasn’t working properly.
“Her hand was stone cold, in a claw and her blood sugar got really low so they had to reverse it. Just before Christmas 2025, Christina suffered two cardiac arrests and was place into an induced coma for two weeks. The black finger was amputated during this time and she showed signs of improvement.
Michael said: “When she woke up, she was so confused and she didn’t recognise me. It was so distressing. I was so angry, wishing something had been done sooner. I don’t know why it took them so long; it had to be an emergency before we were taken seriously.”
Sadly, the fight still wasn’t over, as an open wound was left on her hand. Christina knocked it and it began bleeding. Another finger had to be removed. In her final weeks, she was then rushed back into hospital after her dialysis PICC line began ‘gushing out blood’.
It was found that the mum-of-two to Tommy, 21 and Mikey, 17, had developed a chest infection, with fluid on her lungs. She never returned home. Michael said: “The last six months of her life were hell. It makes me angry and upset for her. The hospital called and said she was unresponsive, so I got there as fast as I could.
“She had an oxygen mask on and was trying to breathe. It was so out of the blue because I’d been talking to her the day before. I went to get a bottle of water and when I got back, they said she was gone.
“I sat with her, played her some music and talked to her. Her sister and dad nearly collapsed when I told them and our sons broke down. It was an awful conversation – but I did it for my wife. I’d do anything for my wife.”
Now, he’s surviving on Universal Credit and is appealing for donations to help cover the cost of her funeral. He hopes to bury her beside Angelica. Michael added: “I want people to know how lovely, strong and kind my wife was.
“I don’t want her to be forgotten. When I talked to her, it felt like talking to a mate. I used to call us sweet and sour, [because] she was sweet and saw the good in people I was sour and saw the bad in people.
“I know she’s not here 1780899955 but I think she is. It’s definitely boring without her. I never wanted her to go anywhere.”
