Dad tragically died three days after his wedding from 'old man's disease'

A dad lost his life to an "old man's disease" just three days after tying the knot.

Dean Dunphy, 33, from Dublin, had been diagnosed with glioblastoma, or stage 4 brain cancer, in August 2023 after suffering with symptoms akin to a stroke and muscle twitching - a condition his doctors described as an "old man's disease".

Michaela Dunphy, 31, his wife, said the tumour kept growing even after he underwent two brain surgeries, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. On May 18, the couple decided to tie the knot despite Dean's tragic prognosis. It comes after a man, 30, puts shoulder pain down to gym aches, then doctors ask where he'd like to die.

READ MORE: Doctor's warning to people who drink even a 'single cup of tea'

READ MORE: NHS warns mouth symptom could be life-shortening disease

On their wedding night, Dean was rushed to hospital after suffering a seizure. Doctors there told Michaela it would be best for him to begin palliative care. They told her: “If Dean makes the next couple of days, it’ll be a miracle.”

In his final hours, he was visited by heartbroken family and friends and Michaela lay on his chest to listen to his heartbeat as he passed. His heart stopped beating at 4.35am on May 21, three days after their wedding.

Michaela - who is still navigating the loss and becoming a single parent - says she wants to launch a foundation in her partner's name in the hopes of funding further research into brain cancer treatment.

Michaela said: “I just said (to their four-year-old daughter Sloane): ‘Look, Daddy is going to go up to the angels very soon’.

“She said, ‘does this mean I don’t have a daddy anymore?’ And I said, ‘no, you do have a daddy, he’s just not going to live with us anymore’.

“She had a cry, we had a cry, and she’s been looking after me ever since. She’s been so strong. Even now, people say to me, ‘Michaela, he held on to make you his wife’.”

Dean regularly complained of migraines and headaches, which he had suffered since he was a child. However, doctors told him it was common.

It wasn't until June 2023 and he experienced muscle twitching when he was driving along a motorway that the condition came to light.

“Thank God he managed to pull over, because he said he was basically experiencing the symptoms of a stroke,” Michaela said.

Initially, medics thought he had Bells palsy - which can cause paralysis on one side of the face - but further scans and tests pointed to a different problem.

Michaela received a call from the hospital a few weeks later and they told her something had been found on his brain.

“We got called back in on July 24 and they said: ‘We can see what looks like a brain tumour’,” she explained.

“They said they needed to operate to investigate further.”

On Michaela's 30th birthday, Dean underwent open brain surgery. The procedure went well and doctors were initially hopeful - but the tissue that was removed for further testing showed he had stage 4 brain cancer, glioblastoma.

“They basically said, ‘It’s a type of brain cancer’, and as soon as we heard the word cancer, it was like white noise – I was in shock,” Michaela said.