Simon Thomas has confirmed his departure from Sky Sports following his wife's death. The presenter, who tragically lost his wife Gemma to cancer in December last year, revealed that his main focus is now to take care of his eight-year-old son Ethan. He will step down at the end of the current football season. In a blog post he said: "I'm doing it for Ethan. On that first morning after Gemma went, I remember Ethan coming up to me in the lounge and through his tears he said these words: 'Daddy, you know every weekend you go away and do the football, and I spend the weekend with Mummy? What do I do now?' And they have stuck with me ever since."
Simon Thomas has confirmed his departure from Sky Sports
His wife died of leukaemia at the age of 40 just three days after being diagnosed. She visited her GP complaining of feeling unwell just a week prior to her diagnosis. At the time of her death, Simon asked his followers to keep their grief-stricken son in their prayers. "He's lost his mum, for him so much has changed, I can't always be with him 24/7 but what I have no choice in, is I have to put him first," added Simon. "I need to spend the next few months working out with him how we move forward. What's going to work for him, what isn't?"
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The former Blue Peter presenter, 45, went on to admit that his "financial security" helped him make the decision to spend more time with his son. "I have the financial security to be able to do this. I'm very aware that in writing this there will be those for whom grief and returning to work has been a very different story," he continued. "I am fully aware that there will be those for whom the luxury of being able to make a decision like this just wasn't an option. Whether they wanted to or not they had to go back to work just to keep a roof over their heads and put food on the table. But this is why I've been able to do this." He then thanked Sky Sports for their ongoing support over the past few months, concluding: "They have been quite simply amazing and have also been gracious enough to not just accept the decision I've made, but also to tell me that the door will always be open."
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