It's a truth universally acknowledged that a dog is man's best friend, but it seems more often than not, the bond between a pet and its owner runs so much deeper.
This proved to be the case for one pair, as a loyal dog tragically died just 15 minutes after his owner lost his heartbreaking fight against a brain tumour back in 2019. Stuart Hutchinson had been diagnosed with cancer eight years prior, but despite surgery and chemotherapy, the disease spread to his bones.
Over the years he had his beloved French bulldog, Nero, by his side and he was right there with him when he died at home on August 11, 2019.
And tragically Nero died just minutes after his owner did. Stuart's devastated mum, Fiona Conaghan, said at the time: "Stuart died about 1.15pm that day, and Nero died roughly 15 minutes later. He had three dogs, but him and Nero were like one man and his dog. Nero was the dog which was always with him."
Stuart, who had married his wife Danielle earlier that year, doted on two-year-old Nero, as well as their other dogs Nala and Amelia - the puppy of Nala and Nero. Fiona, from Alloa, Scotland, continued to say: "Danielle was heartbroken to have lost both of them, but she has been so strong. We got Stuart home four weeks ago because he wanted to die at home because that's where he was born. We cared for him at home. We expected it but it is still tough. It is still a shock and traumatic when it finally comes." Stuart and Danielle got together in 2013 and got engaged in 2017. The pair lived at their home in Alloa before Stuart spent his final month living with his mum.
Fiona, who was a full-time carer for her son, recalled the moments before her son's passing, saying: "Danielle had been staying at ours with Stuart and woke up one morning and realised her glasses were broken. Her dad said he would go and get another pair from her and Stuart's house to save her leaving him as we knew he didn't have long left. When he got there he realised the dog had taken unwell and took him to the emergency vets. They said he had ruptured something in his spine but he had been totally fine before that. He went into hospital to start chemo at the end of 2018 and he was then having scans every three months."
She added: "At a scan in March, they said the chemo was working. Him and Danielle went on holiday to Spain in May and he started getting a pain in his hand. He went for a check-up and they were convinced there was nothing wrong. But then by June it started to affect his whole arm and that's when they did a scan and saw the cancer had taken over his whole brain and had spread to his bones and his pelvis. We always knew this was a possibility. Stuart was a strong, loveable character, everyone loved him."
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