Tributes to brave Nicki
After being diagnosed with leukemia in 1984 Nicki Willetts refused to let life get her down.After being diagnosed with leukemia in 1984 Nicki Willetts refused to let life get her down. A devoted wife and mother, she juggled a career and her hobby of horseriding as well as helping to pull in nearly £100,000 to fund research into the illness. After her death last week at 50, her devastated family and friends today paid tribute to the "incredibly brave, beautiful and positive" woman who smiled to the end. "She was just the most incredibly positive person," said her husband Rod. Read the full story in the Express & Star
A devoted wife and mother, she juggled a career and her hobby of horseriding as well as helping to pull in nearly £100,000 to fund research into the illness.
After her death last week at 50, her devastated family and friends today paid tribute to the "incredibly brave, beautiful and positive" woman who smiled to the end.
"She was just the most incredibly positive person," said her husband Rod."She was always smiling. It was more than a smile. She just lit up a room.
"She has had some tough times with illness over the years but the good times we've had over the past 20 years together far outweigh the bad ones. She never let anything get her down."
Nicki, from Stockwell Road, Tettenhall, was first diagnosed with leukemia in 1984, weeks after meeting Rod. And after receiving a bone marrow transplant from her brother Mark, she seemed to recover.
But the treatment took its toll and in recent years she fought pneumonia several times, finally succumbing to the illness last week.
A devoted mum to 16-year-old son Andrew, former Villiers Primary and Bilston Girls' High School pupil Nicki worked in hotel management and more recently as a PA to a chartered surveyor. She was also an avid horserider who cared for her beloved horse Snuffy.
She and husband Rod, whom she married at Tettenhall's St Michael's and All Angels Church in 1986, set up the Tettenhall branch of Leukemia Research in 1991 and have raised nearly £100,000 since with a series of golf days, 24-hour tennis marathons and walks.
Described by Rod as "an extraordinary person", even the doctors who treated her have flocked to pay tribute.
Relatives will be holding a celebration service in honour of her life at St Michael's and All Angels Church at 11am on Friday.
They will then fulfil Nicki's final wish of having her ashes scattered on the sea at Salcombe, Devon - one of her favourite holiday destinations.
Sister Val said: "She was just the most incredibly positive person and no matter how ill she was, nobody ever heard her moan."
By Victoria Nash
