On Tuesday 25th June, while we were on our family holiday, Steve Hughes - my husband of 18 years and life partner for 35 years - suddenly went missing in the Baltic Sea in Sweden. Despite extensive air and sea searches, he was not found.
Steve loved the open sea and wild nature in the Baltic and one of his favourite things to do was to go out in the midsummer evenings with his kayak, and see the sunset while on the open sea. He was totally at peace there.
The shock of losing a loved one in this way is simply heartbreaking and incomprehensible.
His sudden passing has shattered our lives and existence. His family. His friends. His team and his patients at the Octagon Clinic: everyone is just devastated.
Update July 25th: Steve’s body was recovered from the sea.
Den Svenska Hundenheten
We engaged an organisation called ‘Den Svenska Hundenheten’ which uses specialist trained sniffer dogs, that are able to find bodies under water, both recent and after some time.
The organisers mathematically calculate the location, the weather, the currents and the depth of the seabed. They will then bring in a boat with the specially trained dogs, sonar equipment and specialist divers. They have a really good track record of success.
Update: Steve was found just 2 days before the search was due to begin. We cannot thank the team enough for their thorough preparation, even though ultimately we were not able to use their help. Their support these last few weeks was so important to us.
Please can you help us bring Steve home?
We now just need to bring Steve home - this would give us some real closure from his passing.
So many of you have connected with us, asking how you can help. It can be hard to ask for help, but our friends recommended reaching out in this way.
We would be so grateful for anything that you could donate to support us. As well as the costs in Sweden, we have the costs of bringing him home to the UK and all the legal costs involved - it's hard to comprehend just how complex this has become for our family.
This feels like such an important thing that we can do for Steve.
Thank you so much, Tone, Clara, Tilda, Pluto and all of Steve’s family.
Please see our update on how we will use extra funds, now that we have reached our original target.