'MUMMY - I don't want you to be lonely'Those were the words today from four-year-old Harry speaking to his mother shortly after his father's death.Steven Poulson died just five weeks after he had been diagnosed with lung cancer in what his wife, Emma, described as a whirlwind of events.

“MUMMY - I don't want you to be lonely”

Those were the words today from four-year-old Harry speaking to his mother shortly after his father's death.

Steven Poulson died just five weeks after he had been diagnosed with lung cancer in what his wife, Emma, described as a whirlwind of events.

The 33-year-old who had only been a smoker in his teens was forced to go to the doctor by his wife when he got a sore throat.

Mrs Poulson, of Pinecroft Way, Needham Market, said: “They wanted him to go for an x-ray. The day after we were contacted to say there was something wrong and the following week he was in front of a consultant.

“We were really concerned at this point but he still seemed really well so although we feared it was cancer we thought he could beat it.”

But when Mr Poulson went into hospital for a scan he would not return home.

On March 26 doctors confirmed he had lung cancer and by May 4 he had died leaving behind Emma, his childhood sweatheart, Harry and three-year-old Charlie.

Mrs Poulson, 31, added: “I think the worst thing is that we didn't have time to get our heads around what was happening.

“You think even if the worst is going to happen that you will have time to say goodbye.

“I don't think Steven even knew he was going to die from it - we certainly didn't tell him.

“He just went downhill so quickly that we had no time to prepare.

“The last time the children went to see him they took their doctor's kits and said they would fix him - I think they are too young to understand fully.

“Steve was not only my husband, he was my best friend - loyal, caring, good-tempered and the biggest hearted person I have ever met.

“I am honoured to think that such a person chose me to be his wife. In my eyes Steve represented the true meaning of unconditional love and the real meaning of the word 'husband'.

“I will always remember him for the way he could change a serious moment into a time of laughter.”

Mr Poulson was born in Claydon and raised in Needham Market, attending the town's primary and middle schools before going on to Stowmarket High.

He left school aged 16 and trained to be a mechanic, and had gone on to work as a commercial technician for a Felixstowe HGV company.