Disney Animator’s Comics Diary About Losing His Wife is Beautifully Heartbreaking

Losing a loved one can be a sad, traumatic experience. People deal with the grief differently and for this man, keeping a ‘doodle diary’ has been most helpful.

A former illustrator for Disney, Gary Andrews’ comics about losing his wife and living life as a single father of two is heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. No wonder his work has made an impact to his numerous followers on social media.

In a BoredPanda feature, we learn that Gary began doing his comics-style journal entries back on his 54th birthday. He was happily married at the time and a father of two children.

Unfortunately, something tragic happened. His wife Joy got sick and they initially thought it was nothing but flu. It turned out, however, that it was actually sepsis and it eventually led to her passing.

Gary shared:

“From the minute Joy was admitted to hospital, specialists from every department tried to find out what was wrong. They couldn’t have done more. It wasn’t until the post-mortem that they narrowed it down to sepsis.”

Overwhelmed by his sadness, Gary later turned to his notebook and began pouring his emotions out on paper – by making artworks.

He recalled:

“I was crying so hard it was difficult to focus on the page. I was drawing through tears.

“Joy had been my soulmate for 19 years. She was beautiful, kind, generous and funny. We did everything together. When I lost her, I felt half of me had gone.”

Now his touching comics have captured the hearts of many on the internet.

Scroll down below and see for yourself. Read the captions and try not to cry!

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Aside from doing his comics, Gary hopes to raise awareness about sepsis which is regarded by many medical professionals as a “silent killer”.

As the artistic single dad said:

“Blame and ‘what ifs’ won’t bring Joy back. Would she still be alive if I hadn’t been in Canada and a doctor had been called a day earlier? I can’t think about things like that. What happened has happened and you just have to come to terms with it. I just want to move forward, to honor Joy’s memory and bring up our kids in a way she would have approved of.”

Go follow Gary Andrews on Twitter for more of his comics.