Disney Animator Draws Pictures On What It's Like Living Without His Wife And His Story Will Bring You To Tears

They say it gets better with time.

Elzaan Van der merwe

• Published in Disney
• May 6, 2018

A lot of people keep diaries and I'm sure every woman as a teenager kept a diary to express her feelings and thoughts when she couldn't tell her secrets to anybody. 

Those were the good days, but still today there are people that believe in journaling every detail of their lives, whether it's to remember when they are old or to just focus their feelings on the positive things in life. 

This is exactly what Gary Andrews, former Disney illustrator does. He started doing it on his 54th birthday, but instead of writing, he drew pictures and scenarios of himself, his children and his beautiful wife.

Little did Gary know that his life was going to change forever!

He was in Canada for work and while he was there his wife got terribly sick and they thought she just had a bad case of the flu. 

But they later realized she had a serious condition and Gary immediately got on a plane back to the UK to support his wife.

Unfortunately, he arrived too late and was informed that she passed away from Sepsis upon his arrival at the UK airport.

This left Gary utterly devastated, because not only was his wife deceased, it also happened so quickly that he was still in massive shock. He struggled to grieve and let his feelings out, so he did the thing he knew best.

He opened his notebook and started drawing. "I was crying so hard it was difficult to focus on the page. I was drawing through tears," he said. "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."

To this day Gary is still grieving and using his doodles to soothe his mind, heart, and feelings. It is a way for him to express himself and his drawings regularly include his wife and what it's like being a single parent and raising daughters without their mother.

Gary's only hope now is to raise awareness on the silent killer that is Sepsis. It is masked by the symptoms of the flu and is only caught when it's too late. He is not angry at anyone for what happened to his wife Joy, but he rather wants to help doctors catch it quicker. 

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

"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."

Have a look down below at some of his doodles and be prepared to get your tissues out.

Gary and his beautiful wife Joy

These are the doodles he drew to deal with his wife's death.

His girl is his hero

She truly made her mom laugh with that one

They say time heals all wounds, hang in there.

It's difficult when children lose their mother so young

When it's too empty

"Forever in my heart"

Hits you when you least expect it

Proud moments call for family celebrations

There will always be hope

Very bad idea

Only crazy people thinks it's easy

She became his guardian angel

They grow up so fast

Grieving is a healthy part of life

"Time to start healing..."

"Love. Always."

And then the anger starts

When smiled turn into tears

Welcome to Saturday's

Only 10 and making her own special memories

"Always with me"

You are doing great!

Little situations can make you miss your special person so much

He felt her right then and there

He is blessed and getting better

"And so we heal"

What a strong man

He rode it well, until the end

When he realized what he has and that he can move on now

Light at the end of the tunnel

It's okay, you can let it come out

The funny has finally poke it's head out

Music helps the grieving process

"Creating new traditions"

She will always be there for you

Good job!

When food becomes your comfort

Sometimes you forget to take care of yourself

"Chips of the old blocks"

New rules for their new life

Sleeping in a empty bed sucks

He knows she is never far away

You can always tell her about your day, she will listen somehow

The world came back to life

Grief sucks!

Atleast the kids are happy

Elzaan Van der merwe