John Stapleton admitted it was difficult to see old footage of his late wife Lynn Faulds Wood when he appeared on ITV's Lorraine on Thursday morning.
Lynn sadly died on April 24 last year and John was keen to discuss the amazing work she did to raise awareness of bowel cancer before she passed away.
"It's been a difficult year obviously, a challenging year, but I've been helped enormously by my son Nick and his wife Lisa and friends, family, and neighbours, our dear neighbours have been fantastic," John told Lorraine.
"Thirty years ago she was first diagnosed with bowel cancer and at that time bowel cancer was very much the Cinderella of the cancers in the UK.
"There was very little talked about, there was not much money put towards campaigning about it. People didn’t know about it, simply.
"When Lynn was diagnosed, neither of us really knew what bowel cancer was. And once she’d been diagnosed and once she’d had the operation she said, ‘I’m going to change this'."
Five years after having surgery, Lynn was found to be clear but that didn't stop Lynn from campaigning and raising awareness of the disease after she found the symptoms for bowel cancer were different to those taught in GP training in medical schools.
Lorraine described Lynn as a "fierce campaigner" to which John agreed, saying: "She took no prisoners."
As old clips of Lynn flashed up on the screen, Lorraine: "That must be hard for you to watch that, I'm sorry."
"Well, it's not easy but you know..." John replied, before going on to recall the moment he found out that Lynn was diagnosed.
"It was two days before my 45th birthday, I'll never forget that moment," he revealed.
John also spoke about the night before Lynn passed away, and said: "The night before she died we were out applauding the NHS with our neighbours."
Lynn survived bowel cancer and skin cancer, but died at the age of 72 after suffering a stroke having been diagnosed with an auto immune disease called Hughes Syndrome.
"Our office is full of files saying, 'you saved my life', John revealed as he referred to the amazing work Lynn did to raise awareness.
Lorraine airs weekdays at 9am on ITV.
