About this episode

Donna Rice-Hannam shares her story of love, loss, and the challenges faced after the sudden death of her husband Mark.

In this episode Rosie Moss speaks with Donna Rice-Hannam, who found Widowed AF just five weeks after her husband Mark died suddenly in October 2024. What follows is a conversation full of heartbreak, fury, dark humour, and the kind of honesty that makes grief feel a little less lonely. Donna shares the story of meeting Mark through mutual friends, a “blind blind date,” and a pub-stairs snog that turned into a relationship built on safety, tenderness and fierce loyalty. After years of difficult relationships, mental health struggles and recovery, Donna found in Mark someone who didn’t just love her, but actively protected her wellbeing. Together they survived the devastating late-pregnancy loss of their daughter, privately named Charlotte but publicly known as “Pebbles.” Donna talks candidly about stillbirth, trauma, and the way grief bonded them even more deeply together. She describes Mark’s quiet acts of love, from packing the car and taking her to the sea during bipolar episodes, to proposing in Paris simply because “he just wanted to see you smile.” The conversation then turns to the terrifying weeks leading up to Mark’s death: repeated hospital admissions, catastrophic…

People in this episode

Host: Rosie Moss

Guest: Donna Rice-Hannam

Topics covered

• grief
• hospital failures
• love
• stillbirth
• mental health
• relationships

Keywords

• grief
• hospital failures
• stillbirth
• mental health
• relationships
• love
• loss

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Widowed AF

More episodes of Widowed AF: Real stories of love, grief and beyond - With Rosie Moss

• S4- EP18 - “I Could Never Regret Loving Her” Danny Lesslie on Grief, Gratitude and Raising Their Girls Alone · June 1, 2026 · 1h 11m
• S4 – EP17 – “I Thought I Was Broken”: Emma Grey on Late Diagnosis, Grief and Learning to Regulate · May 19, 2026 · 1h 9m
• S4 – EP15 – “I Don’t Know Where to Go for Comfort Now”: Corinne Longland-Malam on Sudden Loss, Trauma and Surviving After Lee · May 11, 2026 · 1h 1m

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