Even in her final moments of life, Beth Chapman was more concerned about her family above anything else.
Hours after announcing that his wife had died from throat cancer in Hawaii on Wednesday, Dog The Bounty Hunter spoke to local reporters about the “unexpected” loss and revealed how the 51-year-old has managed to cheer him up even after her passing.
Reflecting on how he’s been coping, the bounty hunter told Hawaii News Now alongside his two daughters:
“It’s terrible, the most terrible time in someone’s life. You kind of try to remember that you’re celebrating life, but right now we’re mourning the death, so it’s not good… The cancer gig, of course, we’ve gotta find a cure, because all we have now is some get lucky, but most pass away.”
As fans know, Beth had been battling the aggressive disease since she was diagnosed with cancer in September 2017. She even beat the illness for a while after having the cancer surgically removed; however, it sadly came back in 2018 and forced her to go back into treatment.
Related: Fans Pay Tribute To Beth Following Her Death
Beth was hospitalized on Saturday after suffering a choking emergency at their home in Hawaii. She was placed in a medically-induced coma, which doctors hoped would be her best shot at surviving — but she never recovered.
Remembering the emotional last moments by his wife’s bedside in the hospital, where she was said to be surrounded by family, Dog tearfully revealed that Beth managed to speak one last time — so she could comfort her family.
He recalled:
“When she had an attack I didn’t know anything to do but to say ‘in Jesus’ name’ and hold her and when I said ‘in Jesus’ name’ she said, ‘Say it again, say it more.’ … And then she told the girls and everybody, with her mouth — she came out of it a couple times — ‘I love you’ and ‘Are you guys all okay? Don’t worry,’ but she never accepted it.”
Wow.
Dog went on to explain that Beth continued to communicate with him after her death by leaving him notes to find around their home after he returned from the hospital without her.
He joked:
“Beth was somewhat of a control person — not from the grave but from heaven. I’m sure she’s still controlling me and I’ve got notes in my pillowcases, on my sink, in my shaving thing. She’s still telling me what to wear.”
Awww.
Dog also noted how Beth fought until the bitter end and insisted on beating the cancer diagnosis on her own terms, adding:
“She did it her way. There’s some things that they predicted that the doctors ended up saying, ‘We’ve never, ever, seen anything like this.’ Her way was to live. She wanted to live so bad and she fought so long, and the reason she fought, she liked life but she wanted to show people how to beat it and what to do when it got her.”
She also made a point to ensure her husband was still holding onto his faith before she passed, as Dog explained:
“One of the last things she said [was] ‘It’s a test of my faith.’ She had faith and that was it. There’s things you go through when you’re dying, like steps like you do when you lose someone, right? You get mad at them, and then you go through all these steps… Well, the last step when you’re dying is to accept it. And she said to me the other day, ‘Honey, that last step, I ain’t taking…’ So go Bethy.”
While the reality TV star said he knew this day would eventually come, he admitted the couple wasn’t prepared for it to happen this soon, continuing:
“It came very unexpected, really fast. All of her clothes were exactly where they were, her makeup, everything. We didn’t prepare… It’s just incredible when you walk alone in the bedroom and you’re there and she was there two days ago.”
So incredibly heartbreaking.
As the Chapman family continues to mourn the loss of their wife and mother, the future is still uncertain for the couple’s new show, Dog’s Most Wanted, which the pair were taping up until she was hospitalized.
According to TMZ, the WGN America series had been shooting for several months and was coming to a close in the week leading up to Beth’s hospitalization. Cameras were not rolling at the time Beth was rushed to the hospital, and production came to a halt in the days since.
Naturally, her death means some decisions have to be made about how to end the unfinished season. Sources say there’s a chance producers will use the material they have to put together an ending, or shooting could resume after Dog and his brood have had time to cope with Beth’s passing.
Either way, it’s said to be up to Dog to decide how the unfinished season, which used Beth’s cancer battle as a major storyline, will end.
Our hearts are with the Chapman family in the meantime.
[Image via WGN America/YouTube]
Related Posts
-
Categories
