Life After Loss
- Duane Chapman, better known as “Dog the Bounty Hunter” from his former long-running A&E show, is moving on following the death of his longtime love Beth Chapman who lost her battle with throat cancer two years ago.
- Chapman, 68, is set to wed his fiancé Francie Frane next month on September 2 Chapman shared in a new interview on the Two Guys From Hollywood podcast on Tuesday.
- Having conversations with a spouse about moving on after their passing can be tough, but can also help ease the perceived guilt the widow or widower may feel, according to an author we spoke with who received his wife’s blessing while she was battling cancer.
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51-year-old Frane, a rancher from Colorado, also lost her husband, so it is an additional bond they share, and Dog has shared in prior interviews that they can understand each other’s grief.
“Francie’s husband passed away over three years ago, Beth passed away over two years ago, and I felt very bad about even wanting to have someone else after Beth,” Dog told ET. “And then when I went to the Bible, Genesis, and found out how Adam got Eve, as I was going to find the exact story, I saw the scripture that says, ‘God does not want a man to be alone.’ That he knows we need a companion, whether we’re a man or a woman.”
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Beth’s Battle with Throat Cancer
Beth was first diagnosed with stage II throat cancer in 2017 after she went to the doctor seeking treatment for her constant coughing fits. The cancer was detected early, and doctors were able to successfully remove a tumor later that same year. She was declared cancer-free shortly after that operation, but a year later learned the cancer had spread to her lungs. Seven months later she passed away.
Beth passed away surrounded by loved ones at a Honolulu hospital, just a few days after being placed in a medically-induced coma.
Beth is survived by her four children Dominic, Cecily, Bonnie Jo, and Garry and 14 grandchildren. She was also the legal guardian of one of those grandchildren. Duane and Beth were married for 13 years up until her death.
Surviving the Loss of a Partner
Fighting your own cancer battle is one of the toughest experiences in life; watching the disease take someone you love is a different kind of pain.
In some cases, a spouse with cancer can take proactive steps to talk about what might come after. "She wanted to make sure that I knew that it was OK … she really wanted me to have another relationship after she was gone," one widower tells SurvivorNet.
John Duberstein lost his wife, writer Nina Riggs, to metastatic triple negative breast cancer. He says that while he was watching her suffer from the disease, he couldn't help but wish things could go back to normal … but Nina had already embraced her new normal.
"I really wanted things to go back to normal, whatever that meant," John tells SurvivorNet. "She was not for that. She wanted to embrace the existence that she had, even before she knew she was going to die imminently. I did not want to talk about what was going to happen with me after Nina died. Nina is the one that really brought it up, she brought it up a number of times."
John says that even with the pain of losing Nina, and even though he didn't want to talk about it at the time, he's so glad that his wife started those seemingly uncomfortable conversations. "In retrospect, I can't even explain how glad I am that I had that."
This is a reminder that having those uncomfortable and painful conversations with your partner can be fundamental to your well-being as you move forward in the grieving process, alleviating the guilt felt in starting to date again, and/or eventually marry.
The Toughest Conversations: Losing a Spouse to Cancer
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