Filmmaker Lesley Paterson reveals her husband has died of most cancers
- Sports psychologist Simon Marshall died on Saturday following a short battle with cancer
- Former world champion athlete Ms Paterson, 43, last year received Hollywood’s highest accolade for writing box office smash All Quiet on the Western Front
- The celebration of their success was cut brutally short when Mr Marshall was diagnosed with cancer last November
Scots filmmaker Lesley Paterson has paid tribute to her husband after he passed away following a short cancer battle.
The Stirling-born world champion athlete and award-winning screenwriter said her ‘darling boy’ Simon Marshall had died on Saturday.
The couple had earlier revealed the 51-year-old had been diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
They had vowed to fight the devastating illness and launched a fundraising appeal to help pay for extra treatments.
But Ms Paterson, 43, took to social media to relay a short message confirming he had died at the weekend in the US.
Stirling-born Lesley Paterson and her late husband Simon Marshall, who died on Saturday
She said: ‘My lovely darling boy passed away yesterday, June 1st.
‘He was my soul and my light. The pain is real but I will take this suffering and turn it into beauty in honour of his spirit. Love you all.’
Hundreds of friends paid tribute to Mr Marshall in response to the post to offer sympathy for her loss.
Andrew Santelli wrote: ‘I’m so sorry to learn this. He was such a special person whose gifts I’m grateful to have witnessed. And so are you.’
Another message said: ‘I’m so sorry, Lesley. Simon was such a special human being and you two were an infallible, magnetic couple that did incredible things as a unit and as an individuals.
‘There was such joy between you, too, and I will forever hold a special place in my heart for sweet Simon.
‘Please know you are in my thoughts, and we honour the man that you loved with your whole heart forever.’
A fund set up by the couple had raised almost £100,000 since its launch in January.
Ms Paterson’s GoFundMe page for her husband, described as the ‘biggest fight of our lives’
Lesley Paterson and Simon Marshall at the BAFTA Film Awards 2023 Nominees Party
Five-times world champion triathlete Lesley Paterson was the toast of Hollywood but the star’s dreams came to an abrupt halt at the end of last year when her husband Dr Simon Marshall was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer
Ms Paterson had started the appeal with a message admitting they faced a ‘formidable foe’.
She said: ‘Life has a way of challenging us with unexpected obstacles and right now Simon and I are facing the greatest test of our lives.’
Ms Paterson, who won a Bafta and was Oscar nominated for her adapted screenplay for 2022 film All Quiet on the Western front, said the couple would be putting ‘everything we have’ into their fight.
She said her husband, an expert in sports psychology and professor of exercise science at San Diego State University, had been ‘on the brink of a remarkable chapter in his career when this diagnosis disrupted our plans, impacting us emotionally, physically and financially’.
Ms Paterson’s Hollywood dreams came to a screeching halt at the end of last year when her sports psychologist husband of 22-years was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
In a moving post on Instagram, the couple – who moved to California to pursue their movie dreams full-time – vowed to beat the devastating diagnosis with Ms Paterson saying at the time: ‘2023 was filled with the biggest of bigs, the highest of highs, the lowest of lows.
‘From BAFTA wins, Oscars nominations, Oscar wins…but unfortunately…Simon was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. So in 2024 we face the biggest fight of our lives.
‘Keep that positive energy coming because we are going to need it.’
