The Repair Shop’s Suzie Fletcher has recalled the moment her late husband Jamie, known as Rob, ‘accepted’ his terminal illness.
The show’s resident leather and saddle expert, 63, quickly became popular after joining her brother Steve on the second season of the show, and credited her co-stars for helping her navigate grief.
The couple were married for 15 years until Rob suddenly died of pancreatic cancer in 2013, which she said came as a shock as they were unaware he was ill.
Writing in her 2023 memoir The Sun Over The Mountains, Suzie said her husband became a different person after her fully accepted his fate and given up trying to fight the disease.
‘I saw the humiliation in his face. From that moment, I started to see a different look on his face. I’ve seen the same thing in other people who are terminally ill’.
She continued: ‘You see it in their eyes and you can trace it along their brow. It registered with me that this was a new beginning Rob. An acceptance’.
The Repair Shop ‘s Suzie Fletcher has recalled the moment her late husband Jamie, known as Rob, ‘accepted’ his terminal illness
The show’s resident leather and saddle expert credited her co-stars for helping her navigate grief after her husband lost his battle to pancreatic cancer in 2013 aged 52
Suzie said that Rob became a different person after her fully accepted his fate and given up trying to fight the disease (pictured with brother Steve on the show)
‘Until then he’d been fighting hard, but now he had crossed over that indiscernible line that divides living and letting go’.
Speaking Lorraine back in 2021 Suzie revealed she hadn’t grieved the loss at the time and came to terms with it while appearing on the hit BBC show and credited her co-stars for helping her mourn.
‘The people who come together here, we care deeply about one another. If someone’s not having a great day, we all rally around.
‘The Repair Shop have definitely become my family. It was a pivotal moment for me where I realised I hadn’t grieved the loss of my husband and my aunt. I had to change my entire life. The whole thing was incredibly emotional’.
‘It was a good moment in helping me open up and move forward and so relatable for the viewers because everyone goes through loss.’
Suzie, originally from Oxfordshire, moved to America where she lived for 22 years and met her husband, who worked as a heavy-equipment machine operator.
Not long after her husband died she returned to the UK and joined The Repair Shop in 2018 after being persuaded by her brother Steve who specialises in mending clocks.
Speaking about her experience she told The Telegraph: ‘Emotionally physically, mentally I was gone.
Speaking Lorraine back in 2021 Suzie revealed she hadn’t grieved the loss at the time and came to terms with it while appearing on the hit BBC show and credited her co-stars for helping her mourn
She said: ‘The people who come together here, we care deeply about one another. If someone’s not having a great day, we all rally around’
‘But here, listening to everyone else’s stories, I realised I wasn’t alone.
‘You feel like you can say anything here, and nobody’s going to judge you: they’ll wrap their arms around you, this repairs my heart.’
It comes after Suzie revealed Repair Shop show bosses often ‘edit a lot out’ of the BBC programme.
In an interview with The Sun, she admitted: ‘ They edit quite a lot out because I do lose it quite frequently. I’ll have tears rolling down my face.
‘I get caught up in other people’s emotions so quickly. But I’ve stopped trying to hide it now because that’s just who I am – I embrace it.’
Suzie has the job and responsibility of restoring sentimental items that often leaves her feeling very nervous.
She added: ‘I personally still get very, very nervous because every time it’s the first time I’m working with that person. It is very nerve-wracking waiting to see how they are going to respond to what I have done.’