Former Triple M breakfast presenter Robin Bailey has farewelled her husband Sean Pickwell with a “big kick ass party” instead of a funeral.
“He went out his way… no funeral, just one big kick ass party,” she wrote on Instagram about Monday’s service.
“We had his dearest friends and father plus his kids and mine give speeches. It was raw, real and very rock n roll.”
In 2016, Robin Bailey spoke to Mia Freedman on Mamamia’s No Filter podcast. Post continues below audio.
Pickwell had been diagnosed with terminal liver cancer in 2017 and died on September 26.
The unique service included white guitars for guests to sign instead of a condolence book and orders of service on backstage passes. In lieu of flowers, people gave money to Karuna Hospice Services and “then when we dried our eyes, we danced”, Bailey wrote.
Then they “partied hard” to ACDC’s Highway to Hell and Chocolate Starfish lead singer Adam Thompson, who played at Bailey and Pickwell’s wedding, sang How Sweet it is to be Loved by You and Somebody to Love.
“I struggle to fathom what my life will be without him but all of us left knowing that Sean Pickwell is now holding us in our hearts,” Bailey said.
Bailey announced Pickwell’s death in a separate Instagram post in September.
“What can I say… my big beautiful panda has gone,” she wrote. “He died as he lived… his way… at home with us holding him… early this morning.
“In this moment there are no words or feelings that can truly express the love and gratitude I have for my husband Sean Pickwell. He came into our lives and healed us. He loved me so hard and taught me so much and now whatever life throws at us we will be stronger, wiser and more fierce because of him.
“He was my absolute soul mate , the true love of my life and whatever I do from now on he will be in my heart and in my corner cheering me on.”
Bailey had her final day on air on Triple M just the week before his death, after telling The Courier Mail she was resigning to spend more time with her husband.
In an open letter published on September 15 by The Sunday Mail titled ‘Why A Terminal Cancer Diagnosis Was The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me’, Sean spoke about the “truly wonderful” things to come out of “trauma and nastiness” of terminal cancer.
“Let’s not sugarcoat this though. This shit has a crappy ending. This toxic and venomous cancer is destroying my body but what has come from this journey is almost impossible to really describe. I hope my words can inspire you to take some action now, before it’s too late,” he wrote.
“Life can be so much better when you don’t have much of it left. One day of really living is worth years of serious unhappiness, which unfortunately is what most people go through.”
Pickwell also said although he never thought he’d be “the cancer guy”, his diagnosis has given people the opportunity to be kind and do kind things and changed his relationships with his children and wife.
“My intensity of love for Robin has deepened and grown exponentially. Not only are we desperately in love with each other, but no one has ever loved me as hard, passionately and with such a ferocity that is incredible to experience.
“She will not lie down and let this cancer win, even if that’s how I’ve felt some days. ‘This is true love,’ she says, and ‘love wins every time.'”
In 2014, Bailey lost her first husband and father to her three sons – Fin, 19, Lewin, 17, and Piper, 14 – Tony Smart to suicide.