DETROIT – What do you do when you’ve lost the most important person in your life?
That’s what happened to Beth McLeod last September when her husband, Fred, died suddenly from a massive heart attack.
'There is a hole in my heart’ -- Beth McLeod opens up about the loss of her husband Fred
The couple was inseparable for the 28 years they were married. Now, she struggles to remember what happened in the days after he died.
“For a good three days my life was just a blur of a good two weeks of time. I don’t remember the funeral. I don’t remember the visitation. I don’t remember a lot,” she said. “It’s like you’ve been hit by a bus and you can’t get up. It’s really a heavy feeling and I can’t describe it and some days are better than others."
The couple lived in a house in Cleveland where Fred McLeod was the Cavaliers play-by-play man and Beth McLeod worked as a meteorologist at the local Fox station.
“We did so much together,” she said. “We did everything together. We traveled everywhere together. We always made sure we wouldn’t be apart more than three days.”
Beth McLeod said they were best friends. Five weeks after Fred McLeod died, her mother passed away.
“It’s hard to tell the story because I don’t think many people believe that, like, my husband died suddenly and then my mom died but I think my mom had been sick for two years. So, not that that’s easier, but I think I’ve been mourning her for two years as she progressed,” she said.
Fred McLeod was a well-known man who will forever be tied to the Cavaliers NBA title in 2016. Beth McLeod shared a video of Fred McLeod celebrating the Cavalier’s NBA title win. People don’t forget moments like that.
“Getting gas is interesting. When I get gas, because Freddy was so high-profile. We just have one gas station and I don’t get gas at the station. Because I can’t get gas without crying, because I want to talk about him,” she said. “I don’t go to the same grocery store because everybody, you know, it’s a small town. It’s a small grocery store and everybody wants to talk about him. It’s too much.”
Beth McLeod has resumed her weather career, but it’s nearly impossible to understand the pain that she endures. Not a moment goes by during the day that she doesn’t think about her husband. She’s still trying to move forward.
“I get up everyday. I make my bed and I think, ‘OK, I gotta live. I have to live,'” she said. “Some days are easier than others. Some days I make the bed and throw the pillows on and think, ‘OK, if I’m working, I’m good.’ And on the days I’m not working, I’m like, ‘OK, so now what?’ Those are the hard days.”
She said her husband had a great life, and that they had a great life together.
“That’s what I am choosing to remember. We had a great life. Not many people get 28 awesome years,” she said.