PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Stig Salming lost his wife, brother and mother within 14 months.
Now he speaks straight from the heart about the great loneliness.
– There are no alternatives, I have to learn this, he says in a long interview according to Hockeypuls.
The past year has been indescribably tough for the hockey legend Stig Salming. It all started in March 2021 when wife Lena received her sudden diagnosis of cancer.
Salming’s grief
They had known each other since childhood and had been married for 55 years. They were everything to each other.
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But just a few months later, her life could not be saved and Salming lost his life partner with whom he had shared so much.
– You can safely say that I felt, and feel, alone. The hardest thing is going to bed alone, getting up alone and eating breakfast alone. It’s the most boring, most troublesome. But there are no alternatives, I have to learn this, says Stig in a long interview according to Hockeypuls.
READ MORE: Stig Salming’s heartbreaking confession – after the harsh criticism of Börje Salming’s tribute: “I will be sad”
Börje’s death
Just six months after that, the next tough news came when little brother Börje Salming was informed that he had suffered from the incurable nerve disease ALS. Then began a terrible process that led to the tragic passing of the hockey icon on November 24, 2022.
– It was terrible to see him sick. In such contexts, it ends up that you are only human. It is impossible to resist. Such forces do not exist. Once things go in the wrong direction, you see how life flows. In some strange way, you are eaten from the inside. It’s disgusting when you think about it. Just follow along. When these horrible diseases decide, it only goes one way, says Stig Salming in the open-hearted interview.
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In connection with the brother’s funeral, the third condolence message came. Stig’s 95-year-old mother Karin had fallen with her walker and had to undergo surgery, but unfortunately passed away after complications from the surgery.
READ MORE: Bianca Salming’s wonderful gold success – after the difficult grief over father Börje: “Big congratulations!”
“Really heavy”
Which means that Stig Salming lost his three closest family members within just 14 months and the loss is enormous after the deaths of his wife Lena, brother Börje and mother Karin.
– It has been very difficult to get through it with Lena, to lose your life partner in the way I have done. I had the hope that we could have 10-15 years left together. But it will be so dramatic, bang in six months she will be gone. It’s pretty heavy. Then I don’t have time to land on it before Börje’s disease appears only six months later. Then Börje will also be gone for six months. Then I got to experience everything again. In the middle of Börje’s funeral, mother’s passing comes in the same vein. It’s heavy. It is difficult to find other words. But it has to go. I have children and grandchildren whom I feel I want to continue to follow and see what happens in their lives, says the 75-year-old with tears in his throat.
Stig had three children with Lena and has since had seven grandchildren. They have been extremely important to him during the grief and after everything that has happened, he now just wants to look forward and move on towards better days.
– It is difficult to take in. But I’m trying to deal with it. Being open is part of the grieving process. I don’t want to shut up and hide. I’ll get to it at once. I just say “here I am”. Life must go on, says Stig Salming in the interview.