The grief-stricken sister of a courageous dad-of-two has paid a heartfelt tribute to him, describing how he bravely fought his terminal brain tumour diagnosis until the end.

Lance Roberts sadly died on Tuesday, January 5 after battling the terminal condition for years. He was just 33.

Mr Roberts, a doting dad to his two young children Maisie, six, and Mason, 12, became unwell on his sister Kimberley Chaplin's wedding day on September 15, 2018, suffering from severe headaches, meaning he was unable to make it to the ceremony at St Stephen's Church in Ystrad Rhondda.

He called an ambulance, which took him to the Royal Glamorgan Hospital, and the next day was was diagnosed with an advanced grade three astrocytoma brain tumour.

The former Griffin Windows employee was taken to the University of Wales Hospital in Cardiff where he underwent open brain surgery on October 4, 2018.

Mr Roberts was known for his 'cheeky smile'

He returned home after that, but became unwell with meningitis and had to return to hospital. In the months that followed, Mr Roberts, of Trealaw, Rhondda, underwent 43 radiotherapy sessions and 10 chemotherapy sessions.

Mr Roberts suffered an allergic reaction to the chemotherapy which meant it had to be stopped and later resumed, but the treatment was later completely stopped as it was not working. He also underwent a platelet transfusion.

Despite all of his treatment, his brain tumour was still growing rapidly and developed into a gliblastoma grade four, which is the most aggressive and fastest growing.

All treatment was then stopped and he became very unwell.

Mrs Chaplin said: "As a family we are truly broken and we miss him so much. He was the life and soul of our family, a real cheeky character.

"He absolutely adored his children and they adored him. They were his world, the two of them, they were his world.

"The doctors would say how amazing he was fighting all the way.

"He would go for treatment and come back and he would never moan - throughout it all he would never moan. That was his character.

"We used to call him our warrior. Throughout all of this he battled and battled and never gave up. He was adamant he was going to get over it.

"He was so popular and was loved by so many people. We turned Facebook red for him by everyone changing their profile pictures.

"He would fill the room with his personality. He had such a wicked sense of humour.

"Throughout all of his treatment and everything his wish was to stay at home. He never wanted to go into hospital, and he stayed at home until the very end.

"My mother, Joy, was his rock and was with him through his darkest days. There are seven of us and we have gone through this as a family."

Mrs Chaplin did a sponsored walk for her brother, a former Bodringallt and Cymmer school pupil, which was well supported, while his local pub Paddies Goose also held a fundraising night in his honour, both efforts aimed at raising money for Mr Roberts and his family.

Mr Roberts with his parents Joy and Wayne Roberts in Porthcawl, which was his favourite place and where he would visit three times a year. Despite being ill, he found the strength to go one last time, fulfilling his wish to have some cockles by the beach
The family created this logo which was used by many on Facebook as their profile photo to 'turn Facebook red' as a tribute for Mr Roberts

"He never showed he had been unwell," Mrs Chaplin explained.

"He came up on the morning of my wedding to get his suit and said he did not feel very well. He said 'I will have to meet you there' and still didn't tell us what was wrong. He phoned an ambulance himself and went to the hospital. He phoned us at 12.40am the next morning to tell us what had happened.

"He had been suffering with terrible headaches. He had gone to his doctors and they had told him it was vertigo.

"It was awful. I wanted so many years to get married and Lance was very close to my husband.

"He was helping with the plans throughout the whole wedding. When he could not come I was broken. The day was nice but it wasn't the same to me.

"Because he could not be there, when he came out of hospital, we did it again. We went back to the church and we did it again because we wanted to have our own photos. I felt my wedding day was not complete because he was not there. We took photos and wore the same clothes and now I feel it is complete."

Mr Roberts missed his sister's wedding day, so the family wore the same clothes and had new photos taken when he left hospital. From left to right, sisters Lauren Roberts and Gemma Wiggins, mum Joy Roberts, sister Kimberley Chaplin, dad Wayne Roberts, Lance Roberts and younger brother Liam Roberts.
Mr Roberts is pictured ringing the bell at Velindre Hospital in Cardiff where he received all of his treatment

The signs to look out for...

Video Loading

Remarkably, Mr Roberts' diagnosis wasn't the only thing to coincide with Mrs Chaplin's wedding day.

Two years later, on September 15, she gave birth to her son and Mr Roberts's nephew Jaylen.

"I didn't want our baby to be born on the same date as my brother getting that news, but he was sent for a reason," she said.

"It was amazing how strong Lance was. He would go for a pint with the boys after radiotherapy. He kept fighting until the end, the doctors didn't think he would make it until Christmas.

"He had so many friends, he was very well known. It is amazing seeing all the memories on Facebook, everybody has got their own stories to tell.

"He was a loving father, son, brother, uncle, and partner. We will never forget him and we will make sure his memory will go on.

"As a family we are totally broken and it has left a big hole in our hearts."