A DISTRAUGHT family who took the heartbreaking decision not to tell a seriously ill father about his son’s sudden death are now facing two funerals on consecutive days.

David Pilkington, 46, and his dad Thomas Rawcliffe Pilkington will be mourned in separate services next week after dying less than a week apart.

David’s body was found by his wife Sharon on the settee of his Queen Street home in Oswaldtwistle on Monday 1 June, but doctors advised against informing his father – who passed away at 4am last Sunday – just hours after spending his 77th birthday at Woodlands Care Home, Clayton-le-Moors.

He had shown tremendous courage throughout a 25-year fight with cancer and Parkinson’s Disease.

Following the shock of her son’s death, which remains unexplained, wife Grace, 75, had not been well enough to visit him on his birthday.

Bereaved daughter and sister Janet Pilkington said that Grace never got the chance to say a final goodbye to her husband or son and that the sudden nature of David’s death had "knocked her for six".

Janet, 51, said: "My mum isn’t holding up. She doesn’t have good health anyway and she is in a daze. There’s so much emotion we just don’t know how to deal with it."

Thomas, who was born on Oswaldtwistle’s Straits as one of 12 siblings and spent his later years with Grace at Merlin Drive, also leaves behind Janet’s twin sister Julie and eldest daughter Lynn.

A lifelong dog lover, he was a member of Whitebull darts team and went by the nickname ‘TR the Greatest’, due to his favourite boxer Cassius Clay.

A master joiner firstly with Dukett Brothers and then self-employed, he passed his skills on to his only son before David, who leaves sons Luke, Oliver and Aaron, moved into the building trade. But some four years ago, keen antiques collector David suffered a terrible accident at work when he fell from a roof and broke his back and both ankles.

He later developed arthritis and gout and suffered bouts of depression, but was still a popular face at local pubs where he would monopolise the jukebox with his favourite band The Drifters and other 60s music. His wife of 19 years, Sharon described him as "a devoted dad and husband". She said: "The accident stopped him working for quite a bit and he was in a wheelchair for about three months before he got back on his feet.

He was on medication all the time and was in a lot of pain. He was a Manchester United fan and enjoyed socialising and going to the cinema. He also loved collecting antique jewellery, furniture and pictures."

Thomas Rawcliffe Pilkington’s funeral will take place at Accrington Crematorium Chapel at 3pm next Tuesday, led by the Rev Christine Leech. David Pilkington’s funeral service and burial will be conducted by Canon Michael Ratcliffe at Immanuel Parish Church, Oswaldtwistle, on Monday from 12noon.

An inquest into his death has been opened and will resume in August. Funeral Directors: Hyndburn Funeral Services, Accrington, and Oswaldtwistle Funeral Services.