Although we may think this is an unnatural way for a relationship to end, there are 150,000 people in the UK who are widowed under the age of 50.

And there is one organisation offering support, friendship and advice to them all.

The WAY Foundation was set up almost 12 years ago when founder Caroline Sarll discovered a “woeful lack” of support for young widows after her sister Mandy, pregnant with her first child, lost her husband at the age of 35.

Now the charity has a network of groups, including Oxfordshire, made up of members who lean on each other and meet for social events and holidays.

It also has online forums, offers advice about be- reavement and counselling and has a library of helpful books.

Some members have children, some don’t.

Most were married to their late loved ones, while others were not.

The common thread is that they all lost their soul mates while under the ages of 50.

Here, three members of the of the Oxfordshire branch of the WAY Foundation give their views.

WAY provided a social lifeline for Sarah Wilkinson when her husband died four years ago.

She and Jason had moved to Abingdon to start their new life together when the 33-year-old railway worker was hit by a train travelling at 85mph.

Mrs Wilkinson, 34, of Ramsons Way, said: “We’d been married just seven months and had recently moved from Slough and had been in Abingdon just 10 weeks. We were just getting into married life and he was killed.

“I definitely felt my whole life had fallen apart. I had just married and was getting ready to start a family in a new town where we were ready to make new friends, and then I found myself on my own in a strange place with no-one.

“I found myself on a steep learning curve in Abingdon. I didn’t know a soul and just had one friend in Bicester.”

Mrs Wilkinson, who works as a waitress, was told about WAY while she had counselling.

“I gave it a go and it helped me realise I wasn’t alone. And it gave me the social life I didn’t have.

“It’s difficult as a young widowed woman to go out on your own without knowing anyone to make knew friends. WAY really helped with my social life.

“Even now, if I have a very bad day I can contact someone from WAY and know they’ve been through what I’m going through and they help me realise I’m normal for feeling the way I do.”

Now she is the WAY area contact for widows across Oxfordshire.

ALISTAIR Morris was left with a four-year-old son and six-year-old daughter when he was widowed nine years ago.

His wife Michele was 42 when she died of paraganglioma — a rare form of lung disease which strikes 12 people worldwide every year, and kills eight of them. When her tumour was found, surgeons discovered it had completely enveloped one of her lungs.

Although they could remove the lung, they could not take away the growth around her heart and, despite chemotherapy and radiotherapy, she died in June 2000.

Mr Morris, 48, of Arlington Drive, Marston, Oxford, said: “All children need a mother, particularly young children. But instantly the maternal part of our family was gone. It was a huge hole in their lives.

“I just couldn’t replace Michele. It was a huge sadness for me and also difficult to replace the day-to-day care.”

Mr Morris learnt about WAY through SeeSaw, the Oxford-based child bereavement charity. But he did not make contact until more than a year later, after giving up his job working on the Ridgeway and Thames Path for National Trails and taking Callum, now 13, and Bethan, now 15, on a round-the-world tour.

Mr Morris, who now works part-time for Oxford University, said: “Within weeks of getting back we went away with WAY. We went to their AGM, which is a total lifesaver for so many people.

“I started organising holidays for WAY members, because when I went away alone with my children I found it could be sad, depressing and lonely.”

Since then, he’s travelled to Nepal with fellow widowers, as well as organising a New Year party in Scotland.

He said: “A lot of people have said to me that without WAY they don’t know what they would’ve done. You do feel like you’re the only person in the world, but you’re not.

“There’s help out there and WAY’s a wonderful organisation."

WHEN new mum Ali dos Santos was told by police that her husband Paulo had died instantly in a car crash, it left her numb.

The social worker, 38, had a five-month-old baby, Tiago, who had just been diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

She said: “I didn’t believe it had happened and felt it couldn’t have happened.

“He was too young and we had a small child who couldn’t grow up not knowing his dad.

“I heard about WAY from the police. The first event I went to was a picnic.

“When I arrived, a child came up to me and said ‘when did your husband die?’ It was refreshing.

“In normal life people don’t want to say anything to you or don’t want to mention your loss. I’ve got friends who never say anything about Paulo to me.

“He’s like the elephant in the room. But at WAY, everyone just talks openly.”

Mrs dos Santos, who lives in Banbury, said: “I thought this was the worst thing that could have happened to me, and that I was the only person in the world going through this kind of thing.

“But at WAY you learn that other people are experiencing similar situations.

“One woman lost her husband and two adult sons within 18 months — if she can deal with that, then I could deal with my loss too.

“There are also widows who don’t have children and I don’t know how they keep going, because Tiago is what gets me out of bed everyday.”

Although 39-year-old Paulo died almost three years ago, Mrs dos Santos still leans on WAY members for support.

She said: “This is difficult to say, but there’s definitely a sense that it’s old news among my friends, whereas within WAY it’s different.

“People come out with things like ‘time’s a great healer’ or ‘you’ll meet someone else’, but they don’t say things like that at WAY, because they know how you feel.

“I also find weekends really hard because that’s when my friends are doing stuff with their families.

“WAY puts on events which means I have something to do with Tiago and I don’t feel we have to be on our own or impose ourselves on our friends.

“My whole life was taken away from me when Paulo died and that’s what they understand.”

For more information about WAY, call 0870 0113450, email info@wayfoundation.org.uk or visit wayfoundation.org.uk