TIFFANY YOUNGS, WIFE of former Leicester, England and British and Irish Lions hooker Tom Youngs, has passed away after a lengthy battle with illness.

Youngs announced his retirement from professional rugby with immediate effect in April, six months after he had been granted an indefinite period of leave by Leicester in order to care for his wife.

His wife, Tiffany, was diagnosed in 2014 with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of cancer that affects the lymphatic system. Three years later, after undergoing conventional stem-cell treatment, Tiffany was informed that the illness was terminal, and at one point was told that she might only have a month to live. She made the requisite plans with her family and informed her and Tom’s daughter of the news.

Tom’s younger sibling Ben Youngs, also a professional rugby player, consequently withdrew from the 2017 Lions tour to New Zealand in order to support Tom’s family through the most difficult of times.

However, in 2018, Tiffany learned that her cancer was in remission. In an interview with Sky News that year, she attributed this miraculous turn of events to a drastic change in diet and the use of alternative treatments.

The illness later returned, however, and Tom Youngs took an indefinite period of leave from his Leicester Tigers duties last October before retiring from the sport altogether two months ago as he cared for his seriously ill wife.

In a statement, Tigers said that the club was “deeply saddened by the news that Tiffany Youngs has passed away after her heroic battle with illness.

“On behalf of everybody at the club, we send our condolences to the Youngs and Sands families.

“The club will be providing no further details and asks that the Youngs and Sands families have their privacy respected at this time.”