Brett Harman: Dad brings up daughter alone after fiancée's death at 29 - and finds comfort through TikTok and Instagram Brettflix

Brett Harman says social media has helped him to cope with the loss of Hannah, who died 18 days before she would have turned 30.

Hannah found a lump on her leg in 2021, when she was pregnant with their daughter Summer. It grew to the “size of a rugby ball” and turned out to be BCOR sarcoma, and Hannah began chemotherapy immediately. Summer was born two months early but healthy in December 2021, and the following year Hannah was told that the cancer had gone.

But in the summer of 2024, while Brett and Hannah were planning their wedding, they received disastrous news. Hannah began suffering crippling abdominal pains, and after tests they were told that the cancer had returned, this time in her abdomen, and was incurable.

“Hannah didn’t want to hear it,” said Brett. “She said we’d beat it. She did double strength chemo without hesitation, but it tore her body apart. Her liver, her bladder, everything started shutting down.”

In October last year, Hannah was put on a ventilator. She had contracted respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and her weakened immune system couldn’t fight it.

“I was praying for numbers on the machines to go up,” said Brett. “They didn’t. We were told to prepare for the worst. Hannah passed away on October 31, 2024, just 18 days before her 30th birthday.”

The couple could have been forgiven for thinking that they had already overcome their share of illness. They got together in 2013 after meeting while working at Domino’s Pizza - Brett about to start work as a teacher and Hannah was training to be a nurse. Two years into their relationship Brett, then 26, was diagnosed with leukaemia.

“One day I was teaching, the next I was fighting for my life,” said Brett. “It took two years of treatment. Hannah helped me through every minute of it, all while finishing her degree.”

Even during chemotherapy, Brett returned to teaching because his sick pay had run out. Meanwhile Hannah qualified as a nurse, specialising in elderly care, later working during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the couple got engaged in Las Vegas in 2018.

After Hannah’s death Brett was left raising Summer, then two, alone.

“It was terrifying, suddenly raising Summer on my own,” he said. “Hannah was such a devoted mum, and I didn’t feel like I knew how to do everything. But I had to learn, I YouTubed how to do a plait. I just wanted to be there for Summer.

“The weeks after Hannah died were really tough. I’d get Summer to bed, and then the house would go completely silent. I’d sit in that silence, just staring at the walls. That’s when I started going on TikTok Live, just for a bit of company. That’s where it all began.”

To Brett’s surprise, people connected with him. Leaning into what he loved – movies, gaming, pop culture and quizzes – Brett created Brettflix, a social media channel, which just nine months later, is now followed by 225,000 people across TikTok and Instagram.

Now, with the launch of The Brettflix Podcast, Brett, 36, is building something bigger. “I lost the love of my life. I lost the future we dreamed of. But what I didn’t lose was my voice. I realised, if I’m still here, if I’ve survived cancer and now this, I have to use it.”

While Brett’s story is full of heartbreak, Brettflix is intentionally joyful.

“The content isn’t about cancer or grief. It’s about what helped me cope. Fun, films, nostalgia, community, distraction, escape. I’m not healed, but I’m healing. Every post, every laugh, every piece of social media content or podcast episode is a step forward. I want to help others take that step too. Life is unpredictable, but so is love, humour, courage and connection. I’m not a motivational speaker, I’m just a bloke from Lincolnshire who had his world ripped apart. But if I can help someone else feel less alone, then that’s everything.”

Brettflix is on TikTok @Brett_Harman and Instagram at @Brettflix_Official, and The Brettflix Podcast is available on all major podcast platforms.