MAN WHOSE WIFE AND DAUGHTER EACH DIED OF CANCER TEN HOURS APART FINDS IT DIFFICULT TO COME HOME AND FIND NO ONE THERE, FAMILY SAYS

PEOPLE

 

Man Whose Wife, Daughter Died of Cancer 10 Hours Apart Finds It ‘Difficult’ to ‘Come Home and Find No One There,’ Family Says

By Toria Sheffield  Published on September 27, 2026 04:07PM EDT

 

The family of a man who lost both his wife and only child to cancer in the span of 10 hours said he is now facing a heartbreaking new reality.

 

Cibele Marchis, 28, died in a hospital in Mogi Guaçu, Brazil, at around 4 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 24, according to Metro.co.uk, Metrópoles and G1. Her mother, Maria Elisabete Nogueira, 56, died at a different hospital in the same city just hours later on Friday, Sept. 25.

 

According to their family, Cibele’s father and Maria Elisabete’s husband — whose name has been withheld to respect his privacy as he grieves — was left a childless widower overnight.

 

“He lost his family. To come home and find no one there anymore — it’s sad, difficult,” Cibele’s cousin, Rowilson Leandro da Costa, said while speaking to G1.

 

Cibele, a digital marketer and entrepreneur, was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer that originated in her adrenal gland in 2024. Maria Elisabete, meanwhile, learned she had pancreatic cancer about a year later, per G1.

 

Cibele occasionally shared updates about her condition on social media.

 

“A year ago, I discovered that I had a rare adrenal cancer — a 10 cm tumor that had already taken over my kidney,” she wrote in a translated Instagram post shared in October 2025.

 

“Getting to the diagnosis was a long road. I could feel that something was wrong, but none of the tests showed why. Even so, I never ignored what I was feeling … Not long afterward, kidney pain led me to get a CT scan, and there was the tumor,” she continued.

 

Cibele said she ultimately underwent three surgeries — the last of which led to an infection that resulted in a 20-day ICU stay.

 

“Today, I’m on my eighth cycle of chemotherapy,” she added in the post, which featured a carousel of photos from her hospital stays.

 

A video shared by Cibele in March showed her receiving treatment through an IV. Over the video, she wrote the words, “As long as your only problem is money, be grateful. It’s worse to face something that not all the money in the world can solve.”

 

Cibele’s business partner, Eloá Righi, said that Cibele “didn’t let cancer define her,” while speaking to G1.

 

“She didn’t want to be known as Cibele who has cancer, but rather as Cibele who works, has fun, lives and has cancer,” Eloá added.

 

Cibele and Maria Elisabete were buried together in a joint ceremony at a local cemetery, per the outlet.

 

Their family said that neither Cibele nor Maria Elisabete wanted to know if the other died while they were still alive — a request that the family honored.

 

“Neither of them wanted to see the other die,” Cibele’s cousin told G1.

 

“They even talked about it, sometimes jokingly, sometimes seriously — and it happened. Neither of them knew about the other’s death. It’s truly astonishing,” he said.