He was, understandably, heartbroken after cancer robbed him of his 'inspirational' wife and mother of his twin sons, Kate Gross, on Christmas Day 2014.
But instead of withering away in grief, Cambridge University engineering graduate Billy Boyle poured his entire heart into saving thousands from the disease.
The widower co-founded a firm in hope of revolutionising cancer diagnosis. And now they have developed a breathalyser test that may do just that.
A major medical trial of the firm's pioneering device - involving 1,500 patients over two years – is now being launched.
Doctors say it could save thousands of lives each year and may eventually replace current screening programmes within a decade.
Cambridge University engineering graduate Billy Boyle poured his entire heart into saving thousands from the disease following the death of his wife Kate Gross (pictured with her, and their sons Oscar and Isaac)
In her short life, Mrs Gross, who read English at Oxford University, had a successful career as an adviser to both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
She was even awarded an OBE in 2014 - the year she died - for her charity work in Africa, helping governments turn into democracies.
Mrs Gross only discovered she had colon cancer, a disease that kills 16,000 people each year in the UK, in October 2012, following stomach pain on a work trip.
She flew home from California and went straight to hospital, where doctor spotted a tumour and warned the cancer had spread to her liver.
Her slim odds of survival were raised the next year, after undergoing a successful operation to remove the cancer from her liver.
But, in a devastating turn of events, the disease returned and had spread to her bones.
A major trial of the technolog (pictured) – involving 1,500 patients over two years – is now being launched
The technique relies on a pioneering device that can detect chemicals given off by cancerous tumours
Owlstone Medical's test works by spotting waste products given off by cancer cells, which are known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
These find their way into a patient’s breath through the bloodstream, in a similar way to alcohol.
In the trial being carried out at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, patients will be asked to breathe into the device for ten minutes.
It will collect the airborne molecules before they are sent to
