Sandra Bullock has been praised for being the ‘best caretaker’ to her partner Bryan Randall after his ALS diagnosis (Pictures: Getty / Backgrid)
Sandra Bullock’s sister has supported her following the death of the actor’s long-term boyfriend Bryan Randall.
Photographer Randall died on August 5 at the age of 57, after a private three-year battle with ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis).
ALS, also known as Motor Neurone Disease, causes the death of neurons which controls voluntary muscles, leading to the person being unable to walk, speak, swallow and, eventually, breathe.
Now the actor’s sister has shared a touching tribute to both Randall and Bullock, who she said was the ‘best carer’ to him as the disease took hold.
Taking to Instagram on Monday, pastry chef Gesine Bullock-Prado said she believed Randall had ‘found the best fishing spot in heaven and is already casting his lure into rushing rivers teaming with salmon.’
She said ALS is ‘a cruel disease but there is some comfort in knowing he had the best of caretakers in my amazing sister and the band of nurses she assembled who helped her look after him in their home.’
The couple had been together since 2015 and were raising Bullock’s children together (Picture: GC Images)
The 53-year-old asked for donations, in lieu of flowers, to the ALS Association charity and Massachusetts General Hospital, who helped care for Randall.
She added: ‘Rest in peace, Bryan.’
Randall’s death was announced on Monday by his devastated family, who shared ‘with great sadness’ that he had ‘ passed away peacefully after a three-year battle with ALS.’
‘Bryan chose early to keep his journey with ALS private and those of us who cared for him did our best to honor his request,’ they continued to People Magazine.
Randall had chosen to keep his diagnosis private, with his loved ones respecting his wishes (Picture: Getty / Backgrid)
‘We are immensely grateful to the tireless doctors who navigated the landscape of this illness with us and to the astounding nurses who became our roommates, often sacrificing their own families to be with ours. At this time we ask for privacy to grieve and to come to terms with the impossibility of saying goodbye to Bryan.’
Randall and Bullock have been together since 2015, first meeting when the talented photographer shot her son’s birthday party.
They went public with their relationship later that year and moved in together in 2016, blending their families: Bullock is mum to Louis, now 13, and Laila, now 11, while Randall has 29-year-old daughter Skylar.
Asked in an interview last year whether she and Randall would ever get married, Bullock said she didn’t need a piece of paper to be devoted to their family.
‘I am someone who went through the divorce process. I found the love of my life. We share two beautiful children – three children, [Randall’s] older daughter. It’s the best thing ever,’ she said on the Red Table Talk podcast.
‘I don’t need a paper to be a devoted partner and devoted mother. I don’t need to be told to be ever present in the hardest of times. I don’t need to be told to weather a storm with a good man.’
ALS usually begins to affect people in their 60s, with inherited cases showing symptoms in their 50s.
The average survival time from onset to death is two to four years, with many dying from respiratory failure; it is sometimes called Lou Gehrig’s disease because it affected the famous baseball player Lou Gehrig, and famous physicist Stephen Hawking was also diagnosed with ALS in 1963.
The disease gained massive attention in 2014 with the viral ice bucket challenge, which encouraged people to drench themselves and donate to a charity researching the incurable disease.
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MORE : Sandra Bullock’s longtime partner Bryan Randall dies aged 57 after ALS battle
Photographeer Randall died following a private three-year battle with ALS.