A married couple in Romania have taken their own lives after losing their son to cancer.

The couple, who have not been named, were found close to the body of their nine-year-old boy, in their family apartment in the city of Constanta.

It was neigbours who found the couple, who were both aged 46. The heartbreaking deaths reportedly happened just after Cristian passed away.

According to prosecutors, it appeared both the woman and the man killed themselves in the same way. Her body was laid next to her child’s and covered with a blanket. The man was found in the kitchen.

Shortly after their son passed away, his parents wrote a 13-page farewell letter. According to investigators, it spoke of how the parents dealt with the stress, grief and heartache, which began when their son was diagnosed with a brain tumour.

In a blog post written seven years ago, Cristian’s mum wrote:

I felt like I was dying myself when I heard the diagnosis. I can’t express the pain that two parents feel when finding such terrible news about their child. He was only two years old.

Unfortunately, Cristian’s condition grew worse as time went on. Hope for the young boy started to fall away as the tumour continued to grow, and surgeons eventually said that surgery would be impossible.

The blog post closed with:

Our only hope that Cristian is a lucky child and the tumour will stop growing is now shattered. The thought that every moment could be fatal, it drives me crazy.