Linda Lavin's Husband Reveals Her Touching Final Words

When "Alice" star Linda Lavin died unexpectedly on December 29, fans were shocked. She had just walked a red carpet and taped an episode of her forthcoming series "Mid-Century Modern" — how could she have died of "complications of lung cancer" out of the blue?

Now, her husband of nearly 20 years, Steve Bakunas, is opening up in a heart-tugging video, revealing details about how she discovered she had cancer, what her prognosis had been, and what was on her mind in the hours and minutes before the passed away.

In his nearly 17-minute video, a grieving Bakunas says, "I just wanted to tell her story, and how it all unfolded."

First, he reveals she was diagnosed with lung cancer two months prior to her death when she went in for a CT-scan in search of why she was wheezing.

Her doctor found two "golfball-sized" lumps that tested positive for cancer. One of the lumps was impeding her airway, and she also had some other areas of cancer in her chest.

Though the news was a shock, the couple took heart when told that she could potentially try different therapies, including radiation. "All of a sudden, instead of a death sentence, we thought, 'Wow — people live with lung cancer, and there are possibilities,'" he says.

The weekend before her next series of tests, the couple was enjoying a low-key Christmas in a rented home in Malibu, and had invited Linda's close friend, actress Barbara Weetman, to join them.

Sunday morning, they woke up and Bakunas decided to make breakfast. The three played a bit of Boggle, one of their rituals, but Lavin, 87, told him, "I'm just struggling today, a little bit," and decided to go back to bed. She was still feeling unwell an hour later, but was well enough to express skepticism when Steve offered to cook a roast she had been planning to make.

Lavin's friend read to her in bed a while, then Linda suggested the others take a beach walk. Another hour later, Steve and Barbara returned to find that Lavin had gotten up and taken the roast out of the oven. Expecting to find her feeling better, Steve instead found Lavin sweating profusely and was advised by her doctor to drive her to Cedars-Sinai.

En route, Steve says Lavin suddenly announced, "Honey, I want you to live your life," to which he replied reassuringly, "Jesus, honey, I'm livin' the best life I could possibly live."

Getting choked up, Bakunas reveals, "A couple minutes later, she looked at me and said, 'If I die, I want you to know that I love you so much.'" He told her, "If you die, I'm comin' with you."

Within minutes, he saw that she had her eyes open but was not moving. He pulled over and administered CPR with a 911 operator on the phone coaching him. Paramedics arrived shortly thereafter and spent 20 minutes working on her — per protocol — on the sidewalk in front of a homeowner's garage, but to no avail.

The rest of the video includes details that people rarely discuss — the nuts and bolts of what survivors must do when a loved one dies unexpectedly and in an unexpected place. "I felt so helpless," he says.

In the end, though Bakunas says, "I think if she had anything to do with how this all went down, it was brilliant. She didn't suffer much... We were in such a great place. We worked hard on our relationship... She empowered me with that love... She knew she was going."

"She was a gift to me," he goes on. "I just encourage all of you who had experienced her love just to hold it in you and let it just stay with you and encourage you."

In conclusion, he says, "I hope this helps just to clear [things] up," and says her true cause of death was that her heart gave up — even if their love will clearly never die.

Watch the moving video here.