Twin sons Alex and Sam died at 24 weeks in September 2025, causing deep heartbreak for Tommy Walsh and his wife Dawn. He said the loss is harder on the woman because she carries the pregnancy, delivers the babies, and faces physical and mental challenges, then leaves hospital without them. He described trying to move forward through resilience, while continuing life for their daughter at home and returning to jobs. He credited supportive family and friends, including people who had experienced similar grief, and noted that others were especially helpful because they knew they were expecting. He also reflected on returning to Kerry after building a life in Australia for AFL.
"“It's obviously hard on me and my family. But it's always a way harder on the woman,” Tommy said. “She had to carry them, deliver them and go through all the physical and mental challenges that a woman goes through when giving birth. Then you are leaving hospital without them which is tough,” he added."
"“You just try and get on with things really. We spoke about resilience, that probably very much put it to the test. But yeah, life goes on. We have our daughter at home, we both have jobs that we have to get stuck back into,” he said."
"“As I said, it was tough but we were lucky that we have two very supportive families around us. The amount of support that we got from other people, people that you would never would have known went through something similar maybe because they might not have been far along and they mightn't have been at the stages telling people. “Whereas we were. People knew that we were expecting so yeah, people were great, still are.”"
"“I had made my mind up that I was coming home,” he said. “Initially, I was excited to be coming back to Kerry and”"
Read at Irish Independent
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