Aussie sporting star shares ‘mixed emotions’ over birth of twin daughters

There’s been an outpouring of support for Sydney Swans AFL player Gary Rohan, and his wife, after the couple welcomed their twin girls on Thursday.

“Our beautiful baby girls have arrived”, Rohan wrote in a caption next to a photo of the family of four on Instagram, before explaining that one had not survived.

Bella Rae was born a tiny 1780g (3lb 9oz), while little Willow Nevaeh weighed just 1295g (2lb 8oz) and only lived for five hours.

“Amie, Bella and I soaked up every second we had with Willow, making as many lasting memories as we could all together,” Rohan continued.

“Its (sic) those little moments we know we will never get back, and we will forever cherish the time we spent as our little family of four, before our darling Willow grew her little angel wings.”

Our beautiful baby girls have arrived Thursday the 12th of April 2018 Bella Rae Rohan 1780g / 3 pound 9 43cm 8:59am Willow Nevaeh Rohan 1295g / 2 pound 8 41cm 9:00am The most perfect little souls we have ever laid eyes on, we feel so truly blessed to be your parents xxx Amie, Bella and I soaked up every second we had with Willow, making as many lasting memories as we could all together. Its those little moments we know we will never get back, and we will forever cherish the time we spent as our little family of four, before our darling Willow grew her little angel wings ?? Bella is currently getting some special care in the NICU nursery but all in all doing very well. We can’t thank our team at the Royal Woman’s enough, yesterday was one off the hardest days Amie and I have ever had to deal with. It was a day full of many mixed emotions and you, our team, made everything so perfect. Words truly can’t express how grateful we are. To absolutely everyone else, thank you so very much for your kind words and support during this sad, happy, joyful and exciting time in our lives we are very proud parents off two beautiful little girls who we love so very much xxx Our little angel Willow, oh how much you taught us in your precious 5 hours here ‘A life so brief, a child so small, you had the power to touch us all’

A post shared by GaryRohan16 (@garyrohan16) on Apr 12, 2018 at 7:55pm PDT

Late last year when announcing the pregnancy, Rohan revealed that at their 11-week scan one of their daughters had been diagnosed with anencephaly, a usually fatal neural tube defect.

They had used the following weeks and months to come to terms with the idea that little Willow was unlikely to live. But he confessed it was still a heartbreaking situation.

“Yesterday was one off (sic) the hardest days Amie and I have ever had to deal with. It was a day full of many mixed emotions.”

“Bella is currently getting some special care in the NICU nursery but all in all doing very well.

“Our little angel Willow, oh how much you taught us in your precious 5 hours here ‘A life so brief, a child so small, you had the power to touch us all’.”

Rohan has been given time off from the Swans and won’t play in today’s match against the Western Bulldogs.

@amierohan_ and I are over the moon to share with you all that we have been blessed twice over ????❤️ Sadly, one of our beautiful bubs has been diagnosed with anencephaly. Anencephaly is a condition where part of the brain, skull and scalp never develops. Our brain is very sensitive, so to live our brain must have cushion and protection. Since our brain tells our heart to beat, our lungs to breath, our legs to move and so on, these babies live from a few moments to a few hours after birth. Babies born with anencephaly are not compatible with life. Ames and I have known about this since our 11 week scan, and since knowing, we’ve been constantly discussing what we should do, how we should tell people and if we should tell people at all. We come to the decision that either way, BOTH our babies are beautiful, precious human beings, with the only thing being that sadly ones life is destined to be cut short. There are going to be some really difficult days ahead but also many happy ones, and we want to share each and every one of those moments with you all. Talking about our situation with people has been our therapy, letting our emotions out has been the best thing for us personally. We would love for anyone who has been affected by anencephaly themselves or know of others affected by anencephaly to please contact us. Don’t be afraid to talk to us about it. That’s what we want, we want people to ask questions, we want to talk about it with others. We still need questions answered as much as everyone else. And at the end of the day, we will always be parents to twins, our journey has just been written a little differently to others. All our love Gaz & Ames xx

A post shared by GaryRohan16 (@garyrohan16) on Nov 23, 2017 at 10:57pm PST