Loss of a child: Finding a way through the grief

Earlier this week, Taoiseach Michéal Martin spoke about the devastating deaths of two of his children, Ruairí and Léana.  We look at the support networks available for parents who have lost a child  

Picture: iStock 

“Life was not meant to hit you so hard” — Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s words in an article published this week as he recalled the immediate aftermath of daughter Léana’s unexpected death aged seven in 2010.

More than a decade earlier, he and wife Mary had lost their son, Ruairí, to cot death at five weeks. “Your certainties kind of ebb away a bit,” he said, as he shared with the country the devastation of losing a child.