Death of mother after childbirth shocks community

The sudden death of a mother of three, following childbirth, had stunned a whole parish, a priest said yesterday.

Fr Brendan Howard of Ballon-Rathoe parish in Carlow was speaking at a special Mass for Tracey Fitzpatrick who died in St Luke’s Hospital, Kilkenny, on Easter Sunday.

He said the deep sorrow being endured by the husband, parents and family of Tracey is “something that only they themselves can know — a kind of grief that is stark, private and exclusive.”