'My wife had a stroke at 35 weeks pregnant': Connacht's Paddy McAllister opens up on family trauma

'We are a family of faith and we had a lot of prayer behind us from friends and family... Both girls are very healthy and I’m a very lucky man'

Connacht's Paddy McAllister wife had a stroke at 35 weeks pregnant. Both mother and baby are doing fine, he says. Picture: INPHO/Laszlo Geczo

Paddy McAllister, the Connacht prop, still has scars on his hands from the baby crocodiles he was trying to raise in his bedroom when he was growing up in the Congo, but dealing with the harsh realities of life is nothing new to the 31-year old.

He comes from a missionary family and has seen at first hand in the Congo the devastation of war and health crises.