Anne Marie Murtagh

2 results

Tony, Liam, Saoirse and Mary Heffernan marking National Rare Disease Day at their home in Castlemaine, Co Kerry. The children, who had Batten disease, have since died. Photograph: Domnick Walsh
‘Grief doesn’t have a clock. Grief only stops when you die’

After relatively healthy pregnancies and babyhoods, neither Mary nor Tony Heffernan had any idea that both their children, Saoirse and Liam, had any u(...)

Anne-Marie Murtagh, holding a photograph of her son Patrick, who was stillborn, with daughters Hope and Grace and husband Paul Flood. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
‘We got the words, I’m sorry, there’s no heartbeat. I just started screaming hysterically’

We’re not meant to outlive our children. It goes against nature’s plan. And yet, for some parents, the harsh reality of life that doesn’t go according(...)