AFL Star Gary Rohan, Wife Amie Lose Twin Baby Girl To Fatal Condition

After Sydney Swans gun player Gary Rohan announced late last year that he and his wife Amie were expecting identical twin baby girls, the couple also confirmed that one of the twins suffered from a fatal birth defect known as anencephaly – where parts of the baby’s scalp, skull and brain doesn’t develop in the womb.

In a Instagram post, Gary explained that “these babies live from a few moments to a few hours after birth. Babies born with anencephaly are not compatible with life.”

It’s heartbreaking to know that a child you’re wanting so desperately to meet is not going to get the chance to meet you.

Amie was due to give birth in May but delivered them this week – the bubs were a little bit eager to get out – and the little angel who had developed the birth defect passed away not long after her birth.

33 weeks today ???????? Its hard to think at 25 weeks, the twins were diagnosed with stage 1 twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome and we were told they could have been here within the week! It’s been a loooong 8 weeks that’s for sure! But we are kicking goals every day let alone week we make it further along, and I’m cherishing every moment with these two darling cherubs ❤️❤️❤️ #grateful #33weekspregnant #33weekspregnantwithtwins #identicaltwins #anencephalyawareness

A post shared by a m i e r o h a n (@amierohan_) on Apr 5, 2018 at 1:19am PDT

During the pregnancy, both Amie and Gary were vocal on Instagram about their struggles with the diagnosis and encouraged other parents of babies born with anencephaly to reach out.

@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

Gary has stepped back from the Swans’ clash against Western Bulldogs this weekend in Melbourne to spend time with Amie and their brand new little girl, and to understandably grieve the passing of her twin.

Returning to the field in Gary’s place is Aliir Aliir, who has shown fantastic improvement after injuring his ankle in the JLT Series pre-season league earlier this year.

Our deepest sympathies go out to the Rohan family during this difficult time.