Father reveals how faith helped him through loss of daughter

A young father has spoken powerfully of how his faith helped him to cope with the tragic illness and death of his infant daughter. 

Speaking to the Sunday Independent newspaper six months after the death of baby Mary, Co. Antrim man Rodney Beggs revealed the heartache that came with being informed by doctors that his daughter would be born with severe brain damage as a result of Cloves Syndrome, an incurable condition.

 Mary was born, in June 2014, with Hemimegalencephaly, a neurological condition in which one side of the brain is abnormally larger than the other. Her condition was marked by multiple daily seizures until her eventual death, at just 20 months, in February this year, a traumatic outcome for Rodney and wife Sinead.

A plan

“The only hope I had was faith,” Rodney said in describing the endless hospital visits which could not ultimately save Mary. “I believe that [God] could have changed the situation around, but I also believe that he has a plan,” he added.

Rodney and Sinead have since established the Mary Beggs Tribute Fund which has already raised nearly €24,000 toward supporting parents struggling with the grief of losing a child.

 “It breaks my heart that his [God’s] plan was not to keep Mary because she was the most amazing thing ever to happen to me,” he says. “But, at the same time, I have to thank God for giving her to us in the first place. She changed me forever.”