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Former NFL player and Aussie Rules football star Patrick Murtagh and his girlfriend, Hannah Orval, are mourning the death of their baby boy.
“Meelo Michael Murtagh, born into this big world early and sleeping. 🤍👼,” the couple wrote in a joint Instagram post shared Friday, July 31, announcing their son’s stillborn birth. “He will forever be the biggest missing piece of the rest of our story.”
They continued, “To be a family for even just for a day was irreplaceable. Childbirth, I would do it over again every day in every lifetime to meet him. We are absolutely devestated [sic], but forever [Meelo is] our biggest achievement in life.”
Murtagh, 26, also shared the tribute to his Instagram Stories, writing, “MMM,” alongside a dove and a heart emoji.
Orval, 27, shared another message following the heartbreaking loss.
“To my baby boy, Meelo, I dream for a lifetime of being your momma, and I walk you through your next life too because I’ll always be your mumma,” Orval wrote via her Instagram Stories in a personal letter to her late son. “My heart will forever be frozen in time to the day we met you. Your little fingers, your little toes, your daddy’s nose.”
She continued, “Where two truths can exist simultaneously, our day with you was both the most incredibly magical and utterly heartbreaking day, though [I am] forever grateful for it because I re-live it every day.”
The influencer further stated that she, Murtagh and Meelo “always will be a family” no matter what.
“I miss you more than I can even begin to comprehend,” Orval continued. “My heart goes out to all the mums and dads who know what this grief feels like, I’m sorry. The receipt for love is grief.”
Orval also called childbirth “the most sacred thing” she has experienced.
“The pain that we, as mothers, would choose to go through over and over again in every lifetime. Nothing could ever prepare you for the feeling of your baby touching your skin for the first time, now I understand,” she said. “Though we are strong as mothers to bare these children, I 1785617674 understood more in that moment the real power of who we choose to have kids with.”
In addition, Orval offered praise to Murtagh, who previously played football for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
“One thing that never wavered for even a moment was the strength of Meelo’s dad,” she said of her partner. “From the moment we stepped into the room, he wiped my tears, he held my hand, he walked me to the bathroom, he warmed up my blankets … the list goes on.”
Orval added, “Because I was giving birth and because I was grieving, all the time he was too but me and Meelo were never once left without his tenderness. I will be forever in debt to the man that carried us both through this world. Meelo would have been the greatest of men watching and learning from his dad.”
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