An Irish mother of 12 whose husband died while she was heavily pregnant has found love again through an American-based support service for widows.
Orlagh Walker was 28 weeks pregnant when her husband Fergus Green dropped dead from a massive heart attack in his office in March 2011.
She recalled the devastation: “Fergus had been working really hard and was very stressed. He had been up on a call most of the night and had an hour’s sleep before he headed into work.
“I said goodbye to him at 8.15 and got a call less than 30 minutes later while I was driving my kids to school to say he had walked into his office and dropped dead from a massive heart-attack.
“We had been married 20 years. We had 11 children and one on the way and suddenly, he was gone from our lives.
“My oldest child was 19 and the youngest were four, three and one. The oldest children were fantastic in support of the younger ones and it really brought our family together in very difficult times.”
The then 41-year-old, from Killiney in South Dublin, couldn’t find any support groups in Ireland that addressed those who were widowed early in life.
“Everyone was fantastic and couldn’t do enough for my children and I when Fergus died but as the weeks progressed, everyone began getting on with their own lives again.
“I could’t find any support in Ireland for anyone my age who was widowed so when a friend Dara offered to take all my children while I got a break, I headed for the US, registered with Soaring Spirits and began the first day of an incredible journey and transformation. I really wouldn’t be where I am now without the group.
“When you lose a partner early in life, that you had wanted to spend the rest of your life with, it’s hard. You feel so isolated. I wasn’t single and I was no longer married so what was I?
Through Soaring Spirits International, she also found her new love, Gary Walker, and remarried last May.
Gary lost his wife in a horse riding accident on their 31st wedding anniversary and she died in his arms when he was 50.
Lisa was his childhood sweetheart and they married at 19 after graduation from school.
He has now relocated to Ireland and the couple plan to open the first European branch of Soaring Spirits International in Dublin in January.
Orlagh has studied to be a counsellor in loss and bereavement and with her husband gives workshops each year back at Soaring Spirits ‘camp widow’ in the US.
“Soaring Spirits International has reached over three million people and it runs three weekend camps each year in the States and Canada.
“We will be hosting the first pop up in Europe in Dublin in May of 2021 and are beginning a bi-monthly support group in Dublin in January, where widows and widowers can come together and find a community that understands and find support and friendship with others 'who get it'.
More information can be obtained on hope.mattersC@gmail.com
