Comedian and actor Rob Delaney and his wife Leah had their first Christmas without their son Henry who sadly died earlier this year.
On Boxing Day, comedian and actor Rob Delany wrote an honest and deeply moving thread on Twitter about his family’s first Christmas without Henry – Delaney has two other sons with wife, Leah.
“Our first Christmas without Henry came & went. The day itself was okay, maybe because there were so many horrible, painful days leading up to it; we must have hit our quota or something. We talked about him a lot & included is memory throughout the day,” he wrote.
Henry, who passed away aged two in January, had been diagnosed with a brain tumour shortly after his first birthday. The tumour was removed during surgery but unfortunately the cancer returned in August 2017. The 41 year old actor was equally as candid in the days after Henry died, posting a tribute to his “smart, funny, and mischievous” son, on Facebook in February.
He explained his willingness to share his experience as an effort to ‘destigmatize grief.”
He also wrote, “Tweets like this aren’t therapeutic to me, nor are they “updates”. I just want other bereaved parents & siblings to feel seen/heard/respected/loved.” Writing publicly about how his family are grieving has touched the hearts of many other parents who have rallied to support him both on and offline as well as share their own stories.
Delaney is a vocal supporter of the NHS and has called for universal healthcare to be made available in America where the Catastrophe star was born and raised before moving to the U.K.
He ended his thread with a picture of his son looking out of the window, with the caption “My sweet boy”.