Gary and Amie Rohan became parents to twin girls. Within hours, they lost Willow. 

On Thursday, April 12th, Sydney Swans player Gary Rohan and his wife Amie became parents for the first time.

They both knew, however, and had since the very beginning of Amie’s pregnancy, that the day she gave birth would be one defined by both joy and grief.

Late last year, Rohan announced they were expecting identical twin girls. He also shared that one suffered a fatal birth defect known as anencephaly, where parts of the scalp, brain and skull never develop.

He shared on Instagram: “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.”

Rohan added: “… Since knowing, we’ve been constantly discussing what we should do, how we should tell people and if we should tell people at all.”

They came to the decision that both their baby girls were, “beautiful, precious human beings,” even if one was destined to have their life cut so short.

@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

On Friday, Rohan shared a picture of himself and Amie, holding their twin girls, Bella born at 8:59am on Thursday morning, and Willow born just one minute later.

The 26-year-old wrote: “Amie, Bella and I soaked up every second we had with Willow, making as many lasting memories as we could all together…

“It was a day full of many mixed emotions… we are very proud parents of two beautiful little girls who we love so very much.

“Our little angel Willow, oh how much you taught us in your precious 5 hours here ‘A life so brief, a child so small, you had the power to touch us all.'”

Our beautiful baby girls have arrived Thursday the 12th of April 2018 Bella Rae Rohan 1780g / 3 pound 9 43cm 8:59am Willow Nevaeh Rohan 1295g / 2 pound 8 41cm 9:00am The most perfect little souls we have ever laid eyes on, we feel so truly blessed to be your parents xxx Amie, Bella and I soaked up every second we had with Willow, making as many lasting memories as we could all together. Its those little moments we know we will never get back, and we will forever cherish the time we spent as our little family of four, before our darling Willow grew her little angel wings ???????? Bella is currently getting some special care in the NICU nursery but all in all doing very well. We can’t thank our team at the Royal Woman’s enough, yesterday was one off the hardest days Amie and I have ever had to deal with. It was a day full of many mixed emotions and you, our team, made everything so perfect. Words truly can’t express how grateful we are. To absolutely everyone else, thank you so very much for your kind words and support during this sad, happy, joyful and exciting time in our lives we are very proud parents off two beautiful little girls who we love so very much xxx Our little angel Willow, oh how much you taught us in your precious 5 hours here ‘A life so brief, a child so small, you had the power to touch us all’

A post shared by GaryRohan16 (@garyrohan16) on Apr 12, 2018 at 7:55pm PDT

Our thoughts are with Gary and Amie Rohan at this difficult time.