CORK legend Bríd Stack admits that her experiences with miscarriage left her questioning whether she should have called time on her sporting career sooner.
Stack, 38, is a mother of two children – Cárthach Óg, aged 5, and Séadhna, 1. She and husband Cárthach are also expecting another new addition to the family in May.
However, the couple have also endured the pain of loss. While filming for her episode of Laochra Gael last summer, the seven-time All-Star suffered her third miscarriage.
For the programme, which airs on TG4 tomorrow night at 9.30pm, she said: “There’s always that little bit of, ‘Did I play sport for too long?’ – that little bit of a worry.”
As attested by her winning of ELEVEN All-Ireland Ladies SFC medals, Stack enjoyed one of the most decorated careers in Gaelic Games history.
Named Footballer of the Year in 2016, the St Val’s defender played in every minute of those victorious Brendan Martin Cup deciders.
Following her retirement from the inter-county game, she made the switch to Australia to join Mayo great Cora Staunton at AFLW outfit Greater Western Sydney Giants.
Despite suffering a broken neck in a warm-up game that sidelined her for her first season with the club, Stack made a successful comeback and featured for the club 19 times.
Building a family back home was one of the main factors behind her decision to return to Cork in 2022. But that process has not been without its challenges.
Addressing her experience with miscarriage, she said: “I guess the hardest thing about it is that it’s very much out of your control.
“I can only speak for myself, but you question yourself so much when it happens – maybe I shouldn’t be training, maybe I shouldn’t be running, maybe I’m too old et cetera.
“The reality is it affects so many women and in so many different ways. And so many don’t speak about it as they’re not past the 12-week mark.
“Going forward, it certainly changes your mindset during a healthy pregnancy in that you’re never fully at ease until you have that baby safely in your arms.”
In Ireland, approximately 14,000 women experience miscarriage each year. That accounts for between 20 and 25 per cent of all pregnancies. Still, many of those affected struggle to open up about the issue.
Stack said: “I suppose I found it difficult to speak about it, but the overwhelming thing is it does happen so much and it probably took for me to have the second one to probably talk to people about it.
“I remember going back to sport, and going back to St Val’s in particular after the second one was vital for me.
“It probably was only in hindsight, looking back on it, that I realised just how much of a distraction it gave me and how it helped me kind of get over it a bit.
“I suppose, look, it’s not spoken about. There are a lot of people that, for years, have put maybe having kids on the long finger because of sport.
“And you just never know how things are going to work out when you go about it. But thankfully I have two very healthy kids and hopefully will be welcoming another one in a couple of months.
“There is kind of this taboo that you can’t tell anybody until you’re 12 weeks first of all, which I just think is ridiculous because you’re instantly excited from the second you see that positive pregnancy test and you’re already kind of building for what could happen in the current months.
“To keep that to yourself and then for something to not come to fruition is very difficult to try to deal with by yourself.
“I certainly think it’s easy to talk about it with somebody who has maybe gone through it – that definitely makes it a little bit easier.”
