Gary Rohan says he will never forget the little time he was able to share with daughter Willow

GARY Rohan has spoken for the first time of the heartbreaking choice he and wife Amie were faced with when one of their twins was diagnosed with a fatal condition.

Gary Rohan and wife Aimee.

GARY Rohan says he will never forget the five hours he and wife Amie spent with daughter Willow before she passed away last month.

Rohan this week spoke for the first time of the heartbreaking choice he and Amie were faced with when one of their twins was diagnosed with anencephaly.

The birth defect means parts of the brain and skull are underdeveloped, with the couple told at 11 weeks one of their identical twins had that diagnosis.

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Willow and Bella shared a placenta, so the Rohans made the decision to carry them both full term so Amie could give birth to Bella.

Bella came home from hospital only on Thursday night.

“We found out at 11 weeks she was going to pass away and they were identical, they shared the same placenta,’’ the Swan said ahead of his 100th game tonight.

“If we did something to one of them it could affect the other one. We didn’t want to risk losing both of them.

“So we had our five hours when they were born before Willow passed away.

“Before they were born they told us it was unknown how long she would live for, her heart wasn’t that strong.

Gary Rohan and wife Amie with their twin daughters Bella and Willow. Picture: Instagram

“It was pretty tough, Bella went straight away into the nursery and Willow went into recovery and I was in-between both. I didn’t know whether to go to Bella or stay with Willow and Ames.

“But we had that five hours with Ames and myself and Willow. Both our parents and Amy’s parents came into the hospital and it was nice they got to meet Willow before she passed away as well. It was a very memorable time I will never forget.”

The couple went public with their health issues in an Instagram post last year.

Close friends Sam Reid and Rhyce Shaw told the Herald Sun yesterday they were amazed at how open the Rohans were with sharing information.

It meant players and staff at the club could find out more about anencephaly while the Rohans shared awareness of the issue.

Rohan said he has been blown away by the support from the AFL community and teammates including Jarrad McVeigh, whose daughter Luella passed away after four weeks of a heart condition in 2011.

“We found out Amy was pregnant after four weeks, and we were quite excited and then we were about seven or eight weeks on when we found out it was identical twins,’’ he said.

“So it was more of a buzz not knowing how we are going to do this kind of thing, and then we went on a holiday to New Zealand and came back and at the 11-week mark we found out about the anencephaly for Willow.

“So it was mixed emotions. It has been a tough rollercoaster but we have one beautiful girl, or two beautiful girls, and one to bring home and she’s at home at the moment and loving it.”

Rohan will play his 100th game against North Melbourne at the SCG, the same team and stadium involved when he broke his leg in 2012 in a career-threatening incident.

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Originally published as Gary Rohan says he will never forget the little time he was able to share with daughter Willow