Sydney Swans star Gary Rohan opens up on tragic, inspirational path to 100 AFL games
MILESTONE matches are always important, and reaching 100 AFL games is no small achievement. But few have had to walk a tougher path to get there than Sydney Swans star Gary Rohan.
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SOME get to walk the easy road in life, but for others like Gary Rohan, he’s been tested to the core.
The Sydney Swans star’s path to 100 AFL games has been littered with challenges and heartbreak.
“It’s been a very long road,” Rohan said.
“It means a lot to get to 100 games after what I’ve been through.”
In 2012 he broke his leg in a collision with North Melbourne’s Lindsay Thomas.
If the pain of the compound fracture wasn’t enough to bear, five months later — in the middle of a drawn-out rehabilitation — he had to watch on as his teammates raised the premiership cup without him after an epic grand final against Hawthorn.
It was almost two years before he played again, at the tail end of the 2013 season, and another two years before he played without pain.
But his biggest challenge was still to come — one that put his sporting setbacks in perspective.
In November last year, doctors told Rohan and his wife Amie that one of their as-yet-unborn twin girls, later to be named Willow, had been diagnosed with anencephaly — a condition whereby she is missing part of her skull and brain.
“At about seven or eight weeks we found out we had twins, identical twins,” Rohan revealed to The Saturday Telegraph.
“It was the 11-week mark we found out about the anencephaly. There were mixed emotions, we were excited about having twins and then another curve came in.
“We found out then she was going to pass away. Because they were identical, it meant they shared the same placenta, so if we did something to one, it could affect the other.
“We didn’t want to risk losing both of them, so we carried (the pregnancy) out.”
The girls, identical twins, were born on April 12. Willow lived for just five hours.
Willow’s surviving sister, Bella, arrived home from the hospital on Wednesday for the first time — ahead of another family celebration: her dad’s 100th game for the Swans.
“We had two beautiful girls and we were lucky enough to bring one home. (Bella’s) at home and loving every minute of it.”
Rohan spoke about the precious few hours he and Amie had with Willow.
“At birth, (Willow’s) heart wasn’t that strong. The midwife told us that we didn’t have that much time.
“It was tough because Bella went straight to the nursery and Amie went with Willow into recovery. I didn’t know whether to go to Bella or stay with Willow and Aims. It was a hard time.
“I had time with both — we had those five hours together. After about four-and-a-half hours, we got (both sets of) our parents to come to the hospital. It was nice that they got to meet Willow before she passed away.
“It was a time that I’ll never forget,” said Rohan, who missed the round four match against the Western Bulldogs to be with his wife and daughter.
From heartache and loss, Rohan will walk on to the SCG today proud of making it to 100 games for the Swans, who take on North Melbourne.
Swans coach John Longmire has been there for all Rohan’s nine years in the AFL. In fact, he sat in on the interview alongside then-coach Paul Roos when they were looking to recruit Rohan in the 2009 draft.
“He was straight off the dairy farm in Cobden,” Longmire said. “He was a talented kid with plenty of speed and a fair bit to learn.
“We’ve seen him grow up as a person into who he is now. He’s had big challenges to overcome, but he has shown a remarkable level of resilience to get there finally to 100 games.
“Some get challenged a bit more in football and life and he’s been tested, but he has been able to come through and have a positive outlook on life.”
Longmire also came off the land and says Rohan’s rural upbringing on a dairy farm helped build his strength and spirit.
“If you’re getting up at 4am every morning to milk the cows, you have to have some sort of resilience and an appreciation of getting to bed early,” Longmire said.
Resilience moulded this man.
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