NRL star Tevita Pangai Jr takes up fight to honour lost baby and raise awareness about stillbirth

NRL star Tevita Pangai Jr will pay a special tribute to his lost baby daughter when he steps into the boxing ring for his first professional fight this weekend.

Little Georgia Pangai was due to arrive on Thursday.

This was to be her first Christmas. Precious Georgia was to be named after her grandmother.

Her father Tevita Pangai Jr, the NRL star and high-profile Canterbury Bulldogs recruit, wanted Georgia to grow up playing tennis.

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She could hit balls with her adoring mother and his wife Anna, while learning how to kick a football around the backyard with Dad.

Tragically, tiny Georgia never made it.

Tevita Pangai and his wife Anna want to raise awareness about the impact of stillbirth and miscarriage. Picture: Zak Simmonds

Pangai Jr and Anna suffered a devastating stillbirth 24 weeks into the couple’s pregnancy.

Surrounded by friends and family, the couple held a funeral for their daughter, Georgia Lose Galilee Pangai, in Brisbane last August.

Any hope that the heartache had subsided after four months was countered when Anna took to Instagram on Thursday.

“I can’t even express in words how heartbroken your dad and I are today ... we miss you so much and love you even more our baby Georgia,’’ Anna wrote.

Pangai Jr is on a mission to not only honour Georgia’s memory but also to start a conversation about the often unspoken impact of stillbirth and miscarriage.

Before arriving in Sydney for Bulldogs training on Monday, the powerful forward will step into the boxing ring for the first time on Saturday night in Brisbane. Embroidered into his trunks are the initials of his daughter.

Tevita Pangai Jr will have the initials of his daughter on his boxing trunks when he makes his boxing debut this weekend.

Pangai Jr, who after signing with premiers Penrith mid-season missed the club’s grand final triumph due to injury, said his motivation to honour Georgia was to raise awareness for the thousands of parents struggling through similar loss.

Every day in Australia, six babies are stillborn, with 2115 stillbirths recorded in 2018, according to government figures.

“It’s been a tough time for my wife and I, but we’re here together,’’ Pangai Jr said.

“When I spoke to the nurses, you don’t realise how many people this has happened too.

“No one really speaks about it.

“It’s really hard, especially for women. They take it much harder than their partner. As men, we have to be there for them and support them.

“Before this happened to me and someone would talk about a miscarriage or a stillbirth, I thought about it as, just hard luck.

“But when you can go through it and you become a father, you experience it and you realise, it’s shattering to go through. That is as a man speaking.

Tevita Pangai Jr will step out of his comfort zone for his first fight on Saturday night. Picture: Annette Dew

“The advice that I got from other fathers was to make sure you’re there for your wife.

“So that’s what I’m trying to do. I want every man and father going through this to support their partner or wife.

“I also want the people who follow rugby league to understand, footballers go through pain too. I don’t feel the public see us as human.

“We’re all young and we’re human.

Tevita Pangai had a short stint at Penrith last year after leaving the Broncos and has joined the Bulldogs for 2022. Picture: NRL Imagery

“If you’re a fan or member, or if you’re a player, if you cut both our skin we’re both going to bleed — we’re both humans.

“I just feel like that gets forgotten.

“Getting let go by the Broncos, losing my daughter and then missing the grand final as well, it’s been tough. But we can only control what we can control and I’m grateful to still have my wife by my side.”

Originally published as NRL star Tevita Pangai Jr takes up fight to honour lost baby and raise awareness about stillbirth