‘When we met I realised he was meeting the person in front of him as opposed to the baggage’
give the girl a break, but you have to be able to brush it off, move forward and stay positive in the hope things would work out.’
And after Eva was born in 2008, the family was complete.
‘Eva is fabulous,’ Gráinne says. ‘And when we finally had her and she was born I thought, that’s it. I had enough pain and I couldn’t cope with any more loss. Plus I was on the wrong side of 40, my doctor said I was really challenging biology.
‘So she is an only child but she has lots of cousins so she is great. She is nine and it’s a lovely age.’
Gráinne and Dominic now work together, taking a holistic approach to health from fitness, exercise and nutrition to sleep and managing stress.
They have just had their first book published — Move, Train, Nourish — which aims to help every person get back to their best health, no matter what their age or situation.
While Dominic looks after the training side of things, Gráinne’s expertise comes in examining eating, sleeping and daily habits.
As a team, the pair work very well together but Gráinne, now 51, still has to work on herself as well as on her clients.
‘When you have enormous, unexpected loss it can become part of you in that you worry about other enormous, unexpected losses. So your confidence can be shaken.
‘It is one of the things I am aware of and work on so that I have a more optimistic faith in what life is going to bring. So I do worry and because of something happening that you never would have thought would ever have happened, you realise that you can be touched by sadness. But everybody has loss in their life at some stage.’
Although at one point Gráinne never imagined she would be happy again, she is making new memories with Dominic and Eva.
‘Ciarán was a really important part of my 20s because we were together for quite a while before we got married. There are a lot of stories in my life that involve him. But there are now lots of stories about Dominic and myself and Eva which are just as important.
‘And losing Ciarán really shaped my understanding of what it’s like to be really stressed, to be sleeping very badly and not valuing your nutrition or yourself. So now I can help others in that situation.’
MOVE, Train, Nourish: The Sustainable Way To A Healthier You by Dominic Munnelly and Gráinne Parker is published by Collins at €19.99