I’ve never felt so lost or sad... baby agony for Dame Laura
CYCLING superstar Dame Laura Kenny has revealed she suffered a heartbreaking miscarriage followed by the trauma of an ectopic pregnancy in the last few months.
Great Britain’s most successful female Olympic athlete, who shares son Albie, four, with her Olympian cyclist husband Jason, said she had to have one of her fallopian tubes removed in January this year.
Remarkably, the athlete bounced back to make the British team that won silver in the women’s pursuit at the Nations Cup in Glasgow on Thursday.
And just a day later she revealed the personal difficulties she had overcome to compete.
Dame Laura, 29 – who has won six Olympic medals including five golds – said the events of the last six months would have left her “broken” without the support of her nine-time Olympic medallist husband and their son.
She wrote on Instagram: “Since the Olympics we haven’t had much luck and it’s been the hardest few months I’ve ever had to go through.
“Jason and I fell pregnant immediately after the Games and we were both absolutely chuffed to bits.
“But unfortunately in November, when commentating at the Track Champions League, I miscarried our baby at nine weeks.
Unbearable
“I’ve never felt so lost and sad. It felt like a part of me had been torn away.
“I grabbed for my safety blanket – bike riding! And I found myself back in my happy place training again.
“I then caught Covid in midJanuary and found myself feeling really very unwell.
“I didn’t have typical Covid symptoms and I just felt I needed to go to hospital. A day later I found myself in A&E being rushed to theatre because I was having an ectopic pregnancy [where a fertilised egg grows outside of the womb].
“Scared doesn’t come close. I lost a fallopian tube that day.”
Laura, who turns 30 tomorrow, added: “I’ve always known I was tough but sometimes life pushes you to an unbearable limit.
“If it wasn’t for Jason and Albie getting me through the day-today I’d have been broken.
“But here I am, with the support of my family, friends and team-mates, on the podium of a Nations Cup.”
Laura previously told how she got advice about juggling parenthood and Olympic training from retired heptathlete Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill throughout her pregnancy with Albie.
She said: “Jessica Ennis-Hill was a massive inspiration to me.
“I was lucky I could actually speak to her throughout my pregnancy and the whole coming back from that.”