Axel widow: I told boys Daddy died in his sleep
Olive opens up about losing her rugby star husband
THE widow of rugby hero Anthony “Axel” Foley has revealed how she told their young children about his tragic death.
The Ireland and Munster legend passed away in his sleep in Paris more than two years ago aged 42.
Olive Foley said his death was “the last thing in the world” she would ever have expected and explained how she went about telling their young children Tony and Dan, who were 11 and eight.
She told Marian Finucane on RTE Radio 1: “I had gone into a state of shock. My instinct would have been, ‘Let’s protect the children now’. We’ll hide them. Nearly send them down to granny’s kind of attitude.
“We’ll hide them away until this sorry affair is over. But on the Sunday I had to break the news to them. It was a very hectic day, a very, very busy day. I had about two minutes to get my thoughts together before I had to tell them.
“The one thing I did was that I knew you had to say it very straight to children so I didn’t mention he passed or we lost him. I was able to use the words, ‘Daddy died in his sleep’.”
The following day Olive rang a neighbour who advised her to bring the boys to France with her so they could spend time with their deceased dad.
She added: “We were going to lay Anthony out at home and they spent the two full days with him at home and it was lovely and it’s something I’m so happy I got the advice on because technically I wouldn’t have exposed them that much to him at all. It’s such a lovely thing now we have done that.”
Foley was in the French capital as Munster coach for a game with Racing 92.
The Limerick man, who represented Ireland on 62 occasions and won 202 caps for Munster, was found dead in his hotel room after dying from acute pulmonary oedema caused by heart disease. Olive said she channelled her inner Anthony to deliver a beautiful tribute to him over 13 and a half minutes in the eulogy at his funeral. She said: “I just had it written down and I said I’m just going to say it.”