Joe Canning has opened up about losing his mother and how he believes she has been with him for all the major milestones of his life.
He explained that he feels like she has been with him as he keeps seeing butterflies around him.
The former Galway hurler spoke about seeing a butterfly in the church when he married his wife, Meg in November 2022.
Speaking to Doireann Garrihy on her The Laugh of your Life podcast, he said: “When we got married, we got married on the 25 November, and in the church there was a butterfly. It was really strange because in November there is no chance of butterflies around.
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“Father Tommy was talking about Mam and the next thing everyone is just looking up behind him at the altar, and then there was a butterfly.”
He went on to say: “We had the presence of mam being there on our wedding day and then through our fertility part.”
He spoke about his and his wife’s fertility journey as Meg went through IVF before getting pregnant with their daughter. And the butterfly stayed with them.
“For three weeks, going through all the injections, the butterfly was there. But, the second we got good news, that Meg was pregnant, it was gone out of the house.”
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The couple welcomed their daughter this year, calling her Josie in a tribute to Joe’s mother, Josephine.
“We went through IVF. I think that is something that has become more common with couples now,” he explained.
“We went through that journey and we were very lucky. [We got pregnant on the] first time. It is madness to go through it and then have Josie. You count your lucky stars.”
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The hurler has opened up about how fatherhood has changed him completely, gushing: “It’s brilliant. She’s deadly. She’s four months old now. It was special… her name… mam passed and mam is Josephine so that’s why we picked the name Josie. It’s a bit old school.
“She’s getting her own little attitude and stuff like that but she’s great. Put it this way, you think you love something but there is a deeper love when your kid comes along. It’s more than loving anybody else.
“When she smiles it is the best feeling ever.”
