Wexford’s Tadhg Furlong opens up about losing his dad to cancer

Wexford’s Tadhg Furlong recently opened up about losing his Dad to cancer…

Furlong’s father, James, died of cancer in December 2023, aged just 64. It was during a time when Furlong was still playing at the heights of his career with the Rugby World Cup taking place earlier that year.

Speaking to TalkSport on a recent podcast, the Wexford man opened up about grief, the personal challenges, and his positve outlook on the loss:

“It was tough. My mother went through cancer before, so I understood what cancer meant when the owl fella got it. It was Christmas of 2022 when he first got diagnosed, and we were going into the World Cup. He got out to see us; his last game to see me play was Ireland vs South Africa in the Group stages — so it’s not a bad run for him to be fair, but it went downhill quite quickly after that.”

“I suppose you’re not the only person to go through it; it’s nearly a passage of life. I found with cancer, it’s like pre-mourning or pre-grieving knowing which way it was going to go. It’s life — it’s part of life unfortunately, we’ll all have to go through it — it’s not nice but it happens.”

“I don’t tend to view it as a ‘isn’t it saf that he’s not here anymore’. Instead, I try to look at it through a positve light; I was very lucky to have the relationship with my owl fella that I did have. Especially during Covid, I moved down to Wexford, and I was very lucky to spend that time with him… he was a great man, I miss him dearly, but I’m very grateful to have the memories that I do have with him,” the Wexford man said.