My kids were born eight weeks early and needed round-the-clock care, but I managed to keep going and focus on football

DARYL HORGAN hopes to finally make an impact on Stevenage’s promotion bid after a tough couple of months following his wife Donna giving birth to twins EIGHT WEEKS early.

The winger arrived at the club on loan from Wycombe in January. But within weeks he was juggling football with supporting his missus, caring for their three other children and dealing with the challenges and risks of the premature births.

Today Irish ace Horgan, 30, will be in the Stevenage squad that travels to Northampton fully focussed on the crunch promotion battle — with his two new little ones safely home after round-the-clock neonatal care at hospital.

He told SunSport: “It’s true twins generally arrive early — but not eight weeks! The two lads were already quite small so they had to get them out and on to the incubator.

“They weighed 3lb 10oz and 3lb 7oz — so very tiny fellas.

“It’s been taxing. It was tough on us both. We’ve another three kids at home, which doesn’t make it any easier.

“Thankfully, we had our family over, giving us a hand. 

“When it’s your kids, you’ll do whatever you can — no matter what.

“We got on with it. We went to the hospital to be with our twins and were there for our other children when we needed to be.

“We were spread a bit thin but that’s just life.

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“But the twins are now out of hospital and thriving. Fingers crossed they keep going but they’re doing brilliantly. 

“I’m loath to say it was a tough time because it’s brilliant to bring two babies into the world. There was a bit of effort involved but there’s no harm in that whatsoever.”

It is estimated that around 58,000 babies are born prematurely in the UK every year.

And there is always a risk that a premature baby will not survive or develop health problems.

Horgan was amazed by the superb care and support given by NHS staff at Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

He said: “With every pregnancy, there’s always a chance something can go wrong but with premature babies the risk is greater.

When it’s your kids, you’ll do whatever you can — no matter what.”

DARYL HORGAN

“The nurses and doctors cannot just say everything is going to be rosy. You know the risks involved.

“You have to be aware of that but at the same time there’s no point getting bogged down in it.

“Thankfully, there was great staff at Stoke Mandeville. They had a plan and we knew constantly how everything was going.

“They take it day by day and have a set of criteria that the babies must meet.

“First, they’re put on an incubator and oxygen before bringing that down gradually.

“The heating comes down on the incubator so the babies can regulate their own body temperature. They also need to breathe on their own. 

“They also must see if they can feed through a bottle or their mother or do they need to be fed through a tube through their noses. 

“There were a lot of things that had to come to the fore. Thankfully they got there fairly quickly and after four-and-a-half weeks were home with us.”

To stay focussed in any profession, let alone football, with such a scenario playing out would be difficult for most people.

But Horgan tried his best — although he concedes it is hard to perform at your highest level when you have family concerns in the background.

He said: “The best thing is wherever you are to be present as much as you can. 

“When you’re away or training, you cannot affect what’s going on at home and the manager Steve Evans has been brilliant.

“He’s always said, ‘If you need to get away, you can … if you need time off, you can.’

“It’s an enjoyable job most of the time when you’re running around a patch of grass kicking a ball around.

“There are a lot harder jobs you could be doing but to perform at your maximum can be more difficult when you have things going on like that.

“I just had to keep my head down. While I was away I was able to focus on my family and when at Stevenage Borough my football.

“I knew my missus and family were taking care of things which made it much easier for me. I knew they were there helping me out.”

Horgan understandably has not been able to reach his peak form at Borough yet and has only started one game, while coming off the bench in seven others.

But there are now nine huge games coming up. Stevenage are in the third and final automatic promotion spot, just a point in front of Carlisle in fourth and two behind today’s opponents.

The winger said: “It’s a massive game. We shouldn’t see it as  high-pressure but high-opportunity. They’ve managed to go above us so this is our chance to get right back into it.”

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk