Back in December 2015, Harry Arter lost his daughter at birth.
It is hard to imagine the pain and heartbreak both Arter and his partner Rachel faced and to his credit, he has come through the other side.
There was an outpour of support for Arter and that was exemplified through Pep Guardiola last season.
The Players Tribune is a website where professional athletes tell personal stories that often include the theme A letter to my younger self.
And the 27-year-old recently wrote on the site in a personal reflection of the tragedy and described the moment that he lost his daughter.
In the piece entitle ‘The Waves’ , Arter explained how the nurse in the hospital uttered the words that he will never forget, as his partner went into labour.
“She said the words I’ll never forget.
‘You should go and get Rachel’s bag,’ she said. ‘You’re going to meet your little girl tonight.’
When I walked out to the car park, I was floating. I was so excited. I had come from a big family — five of us kids in all — and I wanted that same feeling of love and madness around all the time. When I grabbed the bag from the car, I thought, When you walk back in that hospital, your life is going to change.
I was gone maybe five minutes.
When I came back to the room, Rachel was crying her eyes out. She was in absolute pieces. I didn’t understand what was happening. There was a doctor standing by the bed, and he had a blank expression on his face.
Rachel said ‘She’s gone.'”
Arter went on to explain how he went into complete shock and recounted how his biggest regret was not holding his stillborn baby in his arms.
The Bournemouth midfielder goes into detail the process of how he and his partner moved on from the ordeal and the joy felt when their daughter Raine Renée Arter was born last February.
Fittingly Arter ended the piece in remembrance of his daughter.
“The waves of sadness will probably never go away, and I am thankful for that. As long as those waves live on, then so does Renée.”
If you want to read the full piece penned by Arter, we highly recommend you do by clicking here.
