Sad news

We’re very sorry to have to tell everyone this, but our wonderful beautiful boy Aonghas is no longer with us. He went into hospital 2 days ago for a repeat of an operation he had in August that hadn’t worked properly, there were complications in the procedure, and despite everything everyone did, he never regained consciousness. He left us yesterday, just before 3pm.

We had faced the possibility we could lose him, but the experience was devastating and we are still exhausted and in shock. We have no idea right now how we’re going to fill the Aonghas-shaped holes in our lives, and we miss him horribly.

But at the same time there was an enormous beauty, perfection and even humour in his passing that was so undeniable that to leave it unacknowledged in our grief would be doing him a profound disservice. It hardly seems possible but already the love, the beauty and the humour are starting to eclipse the pain. A perfection so simply and incontrovertibly PRESENT cannot be ignored. He was a unique human being who touched so many people in ways that many are only now starting to realise. The world is poorer for his loss but infinitely richer for the number of hearts he opened.

We’ll be having a party for him when we get back to Benfeita with lots of good music and good cooking, his two passions in life. Details will be posted here as they become available, or you can follow progress on his Facebook page which we’re keeping going for him so people can share their photos and memories of him. (You will need to have your own Facebook account and request Aonghas to add you as a friend to see this.)

Bye bye Bangy. We love you so much.