Walker Hayes And Wife Open Up About Losing Their Daughter
In June, Walker Hayes and his wife, Laney, suffered the incredible loss of their baby girl, Oakleigh Klover. They opened up about their experience.
By Admin on August 22, 2018
In June, Walker Hayes and his wife, Laney, suffered the incredible loss of their baby girl, Oakleigh Klover.
Because Oakleigh was the couple’s seventh child, Laney already knew something was wrong when she went into labor. While she was in emergency surgery for a uterine rupture, the nurse delivered the devastating news to Walker.
”What do I do?” Walker remembered thinking at the time. “When Laney wakes up, how do I tell her? How am I the one to explain, ‘It’s a girl, but you know, she died?’ I knew that was just going to crush Laney.”
Despite the fact that her own life was in danger, Laney still held on to hope that her daughter would make it.
“Surgery just seemed to never end, and someone would continue to come to me and say things that I didn’t really understand like, ‘We may have to use this much to replace this blood,’” Walker recalled. “That is when I began to worry for my wife’s life, and of course I’m freaking out.”
Related: Walker Hayes Gets Tattoo In Honor Of Late Daughter [PIC]
After long hours and many transfusions, she finally made it out of surgery. The couple decided to make the difficult decision to stay with the baby, even though she was no longer alive.
“Watching Walker hold her, you felt like she’s just going to wake up,” Laney shares. “You think, ‘Oh, please, just let her start breathing’. … She was swaddled and she just looked like a newborn baby.”
While the Hayes’ still feel blessed to have their six children at home, they inevitably feel the loss of Oakleigh. “[My children] are more than enough to me,” Laney said. “I do want them to know they’re wonderful and enough. But, I can also be sad about missing Oakleigh, just like they are. It’s a process, and it will be forever.”
Although they’ve suffered immensely, the family finds comfort in one another and are grateful for the comfort and sympathy they’ve received from others.
“Laney and I have cried a lot,” Walker said, “but one thing that makes me the happiest is how much love there has been around us. We’ve had the most remarkable questions answered and advice given from people around our neighborhood and in meet-and-greet lines. People walk up to me and tell me their life, and it’s like, ‘Geez, thank you for sharing.’ I don’t even know these people.”
We wish the best for the Hayes family.
