Collingwood veteran Jeremy Howe has shared his heart-wrenching account of the moment he found out his mum had passed away.
It was the end of 2016, and Howe was just 26 years old, on a caravan trip through the centre of Australia, when he got a call from his brother that would change everything.
At first, Howe screened the call, thinking it was just a casual chat. But when his brother rang his best mate, asking if Jeremy was with him, Howe’s instincts kicked in.
“He just goes, two words — he said, ‘Mum’s dead’. That was it,” Howe recalled in an emotional interview on Unfiltered.
Howe’s initial reaction was disbelief. He thought his brother was taking the piss, and he couldn’t wrap his head around the news.
A Heart-Wrenching Phone Call
But as the reality of the situation sunk in, Howe’s world fell apart. He ran out of the caravan, laid down on the bitumen road, and refused to believe what he had just been told.
It was only when his brother told him more about what had happened that the news really hit home. Howe’s mum, Kim, had died of a heart attack in bed at just 57 years old.
A 18-Hour Blackout
Howe dropped everything and rushed back to Tasmania to be with his family, but he can’t remember anything from that moment until he walked in the front door and saw his dad.
“I’m in Katherine, 400kms south of Darwin, and I don’t remember getting home,” he explained. “So, from Katherine to Dodges Ferry took me 18 hours, and I don’t remember one bit.”
Howe’s legs physically buckled underneath him when the news finally sunk in, and he fell to the ground.
Re-Living the Trauma
Even now, talking about that day brings back painful memories for Howe. He can’t imagine what his dad and brother went through, watching his mum’s heart attack and trying to revive her.
But despite the trauma, Howe is determined to keep his mum’s memory alive, talking about her often in a positive way.