Footy star Tom Hawkins reveals how his mother’s shock cancer death almost a decade ago is still hitting him and his family hard
- Hawkins talks about the loss of his mother Jennie in 2015
- He says it was “heartbreaking” for him and his family
- He wishes his children could have met his mother
Geelong superstar Tom Hawkins has opened up about how his mother’s shocking death in 2015 continues to impact his family, and how he wishes she would meet his children.
Hawkins, 35, has tasted plenty of success during his glittering 356-match career, but it hasn’t been all plane sailing for the three-time premiership player.
After setting Geelong’s record for most games played in the defeat to GWS on Saturday, he admitted his toughest challenge yet was coping with the devastating loss of his mother Jennie to cancer in April 2015.
“When you suddenly lose a parent to illness, it’s tragic and heartbreaking for me and my family,” Hawkins told the newspaper. Herald Sun.
Tom Hawkins (pictured with his family) has spoken about how the loss of his mother remains the biggest challenge he faces in his long and glittering career
The Geelong star’s mother Jennie (pictured together) lost her battle with cancer in April 2015
“I’m fortunate to have a lot of family here and teammates who I’ve played with for a long time. I saw Stevie [Steve Johnson] just before.
‘I think if you want to play the game for a long time, you have to be resilient, but you also need a lot of support.
‘That was the most important period and challenge of my football career, but there have also been other challenges: form and at the beginning, at the end there are form challenges, sometimes there are physical challenges.
‘I would like to take back my mother’s passing, but I have learned some wonderful things through those challenges of form, injuries and adversity.’
Hawkins was particularly close to his mother and paid a special tribute to her after scoring a goal against North Melbourne in 2015 by looking up at the sky and kissing his black armband.
Players heckled Hawkins after his goal and heartwarming tribute, knowing what he had been through.
“Your mom and dad have a huge impact and especially in my family, in the Le Deux and Hawkins family, we are very close and very, very tight and we lean on each other a lot and socialize a lot,” he said. .
“I love my family, and now I have my own family, so it’s sad for a lot of reasons.
Hawkins says he wishes his mother had had a chance to meet his children
The footy star says his mother is never far from him and his family. He keeps a photo of the couple in his locker in Geelong (pictured)
‘I would love for my children to meet my mother, but that wasn’t to be.’
“We’re always thinking about her, aren’t we? Grandma Jen,” he said to one of his daughters.
Geelong teammate Steve Johnson also noted how tough that period was for his great friend.
“That was quite a difficult time for him because players are obviously close to their families, but he had a very special relationship with his mother, they were very, very close, that was obvious to everyone who knew him,” Johnson said.