Bereaved Balsall Common dad praises Jack Grealish goal dedication

BBC News

07-04-2025

A bereaved father has praised footballer Jack Grealish for dedicating a goal to his younger brother who died as a baby. Jack Grealish, the Manchester City midfielder who grew up in Solihull, dedicated his first Premier League goal in almost 16 months to Keelan, who died at nine months old due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). After scoring against Leicester on Wednesday, Grealish told the BBC it was the 25th anniversary of Keelan's death. For Ryan Jackson, from Balsall Common, it was a poignant moment. He founded the Lily Mae Foundation with his wife in 2012, two years after their daughter was stillborn at full term.
"Hopefully that will resonate with a lot of other bereaved families to show that it's ok to talk and its ok to let something like that upset you," Mr Jackson said."I understand entirely how he's feeling, even though I'm a parent and he's a sibling, the love for your bother or sister or your baby doesn't change," he added.The foundation offers support to families dealing with the loss of a baby, including stillbirth, neonatal deaths and SIDS.It has a number of support programmes and groups, provides memory boxes for the bereaved, and runs a podcast for grieving fathers.
Former Aston Villa captain Grealish told the BBC: "This day is hard on the family". But he added it was "brilliant" his parents were at the game to see him score and win. "It just goes to show that baby loss doesn't discriminate, it can happen to anybody," said Mr Jackson."You don't really need to be at the cemetery all the time to remember, because it sits with you all the time, it's always with you."He told BBC Radio WM the death of Lily Mae had been devastating, but added it was important for him to keep her legacy alive and help other families."Everybody's got a scar on their body somewhere, and there's a story behind that scar, the only difference with this scar is that it's etched on your heart," he said."It's great that Jack has been able to vocalise that it's important for his family on that day and it's also important for his family at all times to remember his brother."
Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.