sport news Aberdeen chief Alan Burrows reveals how he and wife Emma suffered the agony of ... trends now

This is not a story about football. But it is a tale which is inextricably linked to the life of a footballing family. A story of grief and pain which, finally, has hope.

This is the story of the Burrows family, and the tragic loss of life that comes about through miscarriage.

In a sense, it’s my story, too - having experienced a similar tragedy many years ago with the loss of identical twins.

It’s not something I have spoken about previously, but it shouldn’t be taboo. And if this story helps but one person out there seek help or solace, then that alone is worth this discussion.

So here we are. Alan Burrows, chief executive of Aberdeen FC, is sitting opposite me in his office in the granite city.

We’re chatting via video link, but through the screen, there’s an unspoken understanding of our similar paths.

The beginning of our conversation is frank. No-holds-barred. To tell it properly, it is almost a necessity.

‘It was always our plan that we were going to have a family,’ says Alan.

‘A brother or sister for our other daughter, Eva. In the summer of 2022, we got the great news that Emma was pregnant.

‘She had hyperemesis with Eva, which wasn’t particularly pleasant, for about 18 or 20 weeks of the pregnancy.  

But that was the kind of worst it had got for us, everything else went really, really well. So we had no indication that anything was likely to happen when we fell pregnant again.’

It was at the couple’s 12-week scan, however, that events took a more devastating turn.

‘When the ultrasound went on to Emma’s tummy, I know what I expected to see, which was the 12 week development of a child and the outline of what it normally looks like, right? But what I saw was predominantly just like a black circle. There wasn’t much there.

‘However, we were reassured by the sonographer not to worry, not to panic. 

There were no red flags going off in my mind at this stage, but I remember glancing at Emma. 

I could just see a tear trickling down the left side of her face. 

And I hadn’t really even appreciated at that point what was going on in her mind.’

The sonographer left the room. Emma broke down in tears. Alan did his best to try and remain calm. 

When the sonographer re-appeared, she broke the devastating news that the couple had lost their baby.

‘It was really shocking,’ he says. ‘It was a complete bolt out of the blue. There were no warning signs, no bleeding, no pain. 

Immediately, there was a lot of crying, and all the sort of emotions you go through when you’re given that sort of news.

‘We were very quickly then whisked away to a pleasant little room. It’s a very small room in the hospital ward. 

It’s purple and cream and all the kind of usual soothing colours and quotes that you get in these types of places, but to me, it felt almost depersonalised. 

The nurses were extremely supportive and very understanding of the process. However, felt very regimented. It was almost like we were on a production line. 

Others had been in with good news of their pregnancy and they all leave with the nice pictures and the hopes and dreams and aspirations.

‘Unfortunately, we had to go through the other door, which was the door of devastation and loss and trauma. And very quickly, you have to make a decision on what to do next.’

The Burrows chose to go down the inducement route. This meant taking a tablet, rather than going through a medical procedure. 

It was something they could do at home together - and out of the hospital environment. Things, however, did not go quite as they’d anticipated.

By the next day, Emma was losing a lot of blood. She was deathly pale, and had fainted in her husband’s arms.

‘It happened again, while we were waiting on an ambulance,’ Alan tells me.

‘She was sitting on the toilet and she kind of stared at me. 

Her eyes locked together, and they just started to roll backwards and she just kind of collapsed motionless into my arms. 

So, I’m holding her up, and I’m trying to slap her face and get her back round. Now, I’m seriously concerned about her health. 

I’m really concerned about her wellbeing. So, I’m phoning the ambulance, I’m phoning 999 again saying: ‘Where’s this ambulance? I really need this ambulance”. 

Eventually, she got blue lighted to the hospital, and she was immediately taken in for a procedure to effectively medically complete the miscarriage process. 

She was very, very close to requiring a transfusion. It was a horrendous 48 hour period for us both.’

It strikes me that with such a pivotal role in a football club, it must have been particularly difficult for Alan to fully escape

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