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Laura Kenny, British Olympic cycling star, shares miscarriage story to support others

Laura Kenny, Jason Kenny

Silver medallist Great Britain’s men’s track cycling team sprint Jason Kenny (L) poses with his wife silver medallist Great Britain’s women’s track cycling team pursuit Laura Kenny during the medal ceremony at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Izu Velodrome in Izu, Japan, on August 3, 2021. (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN / AFP) / The erroneous mention[s] appearing in the metadata of this photo by Odd ANDERSEN has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: [correcting spelling of surname of Jason Kenny and status of Laura Kenny to wife] instead of [Jason Kelly and sister Laura]. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention[s] from all your online services and delete it (them) from your servers. If you have been authorized by AFP to distribute it (them) to third parties, please ensure that the same actions are carried out by them. Failure to promptly comply with these instructions will entail liability on your part for any continued or post notification usage. Therefore we thank you very much for all your attention and prompt action. We are sorry for the inconvenience this notification may cause and remain at your disposal for any further information you may require. (Photo by ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images)

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British Olympic cycling champion Laura Kenny said that, since the Tokyo Games, she had a miscarriage, COVID symptoms that merited a hospital trip, an ectopic pregnancy and lost a fallopian tube, sharing her personal story on social media to support others.

“It’s been the hardest few months I’ve ever had to go through,” she posted. “Jason and I fell pregnant immediately after the games and we were absolutely chuffed to bits. But unfortunately in November when commentating at the track champions league I miscarried our baby at 9 weeks. I’ve never felt so lost and sad. It felt like a part of me had been torn away. I grabbed for my safety blanket, bike riding! I found myself back in my happy place training again. I then caught Covid in mid January and found myself feeling really very unwell. I didn’t have typical covid symptoms and I just felt I needed to go to hospital. A day later I found myself in A&E being rushed to theatre because I was having an ectopic pregnancy. Scared doesn’t even come close. I lost a falopion tube that day. I’ve always known I was tough, but sometimes life pushes you to an unbearable limit. If it wasn’t for Jason and Albie getting me through the day to day I’d have been broken.”

Kenny, 29, is married to fellow British Olympic track cycling champion Jason Kenny. They have a 4-year-old son, Albie.

“It feels ‘brave’ talking about miscarriage and baby loss,” was later posted on Kenny’s Instagram stories. “But it shouldn’t be. Jason and I felt lonely going through it and like we had taken the happiness away from our families by not telling them. They didn’t get the joy of thinking another baby was on the way, only the sad. Miscarriage is a lot more common than people realise which is why we have decided to share our heartbreak, to help support others.”

She suggested her followers could share their stories in the comments of her post.

“I know it would help us which means it will also probably help a lot more people,” she wrote.

Kenny competed on Thursday for the first time since the Tokyo Olympics.

In Tokyo, Kenny earned madison gold with Katie Archibald and team pursuit silver, giving her five career gold medals and one silver. She shares the British female record for total medals with equestrian Charlotte Dujardin and holds the British female gold-medal record outright.

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