For SUDEP Action Day 2026, Brittany has shared the story of the passing of her husband Danny due to Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy in April 2024….
Danny's and my story started when we met at the bottom of the world in Invercargill, New Zealand in November 2011. We both fell for each other early on and we lived together for two years before moving to Danny’s homeplace in Ireland in 2013.
Ireland quickly became home for me, and I fell in love with Danny’s homeplace of Glenmalure, Co. Wicklow. Our lives were full of travelling, socialising, sport and work! In 2019, we said “I do” and our two wonderful boys came along not long after – Cohen in 2021 and Reggie in 2022.
Danny was always amazing with kids, so naturally he was an incredible Dad. Our boys loved their Daddy and I will never forget the look of excitement on their faces every time they heard his jeep pull into the driveway after a busy day.
We only ever wanted a normal 'boring' life of raising our boys together, watching and coaching them in their chosen sports in the years to come, working, travelling back to New Zealand and away on family holidays, raising our families together with our familly and friends and building our dream home on the family farm.
Danny loved taking the boys out on the tractor and couldn't wait until they were old enough to help him on the farm or pull pints in the family pub in Glenmalure.
Danny first had nocturnal tonic-clonic seizures when he was in his teenage years and was diagnosed with epilepsy due to an AVM (arteriovenous malformation) on his brain. His seizures were controlled for the most part with daily medication, although he never accepted that he had epilepsy. It was never discussed, and only those close to him knew what he was living with.
He lived a very normal life; he worked hard in the family pub and on the farm. He played Gaelic Football and Rugby and was a strong family man with incredibly close friends around him. He was extremely popular - although you wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of him on the football or rugby pitch! However, he was always the first one to shake your hand and invite you back to the pub for a pint after a match.
His smile was contagious and he made anyone he met feel like the most important person in the world. He was the person you would call if you were ever in trouble.
On Friday evening 19th of April 2024, myself and the two boys waved him off as he left for work as he always did on a Friday. He was due to stay over in the Lodge of the family pub after his shift, so we knew we wouldnt see him until the next day.
On the Saturday morning, myself and the boys went off adventuring and tried calling Danny after 10 a.m. We knew he would have had a late night with the pub and didn't want to wake him. There was no answer. It was close to 11:30am that I raised the alarm with Danny's sister – I knew she would be on her way to the pub, so I just let her know that I hadn’t heard from him.
Danny had woken that morning to let the breakfast staff in at 7:30am, before heading back to bed. Not long after falling back to sleep, he suffered a life-ending seizure.
They say it takes a village to support you in those early stages of grief and in the days immediately following his death our village came to support us in their droves. Family, friends, staff and our local community were incredible. Thousands of people turned up over the days of his wake and his funeral and it was a true testament to the man that Danny was.
It was 10 months later before we learnt he had died from SUDEP. It was the fist time we ever heard that word.
Life has never been the same since. In the two and a half years that have followed Danny’s passing, life has changed dramatically. The day I lost Danny I not only lost part of myself but I also lost my future and the boys future that we had planned together.
I’m telling our story as I want no-one else to experience what our family has experienced. I’m left wondering what may have been different if we and Danny had known about SUDEP and the known risk factors. I just feel that it is so important for everyone living with epilepsy and their families to know about these – and to speak to their healthcare professional about it.
We speak of Danny every single day – and as impossible as it seems, we love him even more with each passing day. The stories we share and hear about how he made people feel make me so proud to be called his wife. While my boys will grow up without him, they will be in no doubt about how missed and loved their father was by all who knew him.
We would like to thank Brittany for sharing the devastating loss of Danny as part of our public awareness activities for SUDEP Action Day 2026 – and for your support for Epilepsy Ireland in Danny’s name.
To follow Brittany’s advice and to learn more about SUDEP, visit the ‘SUDEP’ section of our website.
Danny Dowling - Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.