It was early 2010, and German hotelier Beatrice Caffrey and her Irish financier husband Justin were on a high. After months of trying to conceive and three miscarriages, they were finally pregnant with their second child. Aged 40, Caffrey was approaching the end of the second trimester, enjoying a smooth pregnancy and seemingly out of the danger zone.
Their firstborn, Luca, was two. Her husband had just exited a business in London, where they had been based, and they were weighing up a move abroad.
Caffrey had lived a nomadic life working in managerial positions at luxury hotels in Mauritius and London, and had done a stint in Singapore from 2001 to 2002 as part of the management team overseeing the refurbishment and relaunch of The Fullerton Hotel.
A sudden tragedy in Spain
They booked a trip to southern Spain with a view to buying a home there. It was during this trip, at 25 weeks pregnant, that Caffrey awoke to find her water had broken. In that instant, their lives changed forever. Their son Joshua was born in Malaga Hospital 15 weeks early, weighing less than 1kg (2.2lbs), with serious health issues after being deprived of oxygen at birth.
He had collapsed lungs and was tube-fed, oxygen-dependent and needed machine suction to keep his lungs clear. He spent the next six months in neonatal intensive care in Malaga before the family took him home to care for him.
Although Joshua had not been expected to survive his first night, the family’s unfaltering hope and care saw him through until he took his last breath 11 months later, in January 2011.
Finding solace in the mountains
