Aaron is part of a men’s bereavement campaign run by the charity 2wish, external, which supports those affected by sudden death in young people.
It aims to encourage more open conversations about grief.
“The general standard is that the mum would be the one really struggling, and the dad is there as the strong one,” he says.
“I wish I could say that’s how it happened but we just went around it in a completely different way, we leant on each other when we both needed it.”
Aaron says men could find it difficult to express their feelings “as it’s bred in us that it exposes weakness or vulnerability”.
“As a man you could just bottle it up… it will fester and grow and it can very quickly turn very, very dark,” he says.
“I won’t sit here and lie and say I haven’t had those thoughts, because I have. The day we lost Olivia was the darkest day of my life.
“You feel like your main job in life is to protect your child and keep your child safe, and I wasn’t able to do that.
“As a dad you can feel like you failed, even though it’s completely out of your hands, you have still had to bury your child.”
