STEPHEN Bradley “just cried and wanted to go home” as he came to terms with his son’s Leukemia diagnosis while in Bulgaria for a Shamrock Rovers match.
Josh Bradley, 11, has been undergoing treatment for over three and a half years.
Stephen and wife Emma spoke bravely about the toll it’s taken on them at times[/caption]
Stephen felt helpless during a trip to Bulgaria with his Shamrock Rovers side[/caption]
“I remember ringing Emma the day of the game and just crying”
Stephen Bradley and his wife, Emma, on dealing with their son Josh’s cancer diagnosis.#InnerDrive is with @AllianzIreland | #StopTheDrop pic.twitter.com/MxqW0bstfM
— Off The Ball (@offtheball) June 5, 2025
Hoops boss Stephen and wife Emma sat down with Off the Ball to discuss the ordeal they’ve been through as a family over that span.
The one-time Arsenal academy prospect outlined how helpless they felt at times since there was only so much they could do for Josh.
He emphasized: “Your job as a parent is to protect your kids at all costs but at that moment, you can’t do that and you feel like you’ve let them down.”
The 40-year-old then cited a moment while on the road with his team that ended up in an outpouring of emotion for him over the phone to Emma.
He recalled: “I remember going to Bulgaria to play Ludogorets a short time after Josh had got diagnosed. I remember calling Emma the day of the game and just crying.
“I just cried and wanted to go home, I didn’t want to be there. Sometimes you just feel that you’re in the wrong place.
“Emotionally you’re just not there, and I spent an hour on the phone crying to Emma, saying I want to be at home.”
Football has at least provided some solace to Stephen, Emma, Josh and their two other children Jaden and Ella over the course of Josh’s health battle that began in 2022.
The four-in-a-low League of Ireland chief got to give Josh the honour of being the first person to lift the trophy at the culmination of the 2021/2022 season.
On the value that that day held for Josh, Stephen continued: “The day he lifted the trophy, he was just out of the hospital.
“He was so sick at that time but all he was talking about was the game on Friday night and being there.
“I remember taking him down to the theatre and all he could talk about was ‘Am I going to the game on Friday?’
“When Josh got sick, I asked the players to give us that night for him, to give him that distraction.
“They were incredible, they stepped up for him, going on to win the league, and giving Josh that moment that we will never forget.”
As regards their advice to any parents placed into a similar nightmare scenario, Stephen and Emma shared the same view on the best approach to take.
Stephen initially said: ‘The way to do it is to face it head on.
“You have to have anger at the start, you do feel sorry for yourself, you have all those emotions. But very quickly you do have to face it head on.”
Agreeing with that thought, Emma tacked on: “It was three and a half years, so you couldn’t live angry every day.”
