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'bittersweet but beautiful'

Soccer Star’s Widow Pregnant With His Baby a Year After His Death

Her late husband’s prediction about the baby came true.

Roosa RahkonenReporter, The Looker

PublishedMay 6, 2026, 4:00 PM EDT

UpdatedMay 6, 2026, 4:00 PM EDT

Updated May 6, 2026, 4:00 PM EDTPublished May 6, 2026, 4:00 PM EDT

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A widow of a former soccer star is pregnant through in vitro fertilization a year after his death.

English professional soccer player Joe Thompson died at 36 in April 2025 from Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a blood cancer, after recovering from two prior cancer diagnoses in 2013 and 2017.

The Rochdale AFC midfielder is survived by his wife, Chantelle Thompson, and daughters Thailula, 13, and Athena, 3.

Now, Chantelle is in her 29th week of pregnancy with Joe’s baby boy.

“It means a lot to me, and I am really proud to be carrying his baby,” Chantelle told the BBC, calling the news of her pregnancy “bittersweet but beautiful.”

The couple had planned the IVF treatment before Joe’s death.

“Before Joe passed, we had quite a few detailed conversations of what that would look like if Joe wasn’t here, and we both knew it was something that we wanted to do,” she told the outlet.

But, despite feeling joyful about the news, Chantelle still felt the weight of going through the journey alone.

“I’ve got a great family network, and I wouldn’t be able to do this without them, but it’s still not Joe,” she told the outlet.

On her Instagram, Chantelle shared that doing IVF without her husband was not a part of her plan.

“I didn’t think I would be returning back to the IVF clinic to have more children, yet alone doing it alone,” she said.

But her intuition told her to start IVF, led by a memory of a moment she shared with Joe.

“Before he passed, he told me that I would have a baby boy, and he even gave me his name,” she said, adding, “So it isn’t just a decision. It feels like a promise I’m keeping.”

Chantelle got pregnant on the first IVF cycle.

“This isn’t just about having a baby. This is about love continuing, even after loss,” she wrote in her post. “Knowing that Joe is with me every step of the way.”

In April, Chantelle, her children, and Joe’s family and friends walked 15 miles to raise money for the Joe Thompson Foundation, established in Joe’s memory to help support and mentor family members struggling with grief.

Before his death, Joe walked the same road with hundreds of others to increase awareness of cancer research.

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Roosa RahkonenReporter, The Looker

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