Mick Fanning’s mother breaks her silence following the death of her third son as she reflects on what life is like with her two remaining children

The mother of surfing legend Mick Fanning has suffered the painful loss of three children, leaving only her youngest Mick and her eldest child Rachel of the five children she raised on her own.

Sean died aged 20 in a car accident in 1998, Peter, aged 43, from a heart condition in 2015, and Edward died less than three months ago in Madagascar, aged 48.

Liz Osborne said she felt her heart break when she received a call from Edward’s boyfriend Blair, who broke the devastating news that she had lost a third child.

‘The universe can’t be so cruel anymore. A third son of mine has left this world. Sean, Peter and now Edward,” she said The Australian.

‘The sadness and panic were overwhelming.’

Three-time world surfing champion Mick experienced his own brush with death in July 2015 when he fought a great white shark during the final round of the J-Bay Open in Jeffreys Bay, South Africa.

As if the horror of watching her children die or coming face to face with a great white shark wasn’t enough, Mrs Osborne has now revealed that she herself suffered a heart attack less than two months after losing Edward .

Surfing legend Mick Fanning’s mother Liz Osborne (right) has seen three of her children die, with only her youngest Mick (left) and her eldest child Rachel left of the five children she raised

Mick (right) credited his older brother Edward (left) with introducing him to surfing as a child

On May 16, as she took out the bins at her home in Tweed Heads in northern NSW, she said couldn’t catch my breath.

Mrs Osborne knew she was having a heart attack and that she had very little time to get help.

But she wasn’t thinking straight and didn’t call triple-zero – instead she called Mick and asked if he could come get her.

He did. Mick took her to John Flynn Hospital and they arrived within half an hour of the heart attack.

“He was so calm and reassuring and held my hand,” Mrs Osborne said.

“He always treated me with so much love and generosity.”

She remembered being terrified and telling the nurses she didn’t want to die. She said they did a “great job” of reassuring her and later saving her life.

A cardiologist placed three stents in her blocked coronary arteries, with Mrs Osborne feeling very lucky to have survived.

She now takes better care of her health after a ‘big lecture’ from Mick.

“I think I just needed a super loud wake-up call that reminded me to be grateful, humble, kind and courageous,” she said.

Mick Fanning (right) is pictured with F1 driver Pierre Gasly in 2018 in Torquay, Victoria

Mick faced death in July 2015 when he fought a great white shark (pictured) during the final round of the J-Bay Open in Jeffreys Bay, South Africa

In April, Mick and his fiancée Breeana Randall announced the birth of their daughter Lyla, just weeks after Edward’s death.

The 42-year-old previously revealed the depth of his devastation in an emotional social media post shortly after Edward died.

“Ed, I love you my brother,” he wrote. “You have taught me so much over the years about all that life has to offer. The good and the bad, you were my teacher. You introduced us all to surfing, the fun and freedom of riding a wave.

‘The meaning of going to the ends of the earth to find waves to following a passion in the belief that surfing could be the ultimate job. As the years passed, you fell in and out of the ocean, but your pure talent always shone through.

“That’s where you ended up in teaching kids the fun of riding a wave. Without you, I’m not sure what the world would have made of me, so thank you.

“Ed, you had the biggest heart and were too loyal for your own good. Always standing up for the underdog and caring for those who needed help. You gave everyone everything you had, and if you didn’t have it, you would still give it to them.”

Mick paid tribute to his brother in emotional scenes at Greenmount Surf Club on the Gold Coast on April 6, just two days after his daughter was born.

During the service, Mick told a story about how Ed had played air guitar at a school concert, mimicking the 1985 Dire Straits song Money for Nothing.

He joked that the song’s lyrics, “money for nothing and your girls for free,” became Ed’s theme song throughout his life.

Australian surfing legend Mick Fanning (pictured) is pictured at a memorial for his brother Edward at the Greenmount Beach Surf Club on the Gold Coast on April 6, 2024

Mick Fanning’s daughter Lyla (pictured) was born on April 4

Ed had regularly raided Mick’s wardrobe and boardroom for free clothes and surfboards, he told those present.

He said his older brother loved a beer and always feared that one day he would get a call telling him Ed had drank “his last schooner.”

That call came last month, but Mick said Ed had been in his “happy place” in Madagascar after moving there in 2020 to teach surfing to locals and tourists.

With a life that has brought great highs and lows, Mick paid his mother a heartfelt tribute, saying: ‘I don’t know where I would be in my life without her.’

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