Just weeks after they tied the knot, Thomas Moran found himself as a pallbearer at his beloved wife, Ciara Mageean’s funeral.

The Olympian was just 34 years old when she sadly passed away after a battle with stage four bowel cancer on November 1.

In the days that have followed, tributes have been pouring in for Ciara, left, right, and centre, and now it’s Thomas’ turn.

On Tuesday, he shared a beautiful, raw, emotional tribute to his wife, Ciara, as he reflected on their 12 years together, her strength, his ‘luck’ that she entered his life, and her legacy.

Thomas began: ’12 years ago, I was lucky enough to meet a girl. I knew immediately that she was special: kind, caring, generous, infectious, and beautiful beyond words.’

‘I did not just fall in love; I became entirely devoted. Her joy became my joy, her fears my fears, and her dreams my dreams. My purpose in life shifted to helping make those dreams come true, in any way that I could.

‘In the years that followed, we chased those dreams wholeheartedly. We built our own little world, a home with two cats and a dog, and filled every space with a love that’s only ours. We travelled and raced and won and lost, lived a life with all its flaws, but we did it together.’

‘I’ve tried to think of how best to describe my feelings in this moment, and how to capture a life with Ciara in just a few short words. So rather than a message filled with sorrow or sadness, I want this to be one of pride,’ Thomas said.

‘I’m proud of every second I got to spend alongside Ciara in this world. Proud to have grown into adulthood together. Proud to have supported her as she chased her dizzying dreams. Proud to have carried her across the threshold of our first home.’

‘Proud to have seen the joy on her face the day she first held her puppy, Sam. Proud to have held her hand through the worst of her cancer treatment.

‘Proud to have seen the tear in her eye as she walked down the aisle on her dream wedding day. And proud to have lain by her side in her final moments of life, there with her family until the very end.’

‘Ciara meant so much to so many people. She became, in a way, Ireland’s daughter. Immensely proud, immensely loyal and immensely fierce, she was the epitome of the Irish warrior spirit,’ Thomas reflected.

‘Before the Rio Olympics, I gifted her a small necklace with the word ‘Invictus’ inscribed on it, taken from the famous poem by William Ernest Henley.’

‘I wanted it to serve as a symbol of strength and resilience, but in an almost prophetic way, she went on to embody those qualities in ways I could never have imagined.

‘I will miss Ciara forever,’ he lamented. ‘The miles we would have run, the homes we would have made, the children we would have had, and the long future we had planned together. But she will forever be in my heart, that flame of hope and inspiration, reminding us to fight on, no matter how fierce the battle, just as she did.’

‘For years, Ciara would stand at the top of Windmill Hill, behind her home in Portaferry, and tell me how it was her favourite place in the whole world,’ Thomas remembered. ‘I stood up there numerous times over the days of her funeral, taking it in.

‘The weather was clearer than I had ever seen, the sky bluer, the grass greener, the trees all the colours of autumn. You could see further than ever before, tens of miles in every direction, from the top of Strangford Lough, to the Mournes in the south, to the Isle of Man across the Irish Sea, all with perfect clarity.’

‘I’ve never seen it quite so beautiful. I don’t normally believe in superstition, but someone was showing off,’ Thomas said. ‘I knew in those moments that Ciara is in the real heaven now, because she is back home in Portaferry.’