Ronan Sexton, the nephew of actor Liam Neeson, has died at the age of 35, five years after suffering a tragic fall.
According to PEOPLE, Sexton passed away in Cushendall, a village in Northern Ireland, over the weekend. His family was reportedly present at the time of his death.
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Sexton was injured badly in 2014, after he fell off of a telephone booth and hit his head. He was taken to a hospital nearby, where his injuries were said to be critical. Sexton was later moved to the care of specialists at a neurological center.
“Ronan is receiving wonderful treatment from the dedicated staff at Hurstwood Park,” his family said in a statement at the time, then going on to thank the public for their “love, support, prayers and good wishes for Ronan.”
Sexton’s mother is named Bernadette, and she is Neeson’s sister. Sexton was the youngest of six children.
Sadly, this is not Neeson’s first tragic family loss due to head trauma, as the actor lost his wife Natasha Richardson in 2009 after she suffered head injuries from a skiing accident.
Neeson reflected on his relationship with Richardson in a past 60 Minutes interview, opening up about how she surprised him at their wedding by singing their song — Van Morrison’s “Crazy Love” — to him.
“Behind my back Natasha had been taking singing lessons to sing it to me,” he said, as reported by PEOPLE. “After the ceremony we were all going out to start the night’s festivities and she grabbed the microphone and she sang me this. She had learned it and I was like ‘Wow!’”
Years earlier, he spoke candidly about her death in a separate 60 Minutes interview, revealing that she seemed fine soon after the incident but that things quickly took a turn for the worse.
“I got a taxi to this hospital and uh – this doctor, he looked all of 17, showed me her X-ray,” he said. “And you didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to see what was happening.”
“I was told she was brain dead. And seeing this X-ray it was, like, ‘Wow.’ But obviously she was on life support and stuff. And I went in to her and told her I loved her. Said, ‘Sweetie, you’re not coming back from this. You’ve banged your head. It’s – I don’t know if you can hear me, but that’s – this is what’s gone down. And we’re bringing ya back to New York. All your family and friends will come.’ And that was more or less it,” Neeson shared, per PEOPLE.
At this time, Neeson does not appear to have publicly commented on his nephew’s death.
