Matthew Gaudreau’s pregnant wife promised to stay strong for their unborn son after the hockey player and his brother, Johnny Gaudreau, were tragically killed by a suspected drunk driver.
“I have no words. I just miss you. I don’t know my life without you,” Madeline Gaudreau, who is expecting the couple’s first child, wrote to Matthew in a heartbreaking Instagram post Saturday.
Madeline said she has never experienced “pain like this” while mourning the sudden loss of her husband, adding that she feels blessed knowing he chose her to love and make his wife.
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“You are the best thing about me,” she wrote. “I know you are watching down in just as much pain as I am looking up. I will keep going for you and our son. I love you so much matthew.”
Madeline also reflected on the deep connection Matthew shared with his brother, Johnny.
“It was always Matty & John. I can’t even put into words the bond these two had and right now I don’t have the strength,” she wrote in another Instagram post Sunday. “They were each others [sic] biggest cheerleaders.”
Madeline explained, “Matt looked up to john in so many ways but the most important was the father he was to Noa & Johnny,” referencing Johnny’s two young children.
Madeline shared that she finds “extreme comfort” in knowing that Matthew and Johnny “are together, as they always were.”
“I know they are still messing with each other up there and will continue to look over their families,” she continued.
Madeline also shared her love for Johnny’s wife, Meredith Gaudreau.
“We will forever share this extreme heartbreak and terrible bond.. however, the boys couldn’t have picked stronger woman as their wives and mothers of their children,” she wrote.
“We will carry each other through every season .. as the boys would do for each other.”
Madeline added that Matthew and Johnny have passed on their legacies through their kids.
“They blessed us with children.. through them we will always have a part of them earth side with us forever,” she shared.
Madeline concluded her tribute by honoring her loved ones, writing, “I love you my handsome husband, I love you John, I love you meredith , I love you noa, I love you johnny and I love you baby tripp.”
Matthew and Johnny were biking on the side of a road in their native Salem County, NJ, last Thursday when a man named Sean M. Higgins struck and killed them with his Jeep Grand Cherokee while attempting to pass two slow-moving vehicles, according to police.
Johnny and Matthew were pronounced dead at the scene following the collision. They were 31 and 29, respectively.
Cops described Higgins, 43, as having a “strong odor” of alcohol on his breath and said he admitted to having consumed five or six beers before getting behind the wheel.
The driver also failed a sobriety test.
Higgins was jailed and charged with two counts of vehicular homicide.
The brothers had been set to attend their sister Katie Gaudreau’s wedding as groomsmen the next day.
The ceremony and reception were canceled upon the tragic news.
Last week, Madeline’s sister, Holland Korbitz, set up a GoFundMe page to support the grieving mom-to-be and her unborn son as well as funeral expenses.
“In this unimaginably difficult time, we are coming together to support Matthew’s wife, Madeline and their growing baby Tripp, and help alleviate some of the financial burdens they now face,” she wrote on the fundraising page, which raised more than $500,000 by Monday.
