Sue Radford left with ‘streaming’ tears as she records emotional audiobook chapter about their stillborn son Alfie
MUM-of-22 Sue Radford has opened up about being “in tears” over a section of the family’s book on stillborn child Alfie.
Sue, 49, and Noel, 54, are currently working on the audiobook version of their book The Radfords: Making Life Count – and are up to the chapter about their beloved son.
Sue and Noel are parents to Chris, 35, Sophie, 31, Chloe, 29, Jack, 27, Daniel, 25, Luke, 24, Millie, 23, Katie, 22, James, 21, Ellie, 19, Aimee, 18, Josh, 17, Max, 16, Tillie, 14, Oscar, 13, Casper, 12, Haillie, nine, Phoebe, eight, Archie, seven, Bonnie, six, and Heidi, four.
Sadly the couple’s 17th child Alfie was still born on July 6, 2014.
On Instagram, Sue shared a photo of the Alfie chapter, which is number nine in the book, and wrote: “I don’t think I’m going to be able to read this without tears streaming.
“Today has been a hard recording day.
“I had to stop a lot going through Alfie’s chapter.”
She added to fans that the audio version of the book will be out next month.
Sue and Noel have previously spoken about how the loss of Alfie has left a large and painful hole in their lives.
During their three-month scan, a day after the family had announced Sue was pregnant, the doctor was unable to find their baby boy’s heartbeat.
They shared the painful news on Facebook, saying: “Our beautiful baby boy Alfie Thomas was born sleeping at 7.53am today. He was so perfect in every way.
“Our hearts are breaking, you will always be a huge part of our lives, Alfie, know that we loved you very much.”
The Radfords now call Alfie their “missing heartbeat” and Sue has paid tribute to her late son in a very special way.
Sue explained that the reason she has a tattoo on her hand of small footprints is because of Alfie.
On Sue’s foot tattoo she also has his full name, which reads: “Alfie Thomas Radford 06.07.2014.”
Sue and Noel ensure that they often take their kids to visit Alfie’s grave to pay their respects.
The gravestone bears to the moving message: “It broke our hearts to lose you but you did not go alone.
“For a part of us went with you the day God called up to heaven.”
The couple, who are from Morecambe, Lancashire, and star in Channel 5’s 22 Kids and Counting, took to their social media to announce the news of their new audiobook.
After telling their life story in their book The Radfords: Making Life Count, back in 2024, the couple are now recording an audio version.
Posting to their Instagram stories, Sue previously gave her fans a close-up look behind-the-scenes as she and Noel sat in a recording studio.
How many people are in the Radford family?
Sue and Noel Radford have 22 children and 11 grandchildren.
- Noel – 54
- Sue – 49
- Chris – 35 (married to Nicole Spencer and have three children: Maisie, seven, Jacob, five and Oaklyn, three)
- Sophie – 31 (married to Joe Bradley and have three children: Daisy, 12, Ayprill, 10 and Leo, nine)
- Chloe – 29 (dating Jake Wallace and have one child: Mila, two, and pregnant with baby number two)
- Jack – 27
- Daniel – 25
- Luke – 24
- Millie – 23 (married to Harley Passmore and have three children: Ophelia, four, Chester two, and Elodie, 16 months)
- Katie – 22 (dating Connor Carter and have baby Ronnie, three months old)
- James – 21
- Ellie – 19
- Aimee – 18
- Josh – 17
- Max – 16
- Tillie – 14
- Oscar – 13
- Casper – 12
- Hallie – nine
- Phoebe – eight
- Archie – seven
- Bonnie – six
- Heidie – four
Number of family members and ages are correct as of January 2025.
The family’s matriarch then said: “Well, as you can probably tell, we’re somewhere very different today.
“Today, we are doing the audio version of our book.”
As Sue gave her 539,000 followers a look inside the recording studio, she continued: “So yeah, we’re doing that today.
“I think it’s going to be available in February time.
“But the paperback is coming out in February time as well, so very exciting.”
Sue then switched the camera to show Noel, who owns his own pie business, The Radford’s Pie Company, as she added: “Noel is just reading through his.”
But it appears that the couple’s book, which previously hit number two on the Sunday Times bestseller list, is mainly told by Sue, who had her first child at the age of 14, when Noel was 18.
Sue, who tied the knot when she was 17 and Noel was 21, also explained: “I’ve just looked through and quite a lot of it looks like it’s me at the minute, but anyway.
“Yeah, so we’ve got a very busy few days recording this. But very exciting.”
Noel and Sue famously don’t rely on benefits for their bumper brood and live off their pie shop for income.
They also revealed they make money from brand partnerships on social media and are estimated to make £5,000 per episode of their show.
Andy Barr told the Daily Mail: “The typical fee per episode is going to be in the thousands rather than the tens or hundreds of thousands that people often think is the case with TV shows of this nature.
“If they continue to get commissioned for a fourth or fifth season, then they are going to be able to command a higher fee.”