Ray Hadley has welcomed his eighth grandchild.
Speaking in his Midday Show series for News Corp, the broadcasting veteran, 71, revealed that his daughter Sarah had recently given birth to her second child.
‘There was a little ray of sunshine in our lives this week,’ Ray said in the clip.
Continuing, Ray revealed the newborn’s sweet name, adding the new addition was a welcome ‘respite’ following his three-year-old granddaughter Lola’s recent cancer diagnosis.
‘My youngest daughter Sarah gave birth to her second child – little Indy Ray,’ he said.
‘So Jack, her husband, and Sarah are celebrating the birth of that baby – just a respite from what we’ve confronted as a family.’
Ray Hadley has welcomed his eighth grandchild.
He continued to gush over the newborn, adding: ‘She’s a gorgeous little girl, just like her cousins. Yes six girls I have, and two boys now.’
Ray rounded out the clip revealing that his daughter and her husband chose the name as a tribute to the broadcaster.
‘I was greatly honoured when my daughter and her husband told me she’d be called Indy-Ray as a tribute to her pop,’ he said.
‘Thank you kids, I really appreciate it.’
It comes after the former radio king revealed in January his heartbroken family was in ‘absolute disarray’ after discovering his three-year-old granddaughter Lola was fighting life-threatening cancer.
The veteran broadcaster said the toddler – the second child of his daughter Laura and her husband Brad Clark – was diagnosed with leukaemia just days into the new year.
Although Hadley has dedicated countless hours to helping other sick children throughout his decades-long career, he said nothing prepared him for the heartache of seeing his own grandchild ‘stricken’ with the aggressive blood condition.
‘On the 6th of January this year, my three-year-old granddaughter Lola was diagnosed with leukaemia,’ he said in a video uploaded on social media.
The broadcasting veteran, 71, revealed that his daughter Sarah (right) had recently given birth to her second child
‘I was on the Gold Coast at the time. I got a call from my daughter Laura…to say that they were at John Hunter Hospital after Lola had become ill and blood tests revealed leukaemia.
‘[We were] in a state of shock – a fit and healthy little girl, beautiful little girl, stricken.
‘After the initial shock of the diagnosis, my daughter, Laura, my son-in-law, Brad, rallied, ably supported by other members of the family.
‘The journey we’ve endured for the last seven weeks has been…in many parts, agonising, and in other parts, enlightening.
‘Enlightening because of the courage and bravery shown by my little granddaughter, Lola, despite [having] lumbar punctures on a regular basis [and] bone marrow biopsies on a regular basis – and that means general anaesthetics on a regular basis.
‘She’s been on steroids as well as part of the treatment. She’s put on about five or six kilos in the space of five or six weeks.
‘But she still is determined. She’s still wonderful. She still smiles.
‘In telling you this, I spoke to my daughter, Laura, and my son-in-law, to say that, would they be happy enough for me to go public with it?
‘And my daughter was most supportive, mainly because she wants other people…who are enduring what we’re enduring as a family, [to know]: “You’re not alone”.
The devastating diagnosis came less than a month after Hadley wrapped up his talkback radio career on December 13 after an almost unbeaten two-decade reign as Sydney’s most popular morning radio host.
At the time, Ray said he had decided to step away from the microphone to spend more time with his wife, Sophie, four children, and then-seven grandchildren.
