Johan Barnard and his eight-year-old son Dean. Inset: Barnard with his two-week-old son LJ

A FATHER from Krugersdorp shared his devastating experience of losing both his sons, aged eight and two weeks, just hours apart on the same day, to a rare heart condition and subsequent lung infection.

Johan Barnard said the death of his sons had left him devastated, so much so that for the past five nights he has cried himself to sleep.“This is a pain I never knew a person could feel,” a weeping Barnard told IOL, speaking for the first time about the deaths of eight-year-old Dean and two-week-old LJ.

Both boys, who were born with Shone’s complex - a rare heart condition - were admitted to hospital last week with a lung infection.

And though the 37-year-old stayed by their bedside in hospital and prayed over and over for them to pull through, his “klein bulletjies” died on Thursday.