Jess Redden pays tribute to her late father after passing final university exams

The 28-year-old has been studying to become a pharmacist and officially passed her final exam this week.

Taking to Instagram, she shared the good news while thinking of her dad.

“Today I got good news that I’ve long been dreaming of, but all I can help thinking is do they hear it up above?”

“I like to think they can and that they’re with you all along, they’ll still celebrate your successes even though they’re gone.”

“Even when you achieve your dreams it’s okay to still be sad, I hope that you are proud of me wherever you are dad,” she said.

Jess also shared a picture of herself and her father from her very first college graduation.

“Loved this graduation photo from my UCD days. Passed my final exam. Officially a Pharmacist!”

In a video, the newlywed opened up about the bittersweet day she was having.

“I feel like this is the day that I have been dreaming of since starting the course five years ago because I remember all the lecturers and the graduates saying you work towards this big exam at the end of the five years.”

“And in hindsight, it was a really difficult exam and I came out of it and I thought, ‘I could have said this,’ or, ‘I could have done this better’. So I’ve just been dreaming about it every night, what I could have done but over the last while I have definitely changed my mindset, especially towards situations like that.”

“Instead of thinking negative thoughts, trying to think positive, and focus on all of the things that did go well.”

“So I got my results and obviously, initially I was so delighted to be finished but then I have just been feeling just a bit funny today which is to be expected,” she explained.

“I feel all of the firsts are difficult, you long for the person you miss to be there to share the news. Dad was always my biggest supporter and I’m sure he still is.”

“But I suppose I put that message out there because I know a lot of other people are in the same situation and things like weddings or passing your exams can be difficult,” she added.

Jess and husband Rob Kearney tied the knot in December 2021.

Their wedding was originally planned for June 2021, but they moved it forward to November 2020 after Jess’s father was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Sadly, the 70-year-old passed away in September 2020 and did not see his daughter make it down the aisle.

On her wedding day, Jess kept her father with her in many ways.

Her bouquet of white roses featured a silver locket containing a picture of her dad and her wedding dress had a secret inscription in blue that read “My darling dad, forever in my heart."