"It's true I did come close to retiring," said Palacios who plays in the Premier League for Tottenham Hotspur.
"The reason why I carried on was firstly because it's always been my dream to be a footballer but mainly it was my family and close friends, taking their advice saying, 'keep going, keep going'. Football is what I do."
Nine months on from learning of his brother's terrible fate, Palacios is looking forward to what could be a memorable year on the field.
"We had been up for the game all week," said Palacios, trying to keep warm in a grey trench coat as he spoke through an interpreter at Tottenham's White Hart Lane ground.
"You fix your mind and focus on a game and work hard all week. It's hard.
"Our sights are set high at Tottenham. We've done very well this season, maybe dropped one or two points instead of getting all three, but now we need to take it to the next level."
Yet the steel Palacios provides on the pitch is in stark contrast with the Honduran's humble nature off it.
"On the field you do your job," he explained.
"I'm a professional footballer. You have your own character. Off the field I'm just an ordinary guy and I get on with my life. The two things have nothing to do with each other."
Many players with far fewer personal setbacks would have buckled under the strain but Palacios appears to have used Edwin's death as an incentive to push his career on.
"It has, yes, been an extremely tough year but all you can do is keep focused and keep moving forward. You ha
