'I'll never fully accept this'
“I am 33, and soon I won’t be able to lift a cup of tea,” says Andrew Brennan, who just two years ago was lifting and laying blocks at his home.
This is the stark reality of how the young father of two from Cross, Mullagh, has had his life turned upside down by the onset of Motor Neurone Disease.
Andrew was on the cusp of a wonderful life with his young wife, Yvonne and daughters, Aoife (3) and Sophie (20 months), in their Greylough home. He can even pin-point the moment his life changed forever: 9.15am on February 26, 2015 when Professor Orla Hardiman gave him the devastating diagnosis in Beaumont Hospital. When Andrew asked what was the long-term outlook, he was told that the average life expectancy from the date of diagnosis was just three to five years.
“The first few months after my diagnosis were a bit of a blur. I was lost, we all were. My attitude was that this can’t happen to me.
“They have it wrong, sure I’m fine. I’m young and fit, very fit in fact. I had quit smoking and could do a 100km cycle, without so much as getting off the bike for a break,” recalls Andrew, who is a lithographic printer by profession and formerly worked at numerous publications, including the Celt’s sister paper, The Meath Chronicle.
“But, I wasn’t fine, my right hand and arm was getting thinner and weaker. I couldn’t do the most easy straight forward tasks. I’d lie in bed at night unable to sleep, all the muscles in my arms and legs were twitching and cramping involuntarily. I’d look over at my wife and wonder what lies ahead of us. Would I save my wife and kids and my family a lot of grief, if I refused to go through this, if I didn’t let them see me go through this, if I took a different path?
'It will live with me’
“I’ll never fully accept this, but one day I came to a point where I said, 'To hell with this. I’m not going to let this get in the way of me enjoying my life. I’m going to grab the condition by the scruff of the neck and drag it into the future. I won’t live with it – it will live with me, while I enjoy the time I have left.’ “So for anyone who has this condition, I’d like to say it’s never over and to anyone who hasn’t, I’d ask them to enjoy every day, as tomorrow it could all change.”
Andrew’s inspirational attitude has seen him become the face of the charity’s national awareness campaign this year.
He’s pictured on the latest issue of the MNDA magazine and also appears alongside Newstalk presenter Jonathan Healy on a national radio advert to raise awareness about the condition.
“I explain that I have the condition and it is going to rob me of the second half of my life. I’m asking people to lift a cup of tea to help raise vital funds and awareness. The Irish MNDA depend heavily on fundraising,” he says of the advert.
Andrew says if he ends up in a wheelchair, he will find a way to enjoy each day as it comes. He describes his wife Yvonne, who he married on December 23, 2015, as the 'rock’ that keeps him going, adding “she is a strong woman”.
Together with Yvonne they have lovingly restored a former old schoolhouse that they have. They are again planning for the future, for the day quite soon, when Andrew will no longer be able to go upstairs, to use the bathroom or to kiss his daughters goodnight. As such they have added an extension onto their home. He thanked Cllr Shane P O’Reilly (FF) and his occupational therapist, Lisa Lynch, who all helped to secure a grant towards the works, and Richard Kinnear and his team did an excellent job carrying out the work.
“I would also like to thank Cavan County Council very much for approving the grant,” he said.
Tea party
The out-going Andrew Brennan is appealing for everyone to lift a cup of tea for him and help support people with Motor Neurone Disease. You can raise a cup of tea at a Tea Party in the home of Elisha and Shane P O’Reilly at Mill Cottage, Mullagh, on Friday, June 10 from 2-8pm. A number of celebrities are expected to attend the tea party, and there will also be bouncing castles and face painting for the children.