Last Sunday night, Kim O’Neill sat in hospital A&E and wrote an email to The Ryan Tubridy Show.
She was beside her husband, Padraig, who was lying on a trolley waiting to see a doctor. He suffers from a brain tumour, which has progressively worsened.
He can no longer work or take care of the couple’s three children, who are all aged under 6.
Kim joined Ryan this morning to explain why she decided to reach out to the public for help. Their married life has been all about this tumour, she said, and their children have never known anything other than a life almost defined by Padraig’s illness.
"At the moment, we exist. At the moment, all our kids see is me going to work, coming home. If we’re not working we’re going to hospitals", Kim told Ryan.
"They see us getting upset, rowing over money, wondering where the next thing is going to come from. It all just got too much for me."
Padraig, 33, had his first seizure in 2010, months before the couple’s first child was born. Sunday’s trip to the hospital was prompted by the latest in a series of stroke-like episodes, which left Kim fearing that her husband will soon lose his ability to speak or move.
As she dropped her kids off to her parents’ house, the enormity of their situation became overwhelming.
"I was angry at the world, I was angry at Padraig. I was angry at Padraig for being sick today because I had too much to do. That was the hardest thing to admit, that I was angry at him after everything he’s been through."
Kim has appealed to the public to help her family to make memories.
"There has to be more to life than this. He doesn’t deserve this. We just need a little bit of a break. Something to help us get through this", she said.
Kim set up a Go Fund Me page, and has been overwhelmed by the response. The couple plan to spend the money taking trips with their children, while her husband still can.
You can read Kim’s email and donate to her Go Fund Me page here
To listen to the full interview, click here.
