Ryan Tubridy was joined by Fr Tony Coote who is well-known and well-loved for his life-affirming positive energy as well as his meaningful (and short!) sermons – "I really believe, if you can't say it in three minutes, get off!" Succinct spiritual messages aside, Fr Tony was in studio to talk about a very different matter. Last November, he had a fall, which he thought nothing of at the time until it became a frequent occurrence.
"I had all the family over for dinner on New Year's Day and I fell, and then basically got to the doctor and after a while then I knew there was something more… Wednesday of the snow, I drove out to The Beacon and was told I had Motor Neuron Disease and you can imagine, when I was told I was absolutely terrified. In fact, I was so shocked that when I got up to get dressed after some tests, I literally fell on the floor. My body was just trembling. I couldn't believe it."
Fr Tony was healthy, active, in his early 50's and the diagnosis came out of the blue.
"First of all I was thinking, I'm going to die… This is a terminal illness, I'm going to die sooner than I expected. Then I started thinking hang on, hang on, hang on, let's be ok. Do I feel sorry for myself? No. Am I angry? No. Am I frustrated? Absolutely… For instance, the other day I was trying to get my trousers on… My left leg is the weakest so you're aiming it at the hole in your trousers. I got it in and I'm pushing and pushing in and realise I have it in the pocket of my left-hand trousers so it won't go any further so that's off and you start all over again, so (it’s)the small things."
Fr Tony says the most challenging aspect of the disease for him is losing his independence and he accepts that he will soon be needing the assistance of a wheelchair. Not one to rest on his laurels, despite being diagnosed mere weeks ago, Fr Tony has taken action for the cause.
"I want to raise money for a couple of reasons. One – There's only three nurses in the whole of Ireland working with people with Motor Neurons, 400 people, and they're paid by church gate collections and also, the medication that we have is 24 years old, so unless there's research, there will be no hope for people in the future. I'm organizing a walk called Walk While You Can from Letterkenny on the 10th of July down to Ballydehob…to the 6th of August… I'm basically inviting anybody who can take part of that, who'd like to come on that walk, donate and help us in the future."
You can find out more about the walk at wwyc.ie
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