Former Cork Carer of the Year Mary McDonnell, joined Ray D'Arcy this week to share her story of caring for her fifty-four year old daughter Sinead. Sinead has cerebral palsy amongst other conditions, and while the two have a very special bond, at nearly eighty years of age, Mary is feeling the strain. Sinead too has started to look to the future with trepidation.

"She was getting extremely worried. She asked me what was going to happen to her when I'd be eighty. How would I look after her then, would I be putting her away… I couldn't tell her at that point in time, but I'd look after her for as long as I could."

Mary has a number of health problems including asthma and overlapping pulmonary ailments and carries with her the constant worry of who will care for Sinead should anything happen to her. Ray says, "the thing that struck me which is very powerful is that you were wishing Sinead would die before you."

"Every day I pray that she'll pass on before me because she's totally dependent on me. If she goes into hospital I go in, I'm her voice… Who will she have then?"

Mary and Sinead have a strong support system of friends and family, but when it comes to state help, Mary paints a very different picture. Sinead's respite care has been axed due to lack of funding and she would face a very uncertain future if anything should happen to Mary.

Ray D’Arcy & Mary McDonnell

"I'm trying to put things in place but it's very hard when you're told there's no money there"

Mary receives a half carer's allowance per week and frankly, feels that parents like her are taken advantage of.

"We provide 6.2 million hours weekly for the state and that isn't acknowledged and recognised and appreciated."

Mary's commitment to her daughter and her indomitable spirit are undeniable, and she's not taking this lying down. She has been actively campaigning for the government to implement the second phase of the Carer's Strategy which would ensure an easier way of life for Sinead and all the family, both now and in the years to come. While she's disappointed at the lack of state intervention, Mary is determined to fight the good fight, taking each day as it comes.

"My own mother used to say, what can't be cured must be endured, and you know, you get on with things. "

Click here to listen to the full interview.