Music and medicine help but people can matter most
Galway woman with MND living life to the fullest
SHE can no longer talk or swallow but the unwavering courage of a Galway woman to live her life to the fullest is admired by everyone around her.
Helen Brennan is a retired ICU nurse from Castlegar, Galway who was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) over a year ago.
In technical terms MND is a progressive neurological condition that attacks the motor neurons, or nerves, in the brain and spinal cord. It can affect how a person walks, talks, eats, drinks and breathes. In more simple terms, MND impacts a person’s body muscle by muscle, breath by breath, leaving them, sometimes, with a feeling of helplessness.
The causes of MND are still not known and there is no cure. However, symptoms can be managed to help the person achieve the best possible quality of life.
“While there can be some exceptions, MND mainly impacts middle-aged people between 50 to 70 years,” explained Fidelma Ruttledge, a Clinical Nurse Specialist for MND in the West of Ireland.
“Depending on what part of the body gets impacted first, the condition affects each individual differently. Galway currently has about 24 people living with the condition,” she added.
Helen is living with Progressive Bulbar Palsy, one of the two most common types of MND. It affects the patient’s upper and lower motor neurons, impacting their ability to speak and swallow.
She first began to notice.........
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