“You have to believe in yourself when no one else does — that makes you a winner right there.”
Venus Williams

We were sitting at the fountain in the gardens of the Schön-Klinik last week. Venus wasn’t there, but we were with Pádraig and one of his best friends. About 10 years ago, it took serious persuasive efforts to get the doctors give Pádraig permission to leave his room, leave the hospital, and get some fresh air, hear some different sounds and noises, feel the air on his skin, feel alive. – They told us they “didn’t want any dead bodies in their yard”, keine Toten auf dem Hof. The audacity, gall, nerve, and temerity.

Being at this fountain after months of having practically being locked into his room was one of those moments when we realised how much Pádraig believed in himself. That he was a winner. No one in the hospital had any great hopes for him. That he could get a job promoting new legislation in Ireland and inspire the establishment of a Centre for Life and Living with a severe Acquired Brain Injury. A Centre the world had not seen before.

We went for walks. Revisited some unique German ‘icons’ like the Litfaß-Säule with announcements of concerts and exhibitions. Saw a very unusual ‘camper’ with the tent on its roof.

We had dinner and drinks at Gosch in St. Peter-Ording on the edge of the Wattenmeer where the sky meets the sea and the horizons are never-ending.

The highlight of the week, however, must have been a visit to Tonndorfer Hauptstraße in Hamburg, Pádraig’s and our first joint apartment, up on top of the white tower, with a huge terrace and round walls, and a view over the city of Hamburg that would be hard to match.

We went back to the supermarket where Pádraig went shopping for the first time after having been discharged from hospital.. We remembered what a great deal that was and I remembered how uncomfortable I felt at the time – and not just because I wasn’t great at pushing his big wheelchair down through narrow aisles.

Haus 2 of the Schön-Klinik had not changed much, apart from looking a bit older and the white paint not being as white as it was when we arrived there 11 years ago.

Even the small exhibition telling the story of the Schön-Klinik during the first half of the last century was still there. People who did not fit into society, including ‘difficult’ and ‘nervous’ women, were being looked after and treated there. During the horrific time of the nazi regime, they were seen as an unnecessary burden on society. Untreatable and not more than a drain on tax payers’ money.

I couldn’t help but hearing echoes in my mind of remarks being made again and again over the past decade. We still need significant change. Pádraig’s work most definitely is not finished.

One of Pádraig’s sister and her partner had a spare ticket to yesterday’s rowing finals at the Olympic Games in Paris. That’s why I saw the unbelievable Oliver Zeitler win his first Gold Medal in single sculls. The atmosphere was electric.

I only spend one night in Paris. Enough to see the Olympic Flame, Notre-Dame being re-build, the spectators’ installations on the Seine, and enough to have one of my favourite dishes: steak tartare. Where else but in Paris would you get raw meet topped with a raw egg in a restaurant? I topped that up with half a dozen escargot – another French speciality.

It’s hard even to remember all the things that happened during the past week.

Long lost memories came back. Tonndorf. The Schön-Klinik. Panic stations we thought would last forever.

They didn’t.

Life is tough. I am reminded of that every day. There is pain inside that badly hurts and will never go away. Sometimes it gets to the surface and paralyses. Sometimes it resides and blends into to my every day life.

But life is also beautiful in the company of family and friends.

Pádraig could most likely have made it to the Olympics as a swimmer. Although he decided not to pursue that goal, in my mind he is a true Olympian.

What Pádraig is teaching me is that believe in yourself is most important, especially when no one else does — and that this makes you a winner right there.

He doesn’t need a gold medal to proof it.