“He realized I had actually spent some hours thinking about him and his troubles.”
Jack Kerouac, On the Road
Kerouac described a turning point in a friendship: the moment a friend realised that someone had given him time and attention, even when they were apart.
We all have moments when we want to give up. When we think that whatever we want to achieve will not work out. When we are desperate. When we feel isolated. Alone.
And then we realise that we are not alone. That we are on the shoulders of giants who will carry us through even the darkest, most difficult moments of our lives.
When the world stood still. When the sun went dark, the stars stopped shining, and I thought that this is what The End must feel like.
It was our friends, old and new, those we had known for a long time and those we had never met before, who gave me the power to continue.
We need the power of friends to develop the An Saol Foundation and its service for people who want to live their lives and who need our support to make that possible.
Become a Friend of the An Saol Foundation today. And ask 10 of your friends to join you.
You could send them this message:
I’ve joined Friends of the An Saol Foundation, supporting Life and Living with severe Acquired Brain Injury. It’s a cause close to my heart, and I’d love you to join too. Together, we can help create more opportunities for connection, enjoyment and participation.
Be one of the first 500 Friends, sign up now and become a Founding Friend here: https://teachansaol.ie/friends-of-the-an-saol-foundation/
On Monday, 30 November 2026, from 17:00 to 20:00, the An Saol Foundation will celebrate its annual Adventfest and its first 500 Friends at Thomas Prior Hall in Ballsbridge. Watch this space for more information.
You and your friends could be among the Foundation’s Founding Friends—those who join during 2026, the founding year of our Friends community.
TRY
If you are in Dublin this weekend or sometime next week, go and see TRY at the Light House Cinema—a film about mixed ability rugby and the winner of Best Documentary at this year’s Galway Film Fleadh.
Pádraig, his sister, and I went to its premiere last week. We all agreed that it was the best film we had seen in a long, long time.
None of us is that much into rugby. But we are very much into what this film is about: community, hope and unstoppable energy.
