Today, we would have been on the way – on the way to Spain to walk the way, the camino de Santiago. Easter Week or Semana Santa was when we went to Spain to have a few days together as a family. We tried the beach one year, and when that was quite miserable, we tried it for another year, and when that was miserable again, we tried – something else… Someone in the family is a specialist on the ‘camino’ or rather the ‘caminos’, all of which lead to Santiago. We knew we couldn’t do this in one ‘go’. Just close your eyes. Imagine what this would have been like. Yes, you’re right. It just would not have worked. So we took it in stages. No more beaches, and 3-days of walking through the campos de Castilla instead. We picked ‘el camino del sur’ and started from Salamanca, our favourite spanish city, for obvious reasons. So for the past few years we walked a few days. And you know what? It was brilliant. We stayed in Albergues (basic but really cheap at €3 a head), had three course dinners with drinks for 8 euro each, and had time to be on our own as well as time to talk when we wanted. To be honest, I had a lot of time on my own, not because I wanted to but because for some stupid reason, my boots never worked out well for me. I was always find on the first day, limping on the second, and barely able to walk on the third, trying hard to keep the pace. Pádraig was always happy to join, until the day before the flight when really really important things started to happen which he always just about managed to sort out in time to come along. How happy we were.

Of course, we never quite made it to Santiago. It would have taken us another three or four years. At least.

But one thing I learnt during these walks was that as long as you keep going (even limping along) you’re fine. You’ll get wherever you wanted to get that day. As long as you kept going. Pádraig being Pádraig, there even was a day he got there ahead of the rest of us because a Spanish lady, mother of a large family living in a tiny village in the middle of Castille, on a Sunday at lunch time, ordered her son to give Pádraig a lift to the next village. The son wasn’t too enthusiastic at first, and Pádraig, to be fair, tried to back off out of this kind of difficult situation, but the mother insisted. El pobre hijo con todo el peso en sus hombros… ¡claro que había que llevarle! Ningún problema. Con gusto. ¡¡¡Besos y abrazos!!! The rest of us just kept walking, and we caught up with Pádraig in the first ‘Bar’ of the next village where he had managed to be offered the exceptionally economic menú del día. Recognize anything?

Talking about walking… Here is the last image from the snámh.

What a nice front page! Haven’t seen the paper yet, but Caoimhe NíMhuilleoir will have her ‘snámh diaries’ published on pages 4 and 5 of Seachtain tomorrow!

Back to the walk – or run: A brief reminder that if you want to join a group of women running the Flora Mini Marathon for Pádraig, you will have to register for the event by this coming Friday. Click here to go to the event page and register.

One of the really nice nurses looking after Pádraig today tried out something really exciting: she brought in an apple and an orange. We took a slice from the apple and rubbed it on his tongue and his lips. It as amazing to see how curious he was to find out what this item around his mouth was, how he touched  it with his tongue when we asked him to do so. – The ‘experiment’ with the orange was even more exciting: when we held a piece of orange close to his nose, we could clearly see his nostrils picking up the really nice smell from the orange. I am sure this was as exciting for him as i was for us.

Today’s German Music Tip
Cochise, Rauchzeichen. Anfang der 80er live in the “Auslandsshow” on German TV. Not sure how good your German is but even if you understand little you’ll realize how nothing has changed over the decades – I love the comments people posted …

Werdet ihr erst dann einseh’n, dass Ihr Euer schönes Geld auf der Bank nicht essen könnt, welch’ Menge ihr auch nennt?

Check out the lyrics by Ape, Beck and Brinkmann here.

What’s hot
We
What’s cold
I

The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Rauchzeichen

Twitter: @forPadraig
http://www.caringforPadraig.org

Joni Mitchell has this song, Big Yellow Taxi, of which two lines came to my mind today. The second line was:
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

I had to think about it because it says so much about what is going on today all around us: what counts is the functional, the practical; how cares about beauty, the irrational?

Well, Snámh Phádraig for me was a lesson that there is still some paradise left. None of what these (almost) 50 swimmers did made any sense. It was complete bonkers. Who in their right mind would take off a weekend to jump into freezing cold water and then climb back into the bus to do it a gain, and again, and again – 17 times in under 40 hours. No ‘parking lot’ builder would ever do anything like this. Yet, not only did they do it, but they mobilized thousands of people around the globe to support them in their attempt to support Pádraig’s treatment.

We told Pádraig about the snámbh organized for his support over the weekend. – He is getting better now, almost everyday. Today, his left hand started to move; both of his feet moved and he tried really hard to lift up his legs. We were showing him the Nuacht coverage and yes – Maria and Aodhán and all the others did a marvelous job!

Yet, today, it was the first news item on TG4 Nuacht at 7pm and the second news item on RTÉ Nuacht at 6pm, right after the big news on global warming. It was also a news item on many radio channels and reported on in TheJournal.ie. It will also be on TG4’s Róisín programme tomorrow.

It was a news item on many radio channels and reported on in TheJournal.ie. It will also be on TG4’s Róisín programme tmorrow.

50 friends swim in 17 counties over 38 hours for “loyal and fun” friend in a coma

The first line of Joni Mitchell’s song I remembered today was:
You don’t know what you’ve got
til it’s gone.
No wiser words have ever been spoken.

The pragmatic snámh finished today, the spiritual snámh will be with us forever.

Thank you Aodhán, his helpers, all the swimmers, the pubs offering food and shelter, and the family and friends who so generously supported the swimmers, and therefore Pádraig!

Those who would like to support an individual swimmer can do so here for the next four weeks; http://www.idonate.ie/766/snamh-phadraig/

Today’s German Music Tip
Angi Domdey, Unter dem Pflaster (1976). Version from 1981, Angi wrote the song on her way to Hamburg in 1976 to found the women-only band ‘Schneewittchen’. She says that this is a song for ‘Phantasie’ and against the established, hardened structures of our society, against the concrete jungle of our cities, and the fossilization of our thoughts and deeds. The stones taken from the street were not meant to be thrown, but to uncover the sand under the stones and to make room to dance. The lyrics are really nice.

1. Komm laß dich nicht erweichen,
bleib hart an deinem Kern,
rutsch nicht in ihre Weichen,
treib dich nicht selbst dir fern.

Unter dem Pflaster
ja da liegt der Strand
komm reiß auch du
ein paar Steine aus dem Sand.

2. Komm laß dir nicht erzählen,
was du zu lassen hast
du kannst nur selber wählen,
nur langsam, keine Hast.

Unter dem Pflaster …

3. Zieh die Schuhe aus,
die schon so lang dich drücken
lieber barfuß lauf,
aber nicht auf ihren Krücken.

Unter dem Pflaster …

4. Dreh dich und tanz,
dann könn’ sie dich nicht packen
verscheuch sie ganz
mit deinem lauten Lachen.

Unter dem Pflaster …

5. Die größte Kraft
ist deine Phantasie
wirf die Ketten weg
und schmeiß sie gegen sie,
die mit ihrer Macht
deine Kräfte brechen wollen.

Unter dem Pflaster …

What’s hot
Open fires
What’s cold
The Ocean
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Die größte Kraft ist deine Phantasie

Twitter: @forPadraig
http://www.caringforPadraig.org

There was a Lord and a King welcoming almost 50 young people to Belfast.

It was the Lord Mayor of Belfast, Máirtín Ó Muilleoir, and Patsaí Dan, King of Tory. What a welcome. What a day.

It started at 6am this morning, when you all met at the Conradh in Dublin’s Harcourt Street, about the time you usually go home. Today you left on what will probably have been one of the most memorable days of your lives.

Following your tweets, I think all turned out to be just a ‘little’ bigger, wetter, colder, longer, more complex, more fun, more exciting than you had anticipated.

There were some really beautiful beaches.

And there were some really freezing moments when you came out of the water.

There was absolute excitement and deep misery. It was just really really cold: Ireland in April – what did you expect???

My own opinion: None of you had ever done anything like this before, you just had not thought this through, you were stone mad!!!

Or were you?

There is nothing in life you do, nothing that really counts, nothing that really makes a difference, unless your heart is in it, unless it has meaning. And most of this kind of stuff you never really think through. You don’t have to. It comes from your stomach. You just know what you need to do. You might make an attempt to plan these things. But then reality takes over and your plans go out the window. And you’re beginning to have the time of your life.

One year, with three young kids, we went to Ibiza. On a charter flight. We arrived at 2am in the morning. Without a hotel booked. In July. You don’t need to know anything about Ibiza to know that this was stone mad. We went there because I had got a contract to write a travel guide for family holidays on Ibiza. (That by itself was a crazy idea.) We found a hotel for the first night and a wonderful apartment for the next 2 weeks. The impossible during the high season on one of the world’s hottest party islands.

Now, Ibiza is warm, all year round, and especially in July. The North Atlantic Ocean is freezing, even in July, never mind in April. But there is a parallel: madness, uncertainty, and a huge amount of fun and adventure.

I believe Mayo was tonight’s last stop. Hopefully, you’ll be all fast asleep and warm by now.

Pádraig sends his regards. I think he is somewhat embarrassed by all that is going on. All of you, wishing him well, struggling with him through the nearly impossible, to come out at the other end as a better person. Like himself. One day soon.

Thank you. Sleep well. And have another great day tomorrow. Pádraig will be there, right in the middle with you. Always.

Doire Port na Binne Uaine

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once said, “The hardest thing to see is what is in front of your eyes.” And a less famous person added, “If you don’t start appreciating what’s right in front of you, you might lose it.” What around 50 friends of Pádraig are doing this coming weekend is opening their eyes to see what is right in front of them, and appreciate what they are seeing, making sure that they will never loose it: their country, their language, their culture; friendship, compassion, love; fun, excitement, and the wild seas that (thank God:) surround Ireland.

I know that Pádraig would love nothing more than being right in the middle of this mad, crazy, and terribly exciting snámh. Giving out about the freezing cold, singing with them on the journey between the beaches at the top of his voice, having the time of his life. This weekend has everything he so much loves: good friends and marvelous company, the thrill of not knowing (how cold the water is going to be:), music, the language, the country, great craic. A friend of his said he’d be the first to jump in, and I think that would be right. Dá má rd é go mbeadh biseach air béadh sé i dtús áite ag an agóid seo.

You can follow the snámh on Twitter #snamhphadraig. If you want to meet the swimmers on their trail around the coast of Ireland and, indeed, support and encourage them over the weekend, here is their schedule.

TG4 TV is planning to meet them in Connemara and Galway.

Today we met with Pádraig’s physio and OT. It was the first of our now weekly meetings. We will try to do something similar with the speech therapist. It’s so important that Pádraig is kept being challenged, that he can see and feel his progress, that he believes in him getting better. He has come a long way, we have made huge sacrifices, so many people have supported him on his journey, and the doctors, nurses and therapists are so enthusiastic about his progress, that all will help him to get the best of care and support one could get. It’s when we all get together, when all the stars align, when we all make extraordinary efforts, that we will be able to achieve what some months ago looked like the impossible.

Today, we heard the good news that his custom-made wheelchair has arrived, the headset has arrive, and the assembly is on its way. It’ll be early next or the following week that the wheelchair will be ready, giving Pádraig and us a little bit more independence. I think I mentioned already that Pádraig has one of those trainers, like a stationary bicycle, in his room now that will help him to build up some more flexibility and muscle in his legs.

He hadn’t been out in the viva-la-Thekla this week at all, but today the therapists moved him out of his bed and promised to do the same tomorrow – he is still on their special Saturday list which is really great. Hopefully, with the arrival of the wheelchair there will be more opportunity to move Pádraig around. He is so stable at the moment that his

There has been quite a bit of coverage of Pádraig’s accident and the fantastic fundraising efforts by his friends over the past days:

• Alexandra College Dublin have a really nice picture of two of the three master swim-a-mile heroines up on their main news page, as well as a full report.
• Click here to listen back to this morning’s “Today with Sean O’Rourke” broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 about Pádraig and the great Snámh starting tomorrow morning.
• Ar Scáth a Chéile: A Community Rallies for Pádraig by Conn Ó Muíneacháin on April 11, 2014 in An tImeall, Gaeilge. Conn published an article on http://www.technology.ie today about how he got to know Pádraig. He also published a link to “this week’s An tImeall Irish language podcast which dips into the archive for an extract from An Líonra Sóisialta, published in October 2006, which featured a clip from Pádraig’s podcast An Saol. You’ll hear the voice of a teenager, excited by the possibilities of culture and language and technology.  I hope we will hear that enthusiasm soon again. Treise leat a Phádraig!”
  
  [Conn Ó Muíneacháin works at Blacknight. He’s an award-winning radio producer, podcaster and blogger. He’s an engineer as well (not the award-winning kind). Conn produces video for Blacknight and edits Technology.ie. Labhair Gaeilge leis!]
• Irish Central published an article on Pádraig some days ago. Click here to read it.

Today’s German Music Tip
Die Fantastischen Vier, Tag am Meer (1993).

What’s hot
The Ocean
What’s cold
Boredom
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Wer die Wahrheit nicht weiß, der ist bloß ein Dummkopf. Aber wer sie weiß und sie eine Lüge nennt, der ist ein Verbrecher. – Bert Brecht

Twitter: @forPadraig
http://www.caringforPadraig.org

Baby, wenn ich down bin und ich fühl mich schwach… the song that should have been today’s German music tip. I know this is not everybody’s cup of tea, but I really like Lindenberg. In a funny way, he is like my sailing adventures. They never caught on with the rest of the family. I could listen to Lindenberg, and sail on the highest wave of the Atlantic for the rest of my days. But then, life is not like that. It’s unpredictable, out of our control.

I was thinking a lot about the 50 swimmers getting ready for next weekend. They are about to embark on two days of an adventure that none of them will ever forget for the rest of their lives. I believe that they have found what all of us are looking for (never mind Paul Hewson and his combo saying otherwise: Companionship, solidarity, fun, adventure, compassion, a sense of duty, their language, their culture, their home, heimat. The thing is, there is no need to climb high mountains in the Himalayas, cross barren deserts in Africa, or go white water rafting in Down Under to find yourself and at least a bit of the meaning of life. A lot of it is right in front of your eyes. You just have to reach out.

I had the feeling today that Pádraig was really with us. We did a bit of supplementary physio with him, just moving his fingers, arms, toes, and feet. It felt like as if he was really cooperating. He moved his foot again and pressed his toes up and down when we asked him to do so. 2-3 times in a row.

We didn’t manage to have our weekly meeting with the physio and the OT today, but are trying to re-schedule it for tomorrow. One thing we noticed today was that Pádraig is getting much more receptive to what is happening around him and with him. His ‘good’ left eye today was a little bit clogged up with, what I would call ‘Schlaf’ in German – the stuff you have in or around your eye in the morning sometimes. We called a nurse and she cleaned it out, very softly, very carefully, but his whole body reacted to the ‘intrusion’ into his eye. He clearly felt what was going on and didn’t like it! Just a few weeks ago, he probably wouldn’t even have noticed that.

Gerry Adams wrote a bi-lingual blog about Pádraig, you can read it here. He has promised to stay on the case.
‘Today with Sean O’Rourke’ on RTÉ called today and are planning to have Pádraig’s story on the programme tomorrow at 10am.
Hopefully, there will be another report on Snámh in The Journal on Saturday.
TG4 TV will be recording a report on Monday next, for ‘Roísín’.

Today’s German Music Tip
The BossHoss, HeyYa (2008). They sing in English but won the National/German Echo Music Price for best Rock/Pop Gruppe. Here they are at a live concert – where else – in Hamburg!

What’s hot
Getting on
What’s cold
Control
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Kinderleicht

Twitter: @forPadraig
http://www.caringforPadraig.org

There it was again, today. I have not lost my eye for the German that amazes everybody but the German. (I wonder: does that make me a foreigner?) When I was at university in Cologne, Isabel Allende gave a talk on Magic Realism. You know, flying tree, all sorts of strange things happening – and people not blinking an eye at it because it is all part of their daily life, that’s the reality they see, while we see magic. To illustrate how this concept works, Allende said that she had talked to a few friends in Cologne about this magic realism for Germans who look at a bus time table: not only do they believe it when it says that the bus will leave at 14:27, the bus actually does leave at that time. Or the absolute certainty Germans have that when they put a letter into a letter box in Cologne in the evening, that it will arrive in Berlin the following day. Again, for her the incredible thing was not just that they believed this magic ‘story’, the story actually becomes real a thousand times a day when letters posted in Cologne actually do arrive the next day in Berlin.

So there was the post box on the hospital wall. And it said that letters will arrive tomorrow anywhere in Germany if posted here today. This is magic realism.

Not sure whether I mentioned this before: as the therapists work with Pádraig in the morning, we arranged last week to meet with the physio and the occupational therapist once a week, on Thursdays, which is great. We’ll be getting an update every week on how he is doing and we will learn if there is anything we can do to help.

You’ve seen it in Western movies for horses – in Hamburg they have them rings for dogs, in front of a shop selling wedding dresses:)

Today, we also had a meeting with his speech therapist who will also meet with us again next week when she will be working with Pádraig. It is so important that he keeps being challenged, that he feels that there are many people helping him with all sorts of different things and exercises, and that he really has to keep trying himself the most. I believe that the more exposure to all sorts of different experiences he has, the better for his brain stimulation. And the tracheostomy prevents him from breathing through his mouth and having the sensation of air flowing through his mouth and nose; he cannot really smell; he cannot taste much in his mouth – until the trachea goes.

Three new things happened today affecting Pádraig:

• His stockings arrived yesterday and it turns out that they were really custom made for him. They came in a box with his name on it, and they even have a sewn-in label with his name on it. It must have been so difficult to put them on, but the nurses managed to do it. They look fabulous.
• We discovered that Patrick could lift his toes and then push down our hand with his toes – when we asked him to do so. At least five times in a row today.
• And the third great news today was that he squeezed both of Pat’s hands when she asked him to do so – with both his (good) left hand and his not so good left. – We’ll try all of this again tomorrow. Isn’t it wonderful?

Check out his name on the label of his new stockings! Seriously – isn’t this extraordinary?

The Snámh is coming up soon, there are just a few days to go. So I thought I’d share a snippet from an email one of the swimmers, Jen, sent me tonight (together with the recording of Caoimhe’s interview on the BBC):

Meanwhile, all hands are on deck for the Snámh this weekend, there’s a real buzz about the place and everyone is really looking forward to it. I’ve been working fairly closely with Aodhán on the safety side of things. The support has been incredible – just to give you a small insight, I rang up an ambulance supply company last week looking for some advice about how best to avoid getting hypothermia (!) and once they heard about Pádraig and the swim, the freely donated 10 foil blankets to us! No questions, no hassle, they just wanted to support. So kind.

• Caoimhe was tonight on Irish-language BBC Blas, speaking about Pádraig (click on the link to listen to the recording).
• There was an article about Pádraig in the University Times.
• Today, the Irish Echo, the biggest Irish newspaper in the US, published in New York, had a front page and second page story about Pádraig.
• Gerry Adams was interviewed on Cormac ag a Cúig on RTE Raidió na Gaeltachta (hope to have the recording tomorrow).
• The Irish Times reported in an article on Pádraig on the absolutely amazing statement by his insurance company: they now seem to say that they never denied cover, even though they never paid, and said the opposite in letters and emails to us!

Today’s German Music Tip
Santiano, Gott muss ein Seemann sein (2013). They won this year’s best “Volkstümliche Musik” German Music Echo Award – a bit of compensation for not getting into the Eurovision Song Context, representing Germany.

What’s hot
Stockings
What’s cold
Long nights
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Individuelle Maßanfertigung

Twitter: @forPadraig
http://www.caringforPadraig.org

You know, one can get carried away. – I am sure you know the feeling. You sit down in the morning and when you get up it’s late afternoon. You haven’t eaten, your back hurts, and the day is as good as gone. It happens to me when I am doing stuff that moves me, that is important, that I am really really passionate about. The world around me could blow up in smoke and I probably wouldn’t notice.

Today was one of those days. Almost.

In the middle of it, Pat came in and showed me an email.

It was the last email she and any of us received from Pádraig, just three days before the accident. It wasn’t the last contact we had, just the last email exchange. He was about to go for a swim. “All’s well.”

Suddenly, all this ‘stuff’ that I had been doing, all the ‘important’ things that were carrying me away, everything just stopped and the world came down on me like a ton of bricks. There was no work, no lectures, no hospital, no doctors, no campaign, no blogs, no websites, no politicians, no parliamentary questions, no reports, no strategy papers, no interviews, no articles, no radio programmes. It was all gone in a flash. This was only and exclusively about Pádraig, and how his life had changed from “all’s well” to silence. All in a flash, when he was hit by the van.

I want to share this with you, but especially with all the swimmers that took part in past swimming events for Pádraig (in TCD Swimming Club, and Lynn and Irene in NAC) and, of course, the upcoming Snámh Phádraig this weekend, this mad and crazy swim around all-Ireland, organised by Aodhán and his friends.

You might recognize some of the chaos in our life.  The funny thing about the episode at the airport was that the only reason I did not manage to travel on Pádraig’s passport was that the names on the passport and the ticket did not match – there didn’t seem to be a problem with the “match” between my face and the picture in his passport. And I must have looked exceedingly young that day too. – I never managed to tell him this really funny detail. The next phone call I got from Pat when I had arrived in Sanya on Hainan was about the accident, just a few days later.

From: “nnn”
Date: “ddd”
To: “nnn”

Dear Patrick,

Tried to ring you the last couple of nights, hope you are feeling better. You probably have no credit on your phone. Papa got to the airport in a panic on Saturday amidst road works on the airport road.
On our way back home Maria and me get a call, he took your old passport instead of his, we were in Ballymun. He just about made his flight, we drove back in the bus lanes breaking all speed limits.

Weather at the weekend was dreadful, stormy and cold. {}

Talk to you soon

Love
Mam

Pádraig Schaler nnn@gmail.com   6/24/13
to me

Hi Mam,

Ye, I’m out of minutes so I can only get text messages at  the moment
so if anything happens I can still get texts. It’s so hot here today
we’re going for a swim in the lake beside us.

All’s well,
Patrick

How normal life was then: chaotic, hectic, adventurous, happy.

Summertime, so hot, we’re going out for a swim in the lake beside us.

How different life is now.

There are so many things happening that I cannot explain and certainly do not understand. Literally hundreds of people get together to concerts with some of Ireland’s best musicians. The concerts are free, but nonetheless they part with thousands of euro of their hard-earned money anyway! A Bonnyman writes a song about a dream. People do the craziest things like swimming a mile when they had never even crossed a 25m pool. Sideways. Who in their right mind would go swimming in the Irish Sea and the North Atlantic? In April. Not just once. But 17 times. Around all-Ireland. In just two days! Who would go running all sorts of marathons when, let’s be honest, running after the bus nearly gives most of us a heart attack? Young people climb up Croag Patrick. On their bare feet! Friends go on pilgrimages in Ireland, France, Italy, and Bosnia! School children from Donegal to Dublin include Pádraig in their daily prayers! Which German hospital would adjust their visiting hours to Aer Lingus’ flight schedule? Which Irish group would have a solid following amongst the staff of a German neuro-ward? Which radio station, in their right mind, would report on the scandal that neuro-rehab is in Ireland, sandwiched between a report of the Irish President visiting the Queen of England and Oscar Pistorius talking for the first time in public about the death of Reeva Steenkamp, as happened today?

And the list goes on and will go on.

The Irish Government will provide better services, better early neuro-rehab, and better ongoing care for patients such as Pádraig. The US authorities and the public in the US will change their attitude towards cyclist. No doubt. – After all, how often do hard-neck insurance companies change their policies in favour of their customers because a previous clause was “ambiguous” – as Pádraig’s travel insurance did recently (though still denying him cover!).

Above all, I am sure that Pádraig will recover from his injury. Many of his friends have told me that when they think of him they see him dancing, at a concert, right in front of the stage. I know that before last year’s Trinity Ball he listened to the music of the group that was going to play, again, and again – until he could remember the words of all of the songs they were going to play.

Pádraig manages to move things. He just keeps at whatever he thinks is the right thing and doesn’t let loose until something moves, until things change. I am sure that all of you can think of (good and bad:) examples and times when he did this with you, or even to you. – I had this experience and know what I’m talking about!

So now, he is lying in his bed and has become the biggest mover ever. How does he do it?

Today, he was quite alert again. He didn’t let loose of his doctor’s hand until she had told him something straight away that she was going to tell him later in the day. Between his really awake periods, he now relaxes and goes into a deep sleep, with his heart down to 60, and his oxygen levels up to the high 90s – with no or very little oxygen added to his breathing. We can’t wait for his wheelchair to arrive, to be able to sit him out every day, and move around the place a little once we have established that it would be safe for him to do so. Given that he has the tracheostomy it might be difficult initially to do this without a nurse or doctor who could intervene quickly in case anything unexpected happened. But we can’t wait. It’ll be such a boost for Pádraig to see nature, to hear the birds singing, to feel fresh air on his skin, his face. He is also swallowing much more, even when he is very relaxed, which is a real good step towards using the speech valve on the trachea and towards getting rid of the trachea all together eventually. How nice it’ll be for him and for us to hear his voice again, for him to be able to smell the spring time, the dew in the morning, and the growing trees and bushes in the warm summer evenings.

Following the report in TheJournal.ie yesterday, there were tens of thousands of views and dozens of comments on their website (46,023 views and 79 comments at the last count) and many people also contacted us directly with offers of support and queries about how they might help their own loved ones in a similar situation.  – When will the Government finally wake up, when will they stop writing reports, when will they stop looking at sick people as an investment and, instead, care for them – as every citizen in need has a right to be cared for?

There is a German saying that ‘all beginnings are hard’ (or something like that). You’d probably agree with it, but then – think about it: there is nothing more exciting than driving for the first time; starting in college; getting new friends; finding new love; seeing new countries; being amazed by different cultures. What is happening to Pádraig is completely new to him. To us. To everyone around him. There has never been a beginning in my life before that has been so difficult, so heartbreaking, so desperate. So hard. But. There has never been so much energy, friendship, and love in my life before either. I must talk to Pádraig about that.

An article on the Irish Times website today reported about a “Swim event for young Irishman in coma after J1 incident” which might get into the Health Supplement tomorrow. I also believe that TG4 TV will be in TCD tonight talking to some of the swimmers. – There is still some time if you want to join the swim in the wild waters that “thank God” surround Ireland: 17 swims off every county with a coast over the coming weekend. Click here to find out about it, and here if you want to support one of the swimmers.

The Newstalk Lunchtime radio show also had a short report on Pádraig’s accident today at around 13:15 (we’ll get the recording off the web tomorrow, hopefully).

Today’s German Music Tip
Birdy, Fire Within (2013). This is the first song on Birdy’s new album ‘Fire Within’ and it is an exception here, because it’s all in English – yet, it won the recent German Music ‘Echo’ Award for best German Rock/Pop Group. The video is very ‘different’.

What’s hot
Beginnings
What’s cold
Endings
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Aller Anfang ist schwer (Discuss!)

Twitter: @forPadraig
http://www.caringforPadraig.org

This afternoon, Pat and I went to see Pádraig. I went home to check out a few things when Pat rang.

Pádraig had opened both eyes (over the past while, he had mostly opened the left eye only), and she felt he was focusing on something. And then, he decided that he wanted to move. Maybe he was just fed up lying in bed all day long, maybe he just wanted to turn. In any case, his whole body moved, both legs, his upper body, both arms, and he lifted up his head and was trying very hard to lift up his upper body. His hard rate went up, and his upper body showed signs of the enormous effort he was making.

Pat was quite sure that this was not a cramp or something else that was happening to him, it was him who was trying to move very very hard. He was so alert that when she asked him afterwards to move his foot, he did. We are not talking about big movements, he is still not able to do that. We are also not talking about him being able to lift or move his body a lot, it’s just small movements, but they are movements. Today, he was lying half way on his side before he moved. When he was finished, he was almost lying on his back. – Great news!

There are still news coming in from our great master swimmers and their Swim-a-Mile challenge they mastered to brilliantly. Thank you to Lynn and Irene again for doing what they probably felt themselves was the impossible just a few months ago. Thank you also to all who so generously supported them!

Next weekend, the amazing, mad, crazy, and impossible All-Ireland Snámh Phádraig will take place. I think there might still be just a few seats on the bus, but hurry if you want to join and get in touch with the team via their Facebook page. Alternatively, click here to support any of the 44 swimmer who have signed up so far.

Today, The Journal had an article on Pádraig, click here to read it. At just around 9.30pm, almost 40,400 people had clicked on it.

Today’s German Music Tip
Ina Müller, Aber dich, from her new album 48 which got her the German Music Prize “Echo” for best female rock/pop singer.
“Ich will immer das, von dem ich weiß ich krieg es nicht!” – Sounds familiar…!

What’s hot
Getting up
What’s cold
Having a break
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Das kann doch gar nicht wahr sein!

Twitter: @forPadraig
http://www.caringforPadraig.org