If you have a problem you can’t solve – just look for another one!

US and German programmers were asked to solve this important, complex problem. It’s a bit of a competition. Both the Americans and the Germans want to demonstrate that they are the better computing experts. The Americans get going and in little time they unveil their solution. It kind of works, but has some bugs and some problems that will need fixing. The Germans sit down, analyze the problem and draw up a specification. That gets reviewed, approved, and passed on to the implementation specialists. Their solution is impeccable. Everyone likes it. Only that by the time it’s ready, the problem had changed. – The moral of the story is that sometimes you are better off to get going, even if you are not sure yet where you might end up.

There is another story about a young man who couldn’t wait. He really wanted to get married. As soon as possible. But when he says to Friar Lawrence, who had agreed to help him and Juliet, “Oh, let us hence. I stand on sudden haste”, the friar answers, “Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast.”

To be honest, I have always been the person that ‘run fast’. I always had a go at a good idea, dealing with the consequences later. In most cases, it worked out, and I did not stumble. And when I did, I got up and tried again.

When the sky falls, we will stand tall, face it all together. The sky fell, I am trying to stand tall, which is much harder in ‘real life’ than in the movies, I am stumbling all the time. What makes me get up again is you, the people that occasionally read these ramblings, the people that send messages of support, the people that come to visit, the people that think of and pray for Pádraig.

Today, he was a bit more alert than last week. Maybe he is getting ready for Lá Fhéile Pádraig.

When I think about it, whether you plan what you’re doing and think before you get going, or whether you are someone that gets so enthusiastic about an idea that plans would just stand in the way – it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you do what you believe is the right thing to do. And that, when it doesn’t work out, or when you fail, when you stumble, that you gather all of your strength and get up, trying harder than ever before. With the help from your friends, if you’re a lucky as Pádraig. Sure, what would be the alternative.

Today’s German Music Tip
Marianne Rosenberg, Er gehört zu mir (1975). Well, Marianne and her music was not everybody’s cup of tea. Back then, you couldn’t really admit to like her or her music. This was far, but very far too conservative and establishment. Compare this song to the one by Ina Deter from a few days ago which was only published a year later and you’ll understand why. When I found it, for some reason, it brought back memories…

Walking on the beach in the middle of nowhere – a solitary bin for ‘Restmüll’!

What’s hot
Wise and slowly
What’s cold
Panic
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Restmüll

Twitter: @forPadraig
#caringforPadraig
http://www.caringforPadraig.org
Upcoming events: http://www.caringforPadraig.org/events

We’re approaching St. Patrick’s Day. We did have good intentions. Plans. We were going to dip the White Haus 2 into green floodlight. Now, it looks like as if this brilliant idea might just remain that: a brilliant idea. No floodlights to be seen anywhere. We kind of gave up on them. We needed a fallback. Then, thankfully, some friends sent over an envelope. A family member brought over another bag. Both full of St. Patrick’s Day goodies.

So this afternoon, we decorated Pádraig’s room and I took a few pictures. Then, as I was looking around, I noticed that the staff must have been really busy preparing for St Patrick’s Day too: so many green things everywhere: plugs, measuring tapes, linen bags, tubes, lift buttons, charts, even the graphs on the monitors – all had changed to green!!! By now I know how nice the people looking after Pádraig are, but I had no idea that they would go all the way and turn the whole place green, inside out. Still white from the outside – inside, it’s green!!!

They say a picture can say a thousand words. I couldn’t make up my mind about which picture to post, so here are they all!!!

Pádraig is taking the preparations for his big Saint’s Day in his stride. Pretty relaxed, not too excited. Like most days this week. But I am sure, he’s looking forward to his big day on Monday!!!

We all desperately want Pádraig to get better. He has the courage, strength, and will power to see this through, and to emerge as his old self again on the other side. No doubt.

Pádraig is doing ok, nothing radically new, nothing good or bad. He is cooperating well when he is getting his teeth brushed, i.e. he opens his mouth patiently until it’s all done. Doesn’t sound like much, but it’s progress. Also thought today, that he hasn’t had an x-ray for a long long time – again, nothing major, but really good considering how things were just a few weeks ago.

Patrick’s Day is approaching and the first postcards and packages arrived. We had great plans ‘painting’ the ‘white house’ where Pádraig is being looked after so well green next Monday. Still thinking about it, but we might have to scale back just slightly…

Tonight, some news on what has been happening during the week:

• The Taoiseach answered our open letter to him on 10 March.
• The Irish Daily Mail published a full page editorial with our letter to the Taoiseach on 11 March.
• Pat and I published a statement in reply to the Taoiseach’s response.
• Mary Lou McDonald wrote to the Taoiseach and raised the issue with the Department of Health.
• Councillor Noel Rock raised the issue with the Taoiseach and asked Senator Paul Bradford to raise the issue in the Seanad.
• Pat and I will be on the Late Debate on RTÉ Radio 1 on Tuesday, 18 March, 22:00.

Loads of things happening. Plenty of visitors arriving for St Patrick’s Day – which we usually spent watching the parade in Fenagh, Co. Leitrim, at the Cross Roads.

I must thank Maitiu and the Bonny Men for sending on their music – and a live video for him which I hope to be able to share with you soon. The song is ‘Colours’ – and it’s about ‘the morning when we rise’ – what a brilliant song for Pádraig, and so brilliantly performed!

For all who contributed to the playlist for Pádraig, here it is (please comment if I left something out!), with anonymised comments:

On Top of the World by Imagine Dragons

Little Talks by Monsters and Men
I remember well from last May when we finished our finals from college “little talks” by Monsters and Men was the song, Pádraig was always requesting. I hope to get up to Hamburg soon to see him again.

Wagon Wheel by Old Crow Medicine
…Pádraig claiming ‘Wagon wheel’ by Old crow medicine to “probably”(!) be one of his favourite songs ever.

Time to Pretend by MGMT
Also another one that comes to mind is ‘time to pretend’ by mgmt-in 1st year of college, we were talking one night about how much we both really liked the song and then one morning a while after this i awoke to see that I had a voice msg from padraig consisting solely of this song being performed live at their concert!

Crossfire by Brandon Flowers
I’m sure you’re well aware of these tunes Pádraig likes, but they are evocative of the year we spent in the Scéim together because he played them all the time. And I mean ALL. THE. TIME!!!!! Anyone in the scéim would testify to that!

Ní Tú Mo Ghrá by Mo Hat Mo Gheansaí
As above

The Trailing Skirts of God by Bell X1
And of course Bell X 1, the upbeat rocky ones of course, but he pointedly sat me down and dissected the lyrics of “Trailing Skirts of God” once, impressing on me how good the lyrics were.

Dream of Flying by Brian Crain
We listened2this type of thing lying on the floor of the Sceim pondering life

‪Starships by Nicki Minaj‪
He was obsessed with this in San Diego and played it again and again and again. He got annoyed if anyone tried to change it.

Mexico by Mundy
Also Mundy’s Mexico always makes me laugh because it reminds me of when he told me that he went to Mexico because he liked the song so much.

The Great Defector by Bell X1
I know some of these have already been mentioned–but Pádraig introduced me to Bell X1–(Meaning–he asked me how could I NOT know who they were?!?! and then made sure I had listened to their best before leaving Dublin)–in particular the song “The Great Defector,” which he had on repeat. He even took the time to break down the lyrics and make sure I knew what a “cornetto” was since we don’t call them that in the states to ensure I understood just how great the lyrics truly are!

Human by The Killers
Also, The Killers’ “Day & Age” album which he was obsessing about while at UK back in the day.

Spaceman by The Killers
See above.

This is Your Life by The Killers
Another night we were in his house and I was saying the Killers were good but heard they weren’t so good live, he stopped me there, put on a dvd of them live at The Royal Albert Hall saying they’re incredible, he particularly loved the crowd waving arms during ‘This is Your Life’

Boys Don’t Cry by The Cure
Loads of the songs that have already been mentioned epitimise the year on the Scéim and one more that stands out is The Cure – Boys Don’t Cry. We spent an AWFUL lot of time in Whelans over that year and this song is the quintessential Whelans song for a lot of us – An bhliain is fearr riamh inár saol!

Velcro by Bell X1
Also I remember walking home with him after a night out a couple years ago, I put on the radio on my phone for part of the walk, the 1st song that came on was ‘Velcro’ by Bell X1, as soon as he heard it told me to turn it up and started singing it saying it was one of his favourite songs.

Just Say Yes by Snow Patrol
He loved a lot Snow Patrol’s songs, ‘Just Say Yes’ springs to mind, can still picture him dancing to it.

===> Well, the CD is in his room and we’ll play it every day. Funny thing is: I see him dancing and singing when I listen to this really great music – and my body drains, like as if someone had pulled a string and all inside of me was flushed out. Why am I getting sad? We are humans. Pádraig is with us. Right bang in the middle. And we are dancers. Always!

Böll died the year I got married. Like many Germans, my love for Ireland developed when reading his Irish Journal. Böll had a cottage on Achill Island and published the Journal the year Pat was born. So there are many connections. (There are always connections if you search long enough.) One of Böll’s most famous stories, however, is his “Anekdote zur Senkung der Arbeitsmoral“, or: Anecdote Concerning the Lowering of Productivity”. He wrote it for a May Day programme for the NRD, the Norddeutscher Rundfunk in 1963, the same radio station from where Pat gave the interview on Cormac ag a Cúig about a week ago. (Yet another connection.)

Yesterday’s post made someone think of this story, and when I read it again today, I felt a rush, an urge, a spirit, like that of many years ago. In short, it’s a story about a fisherman looking relaxed out at the sea and a stranger telling him that if he only took advantage of the ideal whether conditions and worked really hard, he could earn so much money that he could then retire, relax, and just look out at the sea on days like these – to which the fisherman responded: that is exactly what I am doing right now.

People say it in different ways. Life is not a rehearsal. It is always “now”. There is no future that’s going to be better. If you want change, change now. Nobody ever said on his deathbed: had I only worked harder and stayed more time in the office. We are social, we think, we are free.

The trouble is, that it might sound and seem, cool and romantic to think that way when things go more or less in the right direction. When life has just stopped and you wonder why the world’s hasn’t stopped too, it takes a lot to think and feel that way: that, ultimately, you are in charge, not of what happens to you, but of how you deal with it. Opting out is not an option. You are social. Never alone. Not out into the wild. You are your family, your friends, your neighbors. What helps me is stepping back, from a distance the world looks blue and green, and for moments I feel like Böll’s fisherman, unable to understand what all our common worries are about.

When we were with Pádraig today, he was grand. He opened his eyes when we got into his room, he reacted with his hand when we were talking to him or asked him to give us a squeeze, as almost every day, and his general condition was good. I finally managed to  get all the song you proposed together onto a CD. A lot of it is really good music for dancing. As many of you, when i listened to this music with him today, I could see him dancing, and was wondering whether that is what he saw too,

One day, after the rose garden, we will have a big party, with plenty of food and drink, and the best of music. We’ll learn the lyrics off by heart. We will sing them along while dancing the night away, not worried at all about tomorrow, living in the now.

Wenn du so bist wie dein Lachen,
möchte ich dich wiedersehn,
krumme Dinger mit dir machen,
streiten über tausend Sachen,
mit dir schwimmen nach Athen.

—

Wenn du so bist wie dein Lachen,
würd ich für dein Wohlergehn,
daß die Knochen nur so krachen,
auf dir Purzelbäume machen,
und dich kitzeln an den Zehn.

Today’s German Music Tip
Ina Deter, Wenn Du so bist wie Dein Lachen (1976). Incredible, but true: this song came 10th in the competition to represent Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest. In my Cologne Wohngemeinschaft being able to sing along Ina Deter’s song was a prerequisite, for the girls; boys had to be able to hum along, at least. I had completely forgotten about this music.

What’s hot
Time
What’s cold
Arbeitsmoral
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Abstellgleis

Twitter: @forPadraig
#caringforPadraig
http://www.caringforPadraig.org
Upcoming events: http://www.caringforPadraig.org/events

One night on the Late Late Show, some mad man said he was going to get water and plastic bottles, fill the plastic bottles with the water, and then sell the bottled water. The whole country went hysterical with laughter. It went on for the whole night, and all of the following week. Did you hear the man on the Late Late saying that is going to sell bottled water? Would you ever…! Who on earth would pay for bottled water when you just had to open the tap to get the same stuff for free?

A few year later on, supermarkets have isles full of water, water from Ireland, from Italy, from France, from I don’t know where. And people buy it. A lot. Someone had done some magic.

For me, this is a perfect example of how we are working hard, to earn as much money as possible, which we will then spend on stuff that we could get for free – which renders a lot of our money and all the time we spend at work to earn it, pretty useless. What if we decided to work less, earn less money, and only buy what is not free and less of it. It would probably bring down the economy, but it would very likely make us happier people.

Pádraig’s friends told me a few things about him recently which I had heard about before but which had not really registered: apparently, he is the only person they know (or just one of very few) who would use a disposable camera. He also never wanted a smartphone (a phone is a phone and not a computer). He is, they said, someone who had an opinion of his own about things, a sense of right or wrong, and it didn’t matter whether that was popular or not. Try to make sense out of this: if you didn’t know Pádraig, you’d think they were talking about a person from the ‘old’ school, not a fun-loving, full of energy being, singing and dancing a 23-year old.

When I went into Pádraig’s room today, it smelt really nice but I couldn’t make out what it was…

He was good today, struggling his way through long days, hard work with the therapists, sitting in the viva-la-Thekla with bare legs – it’s so warm here. The sky is blue, the first buds are out, there is summer in the air. Voices are coming up into his room from a downstairs balcony. Trains rush by in the distance, the S1 into town in one, and to the airport into the other direction. Birds are singing. One thing he was doing really really well today was swallowing – and while this doesn’t sound very impressive, if he manages to swallow well, he’ll be able to get rid of the tracheostomy, definitely.

Later it turned out that, in the morning, therapists had turned Pádraig onto his stomach for about 20 minutes or half an hour, yet another first, and Pádraig being the tall man he is, not so easy to do! But lying on your stomach should stimulate your swallowing. With Pádraig it seems to have done the trick!

Another really nice thing today was that the nurse that has been looking after him more than anyone else lately, had tried to stimulate his sense of smell with some different oils. Amazingly, the one he reacted to most (and the one I had smelled when I came into the room) was lavender – which is not just Pat’s but was also Pat’s mother’s favourite flower and smell. Someone had done some magic today.

Tonight, instead of the Today’s German Music Tip – a clip for our non-Irish-based friends, and our younger friends, who have never seen the ‘real’ Late Late Show, the worlds longest running chat show: the intro.

What’s hot
Water
What’s cold
Bottled water
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Mensch Meier, das ist ja ‘n Ding!

Twitter: @forPadraig
#caringforPadraig
http://www.caringforPadraig.org
Upcoming events: http://www.caringforPadraig.org/events

Bombs exploded on a commuter train and Pat’s mother was literally blown over by a storm when she left mass today, ten years ago. I was in a taxi on the way back into Madrid, having given a talk at a University just outside of the city, when Pat rang me really worried. She had heard about the bombs and wanted to know whether I was alright. She was also really worried about her mother who had to go into hospital.

Spring has arrived!

I went into the hospital to visit Pádraig today, the hospital that he has been in for the past four months today, only interrupted by a few weeks over the New Year in the UKE. I was not really worried. In a way, and for the time being, there is no need to be worried about Pádraig’s physical condition. He is relatively stable at the moment. There have been few surprises. His breathing is ok, his heartbeat is fine, there have been no infections, his temperature is fine. There are even small but noticeable improvements in the way he can move his limbs and in the way he can react to requests.

Then I realized that going into hospital has become my life, being in hospital Pádraig’s. Four months in Hamburg today, following four months in Beaumont, following just over two weeks in Cape Cod Hospital. I cried my eyes out on the way, not because I was worried, but because I am still not able to cope with the enormity of what happened. Sometimes I

The roses in the rose garden are getting ready for Pádraig’s date(s)

think, I should just grab him, lift him out of his bed, and walk out with him. This 23-year old does not belong into a hospital bed. We should not worry about the figures on the monitors showing his heart beat. We should be worried about which person his heart is beating for, that they would look out after each other. and never ever being tempted to break each other’s heart. He should be out of breath after a good swim, not because he sat out in the viva-la-Thekla for four hours. He should be drinking Guinness, Vodka and Wine, not being fed liquid food of a definitely unattractive colour.

Luckily, two really good friends of Padraig’s were here for a visit who brought up our spirits and allowed us to have ‘normal’ conversations. I would never have met them in my life had it not been for Pádraig. They would never even had thought talking to me had it not been for him.

4 months today since Pádraig first arrived here.

Patrick spent a few months during his transition year all by himself in Berlin in the German Olympic Training Centre, training with some of most talented German swimmers. On his first day there, he rang us from a tram (we were in Leitrim) in a panic saying he had gone in the wrong direction – an experience that all of us who have come to Hamburg because of Pádraig are quite familiar with. Against all odds, he found his way back. A few months later, he won in a swimming competition against all odds, and to the surprise of his coach who couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw this young, laid back, tall and thin fellow beat her champions. “Willkommen in Berlin” is one of my favourite songs by Udo Lindenberg, it’s also the title of his musical running in Berlin.

Schritte ins Niemandsland.
Mit leichten Fuß durch die Nebelwand,
wo vor dir noch keiner war,
und was vor dir noch keiner sah!

Schreib’ die Gesetze neu,
und bleibe nur dir selber treu.
Der crazy Mann geht mit lockerem Gang
unter grünen Linden lang.

Seid willkommen in Berlin!
Ihr Verrückten gehört da hin.
Komm, wir brauchen den Wahnsinn.

Today’s German Music Tip
From Udo Lindenberg’s Hinterm Horizont – Berlin, the musical
What’s hot
Wahnsinn
What’s cold
Langeweile
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Das ist ja der glatte Wahn!

Twitter: @forPadraig
#caringforPadraig
http://www.caringforPadraig.org
Upcoming events: http://www.caringforPadraig.org/events

‘Kaffeetrinken’ has really nothing, or if, then only marginally, got to do with ‘drinking coffee’. You could drink coffee any time of the day, but ‘Kaffeetrinken’ you can only do in the afternoon. The most prominent feature of ‘Kaffeetrinken’ is, surprisingly, not coffee, but cake: Kuchen, Torten, ‘Teilchen’. So why, you might ask, is it not called ‘afternoon tea’? Because ‘afternoon tea’ is not really about the tea either.

Both ‘Kaffeetrinken’ and ‘Afternoon Tea’ are mostly about company. You take some time out to catch up with your friends. The rest is just ‘Drumherum’, decoration. The essence of company is the reason to live. We would not be able to exist was it not for others. If no one cared, what would be the point?

When we were in Cape Cod Hospital, really really scared, absolutely and utterly confused, when we hardly slept or ate, I experienced this for the first time: people emerged from nowhere. They were with us. They spent days and nights with Pádraig. They helped. They were company. When we decided to bring Pádraig to Dublin, our American friends said, you’ll have loads of support when you get back. I didn’t quite understand what they were talking about, most likely, they didn’t either because what happened was not like anything I ever experienced in my life (and I am old-ish).

After the concert in Colaiste Eoin, someone said to me “what Pádraig did last night, most of us do not achieve in a life time”. I think it goes way beyond this, because that night, Pádraig himself did not do anything. Yet, he made this huge impact. He did this by becoming the catalyst for what people are most yearning for: to be loved, to feel compassion, belonging, caring, and company.

Pádraig had an ok day today. Two friends arrived from Dublin and kept him company. They will be here for another day and will share their friendship with him. There is no way that he will this just allow to pass by, or ignore it, or not notice it. Feeling the presence, the energy, the love of your family and friends is the reason to live, because they need you. What would they do without you? That’s why he will get better, and better, and better. He’s just taking his time. But he will not allow any of us to ever be without him.

Today’s German Music Tip
Rosenstolz, Ich hab genauso Angst wie Du (2006)
What’s hot
Company
What’s cold
Loneliness
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Alles Käse

Twitter: @forPadraig
#caringforPadraig
http://www.caringforPadraig.org
Upcoming events: http://www.caringforPadraig.org/events

Who needs enemies when you’ve got friends like this? Last night, a good “friend” said, “ok, let’s do it”. So tomorrow morning, I will register for the Hamburg Marathon. Just to see how things are going, I took advantage of the incredible weather here, temperatures went up to 20 degrees celsius today, and ran 16km. After that, I was very tempted to drive to the hospital (no, not in an ambulance) but, surprisingly, I even managed to walk up the stairs to Pádraig’s 4th floor ward.

However, they didn’t let us in to Pádraig’s room when we arrived this afternoon. We were getting a little worried as it was taking quite a while. But then, when they finally let us in, it turned out that they had put on his green Éigse t-shirt, and what a difference it made to the way he looks! And he must have realized himself that he was not wearing a hospital gown anymore but the t-shirt of one of his favorite events! Weekends are usually quiet, and this one was no exception. When there was a quiet moment, I counted the months, and got mixed up. I thought it had been almost eight months, when in fact it has been almost nine since the accident. When I start looking back at this time, I stop. When I think about the future, I find it difficult too. Tomorrow is another day, and nobody knows what it’ll bring.

Talking about running: Check out the Facebook page for Run the Mini Marathon For Pádraig – Every Step makes a difference! The Women’s Mini Marathon is coming up on June 2nd. There will be a group of Runners doing this 10k challenge in aid of Pádraig, to help with the many and various costs associated with his care and recovery. I will include all these details on the event page of http://www.caringforpadraig.org as well.

From running to swimming: There is just a little more than 1 month left to Snámh Phádraig which will kick off on 12 April. This is an incredible adventure: a swim off the coast of every county in Ireland that has a coast. There aren’t many places left, so if you want to join in, send and email to the organizer as soon as possible: snamh@aodhanodea.ie

In the meantime, Lynn Fitzmaurice and Irene Clonan, two master swimmers of Atlantis Swimming Club (based at Markievicz Leisure Centre, Townsend Street, Dublin 2, and coached by Pádraig’s former Champion Coach Nicholas Bourke) will swim their first race (!) over a mile (!) on 04 April in the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin to raise funds for Pádraig. Swim a Mile Challenge

Today’s German Music Tip
L. van Beethoven, from the 9th Symphonie, Ode an die Freude. From a concert at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin to celebrate the 60th Birthday of the Federal Republic of Germany, 23 May 2009. There is also a version showing both the original German and the English translation. It starts with an invitation that is usually not shown when you look up the original lyrics by Schiller:
Oh Freunde, nicht diese Töne, sondern lasst uns angenehmere anstimmen und freudenvollere.
What’s hot
Joy
What’s cold
Sadness
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Maaaaann – ist das heiß!

Twitter: @forPadraig
#caringforPadraig
http://www.caringforPadraig.org
Upcoming events: http://www.caringforPadraig.org/events

I am not a lawyer. But there is a law that requires the governments of EU member states to pay for service abroad in another EU member state if a particular health service is required but is not available in the home country.

When we were panicking and frightened by the thought that Pádraig would be ‘kept’ – and there is no other word for it – on a high-dependency ward of an acute hospital, and started to talk to specialists in England and in Germany, we also talked to the National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH) consultant responsible for Pádraig. That consultant told us that while the HSE have an obligation to offer treatment abroad, she would not waste her time, as she was too busy with other important things, filling out HSE applications that would not materialize.

If I was a lawyer, I would take the Government and the HSE to court for denying essential health care to its citizens.

Some of you might have seen the front page news of one of Ireland’s national tabloids, the Irish Daily Mail, with an extra inside page, AND an editorial. All this follows Pat’s interview on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta yesterday, and their subsequent press release. Apparently, Enda Kenny, our Prime Minister and Taoiseach, is preparing an answer to the letter we sent him last week. – It’s never too late. I put up the Irish Daily Mail articles on http://www.caringforpadraig.org if you want to check them out.

This is Pádraig in studio with Éadaoin Nic Giolla Bhríghde in Sept 2011. Cormac Ó hEadhra is presenter.

Ice cream castles in the air and feather canyons everywhere. But then, they can also block the sun. – Over the past days, I have been thinking (!) about what it might feel to be in a bed for many months, not being able to taste or to smell. I talked to a nurse who said that part of their education was to become the patient for a short while. She said that even being moved, say from the Thekla into the bed, was an incredible experience. She said the experience of not knowing and not seeing what was going on was terrifying. Lowering the back with the head into a horizontal position felt like as if one was just about to fall off a cliff.

For the first time ever, we saw Pádraig’s heartbeat go down to 57 beats a minute, something we had never seen before. We were about to call a nurse when we realized that 57 is kind of a normal beat when one is resting, as Pádraig was. He had two visitors with him today, old friends from Dublin, but was very relaxed and a bit sleepy today. That is good during the weekend that he is able to gather his strength for Monday.

The article in the Irish Daily Mail today talked about Pádraig as a ‘refugee’. In a way, he has been very lucky and privileged that he was able to avail of the German health service when the Irish system failed him – one might think. In reality, the Germans are now picking up a huge bill, to cover for the Irish system that is failing some of its best and most vulnerable citizens.

I’ll leave it here for tonight.

Reinhard

Earlier today, Cormac Ó hEadhra interviewed Pat on RTÉ Raidio na Gaeltachta on “Cormac ag a Cúig”.

The full programme is also available on the RTÉ (Irish Radio) Raidio na Gaeltachta website (the interview starts at 00:16). RTÉ followed up on our Open Letter to Taoiseach Enda Kenny, T.D. Pat talked about Pádraig’s accident, his transfer from Cape Cod to Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, the lack of adequate care and specialized neuro rehab services in Ireland, and Pádraig’s involuntary transfer to Hamburg.

This is Pádraig in studio with Éadaoin Nic Giolla Bhríghde in Sept 2011. Cormac Ó hEadhra is presenter.

The programme caused an incredible amount of activity. Pádraig would have been delighted to see what an Irish language programme can achieve: Apparently, there have been meetings between the Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Health earlier today. The Taoiseach wrote a letter to us which was waiting for his signature after his meeting with my fellow German Angela, and Pat’s childhood friend Paul David Hewson, otherwise known as Bono (she has a confirmation picture with herself and the man with the pink glasses) down at the National Convention Centre. And that is not where the story ends. Later in the afternoon, a number of newspapers rang, among them the Independent and the Irish Daily Mail. We’ll see tomorrow to which extend they will report on the interview.

RTÉ also released a press release.

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RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta
Press Release

            Mother appeals to Taoiseach for improved Rehab services


Pádraig Schäler, 23, received a serious brain injury in an accident in the US last summer.  In an interview today on Cormac ag a Cúig on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta his mother, Patricia O’Byrne, described her experience of trying to get the correct medical treatment for her son, and the decision she made, together with her husband Reinhard Schäler, to pen an open letter to the Taoiseach titled: “This Broken Health System” earlier this week.

Due to the lack of adequate services for Pádraig’s care and rehabilitation in Ireland, the family has had to move to Hamburg, Germany, to ensure that he receives the care he needs.

Pádraig Schäler had just finished his studies in Trinity College last year when he went to the US on a J1 visa.  On 27 June he acquired a very severe brain injury when he was hit by a van while cycling on Cape Cod.  He had insurance, but because he was not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash, his insurance would not cover him.

Patricia told Cormac that they were inspired to write the letter to the Taoiseach after hearing his speech on Fine Gael’s new universal healthcare proposals.

Patricia explained that they transferred Pádraig, who remains in a coma, back to Ireland two and half weeks after his accident.  He was brought to Beaumont Hospital, where he spent 4 months.

“All the experts stressed the importance of early rehab in cases such as Pádraig’s, but Pádraig was going to have to wait 1 year in Beaumont for a bed in the National Rehabilitation Hospital.  Even then, he would only receive 3 months of rehab.  There are only 3 beds in the whole country for people with injuries like Pádraig’s.  The experts all said that he would need 1.5 to 5 years rehab, so even after a 1 year wait, he would not get the care he needed.”

Patricia explained that Pádraig’s father, Reinhard, went to Germany and was told that Pádraig could not receive care there as he was not resident, so his parents made the decision to move there with their son so that he could get the care he needed.  Their two daughters remain in Ireland.

“It was a very difficult decision.  Pádraig has a great love for Ireland, and our lives are there – my work, my husband’s work, our family.  But here in Germany he is receiving excellent care, and the doctors have time to spend with him, to talk to him, to stimulate him.  They have given us much more hope for his future”.

The open letter to the Taoiseach was published on the website set up by the family,caringforpadraig.org, and can be seen here http://caringforpadraig.org/english/.

Patricia O’Byrne was speaking today from Hamburg on Cormac ag a Cúig on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta.

–ENDS–
Issued by RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta

Further information:
Caitríona Ní Bhaoill, Press Officer, RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta
086 8769585   caitriona.nibhaoill@rte.ie

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