Charlie bird and his wife did trekking for Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association and Pieta House. they also raised € 3 million and since then he has been facing health issues.
Charlie Bird is facing a painful disease and he is pretty helpless about it. He shared his pain in the following sentences.
‘It is painful for me to say this — I can do nothing to change what is happening to me.
‘Motor Neurone is a terminal illness that cannot be cured, so I just have to face the reality of my situation.
Charlie bird is waiting for his death.
‘In a way, I’m living on borrowed time,’ Charlie continued. ‘[Motor Neurone Disease] is often called “The Thousand Day Illness,” and I’m around a third of the way through those thousand days, but thankfully I’m still living.
‘I made one promise to myself at the outset of my diagnosis, and want all of us to remember that there are many, many people in the same boat as me from different illnesses.
‘And frankly, that is why I lit the second candle in the little church on the top of the mountain — to remember everyone who is battling a terminal illness.’
On today’s show we’ll be broadcasting an interview we recorded with @charliebird49 and his wife Claire yesterday morning in their Wicklow home. Join us at 3 pm on @RTERadio1 pic.twitter.com/2Xrcl3TxZv
Ray D’Arcy Radio (@RadioRayRTE) June 24, 2022
Charlie speaks about his usual life and how he wishes to reach his 73rd birthday.
‘Living each day at a time is what brings me the most joy — I’m living for each day now, and when I go to bed and wake up the next morning I feel like I’m surviving,’ Charlie said.
Charlie bird wants to see his 73rd birthday:
‘Last Christmas I didn’t think I would be alive this coming Christmas, well, right now, as I sit here talking with my voicebank, my main aim now is to get to my 73rd birthday, which is in September.
‘To be even franker, what brings me joy now is finishing a meal without having a choking or coughing fit.
‘Obviously, seeing my family, grandchildren and my friends also lifts me well, [and] they’re not going to hide from the fact that every day, and it comes into my head at some points, that I might die soon.’
‘Ray, you asked me how I feel about this photographic record of Climb with Charlie — well in a way, I see it as my swansong,’ Charlie told Ray D’Arcy.
‘Or to put it more bluntly, I see this book and my memoir, titled Time and Tide which comes out in the Autumn, are bookends to my career.
‘I see this photo book as a record of an amazing day not only on Croagh Patrick but right across Ireland and abroad. The local people in Westport who know the history of Croagh Patrick have told me that what happened on The Reek on the second of April will go down in the annals of Ireland’s Holy Mountain,’ he continued.
‘If I told you six months ago that Daniel O’Donnell would be singing a Bruce Springsteen song on top of Croagh Patrick you probably would’ve told me that I was hitting the bottle,’ Charlie joked.
‘Over 40 members of the Clew Bay band were playing on top of The Reek. It was a magical moment right across Ireland and abroad, and this book is a record of that amazing day. I’m so proud of it.’
Read More – Greta Thunberg pops in a festival and warns “‘we’re at the beginning of a climate emergency”
