FIGHTING FOR PEOPLE
HEALTH GROUP HIGHLIGHTS CASES
WHILE many of us may struggle for breath after running for a bus or climbing up a hill, for COPD sufferers the feeling is all too familiar and even the most menial tasks can trigger an attack.
The disease leaves those affected with limited lung capacity and it is estimated that between 250,000 and 300,000 people in Ireland have been diagnosed with COPD.
Pauline O’Neill founded the Louth Support group three years ago as a way to connect with others who also have the disease.
‘I just felt I had no one to talk to and I had seen through Pulmonary Rehab that there were other support groups and I just happened to say I’d love to set up a group and the next thing I knew all the information was there for me so I just took the bull by the horns and rang COPD Ireland,’ she said.
Now entering it’s third year in existence, the group is growing all the time and now has more than 20 members locally.
‘When I set it up, I felt very isolated when I was told I had COPD and no cure for it. Nobody understands it. Trying to explain how you feel can be difficult. One of the hardest parts is the way your life is slowly taken away. I was able to mind my grandchildren at one stage. The next I had a flair up, into hospital and that was the end of that,’ explained Pauline.
‘Last year I was very lucky because I had no hospital but the year before that I had from February until October with constant admissions for infections and I got pseudomonis which is a very hard infection to get rid of. It really impacts on day to day life, you can’t do the things you could before. Your day would be, when you waken int he morning you are struggling to get dressed. Even something as simple as peeling potatoes would take it out of you. I’d be short of breath, I’d be tired and by the time I’d have my dinner I’d be too tired to eat it.’
Peter McParland is the youngest member of the group. He was diagnosed with COPD in 2013, when he was just 45.
‘I was having trouble breathing for a good few years before I had anything done about it so I kind of knew it was something like that even before I got the diagnosis,’ he said.
‘I was a smoker so it’s all self inflicted unfortunately! I went to the doctor, he gave me some medication and that was it really. I’m quite ignorant about it even now, that’s why I decided to come along to the group to try and learn more about my illness.
‘ The worst time for me is in the morning, I can’t do anything for about an hour until I get myself right. I was working right up until August but I had to give it up then. It affects every aspect of my life,’ said Peter. ‘I have to plan everything now in advance, even down to getting a haircut. It’s a big lifestyle change. I’m hardly ever out and about now. It’s very hard to adjust to the change.’
Local woman Marie Cunningham said she was diagnosed December three years ago after initially being told she had asthma.
‘I was constantly being admitted to A&E because I couldn’t breath,’ said Marie. ‘ They put me on antibiotics and steroids and would send me home. Then it got to a stage where my oxygen levels were very low and they discovered I never has asthma, it was COPD all along. Finding that out was an awful shock. I thought I’d had asthma for about ten years.
‘I joined the support group the April after I was diagnosed, it had only started up so I was at the second meeting. I was delighted to have this group. To be honest when I was diagnosed with this and sent home I thought I was being sent home to die until I found out about this group that Pauline had set up. It helped so much, it was a lifeline.
‘It’s very important to have that support there, to be able to meet up and discuss things and we also have a COPD Facebook page. It’s a closed group and we can all talk openly on it.’
Patrick Daly is a new member to the group.
‘ This is only my second meeting, I came for the first time in November so I’m still new to the group, I’m only kind of getting to know the people involved at the moment,’ he explained.
Patrick was diagnosed with COPD three years ago after quitting smoking.
‘I went to the doctor and they told me I had COPD. At the time, I didn’t know what it was so I decided to come along and meet some others who had the same thing.’
He said he is most affected at nighttime or when climbing up a hill or a steep incline.
Pauline O’Neill can be contacted at 0860733469.