Mum-to-be’s grief over husband Tom’s death
WEXFORD WOMAN Bernadette (Bernie) Power – whose husband Thomas died on Sunday, June 20, in an ambulance on the way from University Hospital in Waterford (UHW) to Cork University Hospital (CUH) – told mourners at his funeral last Wednesday how she has lost her soul mate and best friend.
Bernie, who is expecting her first child later this year, has been left without her husband and the father of her baby. Thomas’s sister believes this is because the HSE and the government don’t care about the health of people in the south east.
Bernie Power (née Delaney), from Murrintown, is the daughter of former superintendent Michael Delaney, who served in the county over many years, and her mother, Eileen.
Bernie (30) said that her ‘world is gone’ and that she was devastated and heartbroken.
Heart patient Thomas (40) of Belle Lake, Dunmore East, was driven by his wife of nine months, Bernie, to Waterford. Thomas’s final words to his beloved wife before the ambulance doors closed, were: ‘I love you and I’ll see you in Cork’. He was forced to take a two-hour journey to Cork, as the cath lab in Waterford is shut at the weekend and after 5 p.m.
He suffered a heart attack only 30 minutes into his journey and died en route. Thomas’s sister Catherine said Bernie was very strong at her husband’s funeral Mass in Ballygunner on Wednesday. Bernie told the funeral that he was a ‘ quiet, loyal gentle person’ who was looking forward to the arrival of their first child in December. Hundreds of mourners watched as a baby scan picture of Thomas and his beloved wife Bernie’s baby was brought to the altar at the funeral. Bernie said Thomas was her ‘ best friend, soul mate’ and the couple were ‘ like two peas in a pod, always a good team’.
‘He was a fine handsome man and my God wasn’t I a lucky woman when I met Tom. We packed a lot into our years together and enjoyed every single day we had together.’
Bernie said: ‘ Myself and the baby will feel that love every day. We will be there, and he will always be there with us.’
She described Thomas as ‘a shining light in my heart’ and said he will always be with her and their baby, who is due in December.
Catherine said: ‘ The government should reduce the taxes pay because we are not getting the service we need, or they should pay the money directly to funeral homes because there are going to be more funerals. The Viking Marathon was in Waterford last weekend and there were 3,000 runners. Any of them could have died.’
Catherine said it takes 88 minutes for a patient to travel from UHW to CUH, adding that this leaves two minutes for a stent to be put in.
‘ The government and the HSE just let people die. We have to live with this forever. Bernie is a wreck and we are just trying to keep her going. It’s so unfair; this could have been prevented. She was only nine months married and they were both so excited as they had been renovating my parents’ house and were about to move in, and we have been robbed of a great son, brother and friend.’
She said the mobile cath lab, which is due to arrive at UHW in September, will arrive too late.
Deputy Brendan Howlin raised the issue in the Dáil.
He said: ‘ The Taoiseach will be aware of the genuine consternation in the entire south east, not only in the Waterford constituency, but in my constituency and across the south east, at the genuine belief that a man lost his life for the lack of a cath lab facility over the weekend in Waterford.
‘It was our understanding that, pending the conclusion of the second review, a mobile second lab would be in place by the first quarter of this year, a commitment that has not now been fulfilled.’