Grieving family urge people to ‘wake up’ to the threat of Covid-19
HEARTBROKEN CADOGAN FAMILY LOSE THEIR BELOVED MOTHER KATHLEEN (86) TO DEADLY VIRUS
‘We want people to know that this actually happens. It happened our family and it’s devastating. People just have to wake up and see it.’
The words of the eldest daughter of 86-year-old Saltmills woman Kathleen Cadogan cry out to be heard, following her mother’s death last Wednesday after a two-week battle with Covid-19.
The grieving Cadogan family have been left reeling by the virus. Three family members contracted it, including Kathleen, who was a hugely popular member of the community – as reflected by the hundreds of people who lined the roads in support of the family as the hearse carrying her remains travelled from Wellingtonbridge to Poulfur for her burial on Friday.
Kathleen was admitted to Wexford General Hospital on March 20 with suspected Covid-19.
Despite the best efforts of the medical team there, she died 12 days later.
Her daughter Mary urged people to stay at home, saying her mother was perfectly healthy, playing cards four nights a week, and yet lost her battle with the illness.
Mary said: ‘ The neighbours have been so good. You could see many of their hearts were breaking standing at the roadside. I want to thank each and every one of them; it’s something we will never forget. Afterwards, it was very strange: we couldn’t even sit around the table and have a cup of tea. You have to walk away from the graveyard and just leave it.’
THE family of an 86-year-old Co Wexford woman who died having contracted the Covid-19 virus are calling on people to ‘wake up’ to the stark reality of how lethal it can be, even to healthy people with no underlying medical conditions.
Kathleen Cadogan from Winningtown, Saltmills, died on Wednesday night having been hospitalised less than a fortnight earlier, after she took ill at her home with coronavirus symptoms.
The mother of Mary, Patricia, John, Pauline, Patrick, Denis, William, Caroline, Nicholas and Conrad, Kathleen was in great health up until the time she contracted the illness, which has killed around 160 people to date in the Republic of Ireland.
Her daughter Mary said: ‘She went down like a ton of bricks. We want people to know that this actually happens. It happened our family and it’s devastating. People just have to wake up and see it. There are a lot more cases than the statistics show. I know eight people in the (New Ross) district who had it; they are OK, thank God.’
Mary urged people to stay at home, saying her mother was perfectly healthy and yet lost her battle with the illness.
Kathleen is the first person from the county believed to have died from the illness at Wexford General Hospital and her death has cast a dark shadow over the community, where she was dearly loved.
Kathleen grew up in Winningtown, attending Poulfur and Ramsgrange national schools.
In her youth she enjoyed attending dancing in local halls.
She married Denis Cadogan from Coole, Campile, and they had ten children. Kathleen didn’t move far from her home place, 100 metres in fact, to the neighbouring property, which Denis bought.
Over the years she helped Denis out with the farmwork and milked cows, making butter and baking bread every day. She used to sell the bread on the roadside and at Fethard country market, which she helped revive in recent times.
Kathleen loved playing card games, especially 45, and was a mean card shark playing with friends four nights a week up until early March.
Her son Willie said: ‘She was as good a mother as you could get. She was there the whole time for us and it was a busy house rearing ten of us and with plenty of people in to be fed.’
He said she was ‘fit as a fiddle’ all her life and only had one hospital stay, and that was several years ago.
The loss of Denis some 24 years ago came as a great blow to Kathleen, but having most of her family living nearby provided solace and succour to her. The arrival of grandchild, after grandchild and later great-grandchildren through her front door always cheered her immensely and she doted on their every word and gesture.
‘She was always interested in getting out and about and any time any of us were going abroad with our families she would jump at the chance to come along. Over the years she travelled to America and Spain.’
Willie said his mother loved company and was out of the house as much as she could.
A woman of great faith, Kathleen attended Mass regularly either in Poulfur or Templetown, and every day during Lent. She was a life-long pioneer and was involved in the ICA.
She loved her style and was a very sociable, friendly woman, with a smile that would light up any room and an infectious laugh.
She was always there for neighbours and people across the county, attending virtually every funeral within the area.
On March 20 she took ill at her home. Her doctor was called and after her symptoms were explained, an ambulance was called.
She was admitted to the hospital into intensive care on March 20 where she was diagnosed with pneumonia and on the following day was put into an induced comma to give her more oxygen. Kathleen was put on a ventilator as doctors worked diligently to help her by doing everything they could to get her lungs working but the illness was too strong.
‘We thought one of her lungs came back and you were half wishing it was working, as
SHE WAS AS GOOD A MOTHER AS YOU COULD GET. SHE WAS THERE THE WHOLE TIME FOR US