Mum and daughter both up for mother of the year
THIS year’s mother of the year awards sees North Cork well represented with two nominees, both of whom are mother and daughter.
The extraordinary coincidence sees both Mary Buckley from Mallow, along with her daughter, Audrey O’Sullivan, being on the three woman shortlist to win Munster’s mother of the year award and advance to the national final.
Mary Buckley is a 63 year old mother of seven who was nominated for the award by her daughter and fellow nominee, Audrey.
Having overcome the death of her husband to pancreatic cancer in March 2016, Mary embarked on a mission to raise as much money as she could, raising €23,000 for the Mercy University Hospital, Suicide Aware and Bóthar.
Speaking on her traumatic year, Mary said “We couldn’t have done it without the support of one another, the help of one another. We keep one another going.”
Meanwhile, her daughter, Audrey, has overcome her own adversities on her way to secure her nomination. Her two sons, Donncha and Conor, both have special needs and are both non verbal and have low muscle tone.
Caring for her children means that Audrey cannot work full time as a primary school teacher and instead job shares several days a week.
Both boys attend pre schools for children with special needs but while Donncha has been given five days schooling a week, Conor has been given two.
Audrey has been on a campaign to improve her children’s lives and children suffering from similar conditions by contacting various TD’s and media outlets.
“Any parent goes over and above for their children. You have to try and find the positive in everything, so we always say, ‘It could be worse’,” she said.