I’ve fought through the pain barrier – now it’s time to put my family life first
CARVING OUT a career in television can be a tough task, so most TV personalities are slow to put their position in jeopardy by taking time out to spend with their families. Not so Animal A&E presenter Andrea Hayes, who has decided to take a wellearned break with daughter, Brooke, and her husband David Torpey, while her fans enjoy the fifth instalment of the TV3 series.
And she’s also giving herself a break to focus on her own health – as she suffers from a degenerative spinal condition which can often leave her in crippling pain.
Although she is regularly in a lot of pain, she says she gets great support from her husband and family.
‘I am very lucky. Brooke is just brilliant. She is super,’ reveals Andrea, who also hosts a show on Sunshine 106.8FM.
‘I just thought it’s such a joy to be able to spend a little bit of time with them
‘I was dropping Brooke to creche and not seeing her until the evening. I love what I do but I just felt I was never going to get this time back.’
The mother of one certainly deserves some time off seeing as she returned to work soon after the birth of her daughter more than two years ago.
‘I’m freelance, so I didn’t [take maternity leave],’ she explains. ‘I was straight back into the radio two weeks after and I was down at the Ballinasloe Fair about eight weeks after having Brooke and it was really hard. It was full-on.’
Of her ‘gamble’ to take a little time out, she says: ‘Maybe when I decide that I want to come back, no- one will want to work with me, which is fine.
‘You just have to take that gamble, you just don’t know.’
And it seems she’s relishing being at home, reading cookbooks and being the perfect housewife.
‘I’m just loving getting the shopping in every day and the cooking and cleaning. Walking the dog is fantastic – it sounds deathly boring,’ she says.
But the TV3 star adds: ‘It’s just amazing. I am loving being a mum and being a wife. It’s just fantastic and I never thought I would say that. Who knew?’
Of her usual hectic schedule of trying to juggle work and home life, she reveals: ‘It’s just too hard. You are rushing around trying to drop her off in a panic and then you’re in work thinking, “I have to get out at a certain time”.
‘And you’re eating takeaways then in the evenings thinking, “I’ve put on a half a stone, what’s the story?”’
But while she’s enjoying her time away from the stresses of working life, Andrea knows full well how costly it can be to take your foot off the career ladder.
‘I know there are money pressures,’ she says. ‘Obviously I love my job and you want to do it well – but I think your best job in life is being a good mother and a good mother and being a good friend. That’s what life is like. I feel so blessed.’
The presenter, who has enjoyed a varied career on TV3 which has included guest-hosting Midday, is pragmatic about the cost of taking time off and says she isn’t anxious about the challenge of going back to work.
‘We’ve had five series of Animal A&E. Series don’t return often and people have those stresses about it coming back or not,’ she says.
‘I have been really lucky and I think you have to say fingers crossed that luck will continue.’
Animal A&E, which also features popular vet and presenter Pete Wedderburn, now airs on 12 countries including Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland and the US.
British station Channel 5 has also snapped up the hit show, which follows the dedicated individuals who devote their lives to the protection and wellbeing of animals.
Meanwhile, Andrea will also using her time off to investigate possible new treatments for her on-going back condition. The TV3 star has been diagnosed with the degenerative condition spinal stenosis, or the narrowing of the spinal canal, is heading to the US over the next week to meet with specialists.
‘My back along with my joints which hold my discs together are degenerating,’ Andrea explains. ‘I am actually hoping to do a documentary on it, there are so many people with chronic pain conditions that people just don’t understand.
‘Everyone kind of has back pain but it is so different when it is a chronic pain condition. It can totally disarm people and mean that they can’t get out of their houses all day.’
She continues: ‘It can take a lot of positivity to get up and walk around. It’s really painful for me to get up and about in the mornings – but I know once I do I feel much better.’
To help cope with her condition, the upbeat mother of one has completed a number of pain management courses at St Vincent’s Hospital.
And being on regular medication for her degenerative condition even made it difficult to get pregnant, she reveals.
‘[With Brooke] it took a long time,’ she explains. ‘I weaned down my tablets and we were lucky that we had one month where I wasn’t on anything and it was just such a blessing. But it takes such a long time to
I am loving being a mum and a wife. It’s just fantastic – and I never thought I would say that. Who knew?
get there, you have to go to the physio and endure an awful lot more increased pain.’
As for trying to deal with her condition, she says: ‘I have tried everything I can. I am just going to go over to the US to talk to these specialists and see if they can do anything because I am on loads of tablets at the moment and you can’t start a family if you are on them, or have another child.’
Of her hit TV3 show, meanwhile, which is back for its fifth season, she says: ‘We’re trying to do something a little bit different to what we’ve done in the past with Animal A&E.
‘We want to show that people are working with the ISPCA – there are some positive stories out here. For example, there was a huge amount of horses that we found on a piece of land and their hooves were grown over.
‘But there were signs that someone was visiting them as there was a trough for some water and a little bit of hay there, so with the help of the guards, we hunted down the owner and rather than take the animals from the land, the ISPCA said, “We want to work with you can we help you get a farrier?” ‘So we arrived back in a week or two and the hooves had been trimmed.
‘That’s a very positive story to show people to work with the ISPCA.’
While the presenter is out of the studio to film Animal A&E, she experienced the more glamorous side of working on television when she covered for Midday host Elaine Crowley last year.
Describing her time on the panel show as a treat, she says: ‘Your hair is done every day, they get their hair and make-up done every day which was a real treat for me.
‘I was delighted with it. It is so different – it’s such a different style of presenting. I love the chat on Midday and the banter and it was great experience for me.’
But of her current role on the animal rescue show, she says: ‘It’s lovely to be able to do work where looks aren’t a part of it and it’s just about the story.
‘Everyone wants to look reasonably well but when you are in the middle of a rescue on Animal A&E, it’s the last thing on your mind. ‘It’s always raining but it’s very rewarding work.’
As for future projects, the bubbly host says she would be happy to do anything that interested her.
‘It’s not necessarily presenting, I was a producer for years as well so it just has to be something I am passionate about,’ she explains.
But Animal A&E fans shouldn’t be too worried, as Andrea says she would be delighted to return for another season. ‘It has such a strong place in my heart,’ she says. ‘It’s done very well, it’s sold in loads of countries around the world and the ratings are good so that’s all positive. But you only want to do it if everyone who’s working on it wants to.
‘So if TV3 are happy, the ISPCA are happy and if we feel like we can make something good again, I would absolutely be delighted to do it.’
Ireland’s Animal A&E airs on Tuesdays at 7.30pm on TV3.