‘I woke from the coma and realised how close I came to not being there for my babies’
A MOTHER who suffered brain damage after going into cardiac arrest just days after giving birth to quadruplets says she owes her recovery to a charity specialising in neurological rehabilitation.
Mary Morris (55), from Mollassey, Co Killkenny, woke up from a coma to find a photo of her four babies beside her hospital bed and thought, “Oh, they must be mine.”
She had no recollection of giving birth to daughters Samantha, Nicola, Amanda and son Michael at Dublin’s Rotunda Hospital in March 2002 after suffering a respiratory cardiac arrest four days after the quadruplets were born by Caesarean section. While the infants – who were born eight weeks premature – were placed in incubators at the hospital’s high-dependency unit, Mary was being kept alive on a life support system.
“My heart stopping beating and I stopped breathing,” she said of her ordeal that doctors initially feared would leave her brain dead. “I was on life support. I had to be incubated (to breathe) and was then transferred to the Mater Hospital for six weeks.”
Not only had her muscles atrophied during her hospital stay, the lack of oxygen she suffered during the cardiac arrest affected her ability to walk and speak. It also affected her memory and, she says, “I was saying the same things over and over.”
But thanks to a referral to the Mater Hospital’s neurology consultant Dr Tim Lynch, who co-founded the Dublin Neurological Institute (DNI), which is affiliated with the hospital, Mary has not only made almost a full recovery, her babies – who turn 19 next month – were able to enjoy a normal childhood with their mother.
“The worst thing was coming out of the coma and realising how close I came to not being there for the children or my husband Tom,” she said. “Only after that happened did I realise what fear really is.”
But thanks to the efforts of Dr Lynch and his team at the DNI where she has been an outpatient on and off since her ordeal, she was able to raise her family and enjoy a normal life.
And she is now urging others to support the DNI this weekend when it holds its ‘Run as One’ fundraiser on Saturday and Sunday.
High-profile participants including RTÉ’s GAA correspondent Marty Morrissey and Professor Luke O’Neill from Trinity College are among those who have signed up to run or walk 5km to raise vital funds for the institute which is totally reliant on private fundraising to maintain its €500,000 annual operating budget.
Organisers are hoping to raise around €30,000.
Dr Lynch, who is clinical director for the DNI, said the facility is the only dedicated centre of excellence in Ireland providing both clinical services as well as teaching, training and research for neurological disease such as Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis.
But like other charities which have seen their fundraising opportunities cancelled this year and last due to the pandemic, it is is desperate need of funds.
“We have a big hole in our pocket that needs to be filled,” he said. “We need to stay open.”
But he said Mary’s story is a testament not only to his team but the brain’s ability to heal.
“Mary was lucky: she had a remarkable recovery,” he said.
Anyone wishing to take part or to donate to the DNI can do so on www.gofundme.com/ dnirun or by texting DNI to 50300 with a minimum €4 donation.