Bird: My funeral’s planned & I’ve no regrets...
TV newsman Charlie on facing terminal disease
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The veteran journalist told earlier this week of his devastating motor neurone disease diagnosis after months of tests and scans.
The 72-year-old sought medical treatment after he experienced difficulties with his voice.
He revealed: “My voice will go first. And my voice has been me. My voice will weaken, but whether it goes completely they don’t know.
“And it’s an awful conversation to have, about whether I should record my voice into a voice bank so that when eventually you’ve no voice, you can use it on a computer.”
The ex-news correspondent has been buoyed by support since he tweeted news that he has the terminal condition.
But he said there is no indication how fast the disease will progress.
He told The Irish Times: “Maybe a year, 18 months, nobody knows. I kept pressing them, and they don’t say. I’m just coming to terms with it.
“I wish I could say I was the strongest man in the world, but I’ve cried my eyes out over the last month and I don’t sleep at night.”
Charlie, whose career at RTE spanned almost four decades, said he’s particularly proud of his achievements because he never went to university.
And he admitted that since his retirement in 2012 he has had time to think about his own funeral.
He said: “My ashes will be taken to Inisheer, the smallest of the [Aran] islands, where I’ve been going for the last 50 years.
“It’s hard to take, but I want to live whatever time I have left as fully as I can.”
My voice will go first.. my voice has been me CHARLIE BIRD ON HOW ILLNESS WILL IMPACT HIM