Son urges lockdown diligence after mum loses her epic battle against coronavirus
A SON whose mother battled Covid-19 for a record 66 days before succumbing to the disease has appealed for the public to hold the line on obeying coronavirus restrictions so that his mother’s death will not have been in vain.
Geraldine Aherne, 63, from Adare, Co. Limerick, died last week after 66 days in University Hospital Limerick, during which time she was in the intensive care unit.
It is the longest anyone in this country has spent in hospital fighting the disease.
Her son Paraic told Virgin Media News that his mother was ‘fit, healthy, had no underlying conditions, doing marathons for fun.
‘She was an absolutely amazing woman’
She never drank or smoked’.
‘This virus doesn’t discriminate,’ Paraic warned.
Hundreds lined the streets of the pretty Limerick village to pay their respects to Geraldine as her funeral cortege passed by last week.
‘She was an absolutely amazing woman,’ he said.
‘She was a lady who was loveable, admirable and possessed a unique magnetic personality that would just light up any room she entered into.
‘She was 66 days fighting, the longest in ICU care across the entire country, defying all doctors for weeks and months to live to fight another day,’ he said.
‘And you know, if you can take anything from my mom’s story it’s that this fight is not over.
‘Think before you act. Listen to the Government advice.
‘Look after your loved ones and look after them the best way possible, by staying away.
‘And I promise you that they’re there. will be better days.
‘If my mom’s passing saves one mom, one dad, one grandparent, one son, daughter, one child one, well then let this be her legacy.’
Paraic also praised the doctors, nurses and staff at the hospital, whom he described as ‘absolutely remarkable’.
He added: ‘Nobody should have to go through what my mom and my family went through.
‘And you know, if you don’t believe in superheroes then you’ve never met my mom.’