The Tubridy Show and Clinic.

Today I arrived in RTE at the ungodly hour of 8.30 to go on The Tubridy Show with the new CEO of the CF Association of Ireland, Philip Watt. I was waiting in the canteen oogling some faux energy drink and diet coke, trying to decide which one to devour, and trying not to fall asleep. I was reading The Irish Times when Philip arrived, fresh from his flight to Dublin. He interrupted his family holiday for the programme - he`s a winner! I am so excited about him coming onbaord given his extraordinary previous work.


The chat was mostly about the aftermath of the campaign and it was strange. I usually only partake in media interviews if I`m campaigning, so it felt kind of void, or something, to do one without the massive urgency - but of course it` s always important to highlight the issues and keep people thinking of them. Particularly with July coming up, which is when the unit is meant to be going to tender. The next step may be our biggest challenge yet, depending on the outcome. With the economy, it`s impossible to know, although things seem to be going ok at the moment.



The line of questioning was nice too, I suppose. It`s good to show off that Orlaworld is not, in fact Flat, but very very round and full of things that have nothing to do with CF. It`s funny when people identify you with something they just immediately approach you and chat all about it, regardless of whether it`s in a supermarket, the street or even the ladies toilet! Harper Lee says in To Kill A Mockingbird “Folks is just folks”. It`s one of my favourite quotes. I’m glad I can campaign and talk about the important factors relating to CF in Ireland, particularly because there are so many who cannot, or died trying



CF is certainly not all doom and gloom, but facilities in Ireland are so bleak to that in other countries. The Pollack Report stated, in 2005, that Irish Healthcare for CF patients was at a dangerous, emergency level and needed to be rectified immediately. Today’s interview was more a wrap up of the end of the campaign, though it was a bit more tough than I expected. I suppose I felt strange about saying my two friends names on air who had passed away. In March/April of this year when I went on Joe Duffy`s Liveline it felt like a necessary evil, like it was the only way of getting my message across, and I knew they would have wanted to be part of it. Today it just felt a bit nausea, because I had healed that part of myself and gotten as much closure as possible.



I did get to mention on the show about my book though! I signed with Hachette last week and will have my memoir out in Autumn 2010. Exciting and terrifying!

Here’s the interview: http://www.rte.ie/radio/liveplayer_av.html?1,null,200,http://dynamic.rte.ie/av/live/radio/radio1.smil







P.S. I went to clinic afterwards and had my first pulmonary function test since my lung collapsed. I had not been able to do it before because of the pressure breathing out that fast against the machine would have caused in my lungs. It went really well though and I can keep going with the exercise- whoopee! Yesterday I ran for 25 minutes and did my second round of weights, which included bench press. Challenging at the time, but soooo painful today. It means I did it right! I cycled to clinic too, which means I have to run tomorrow...