So sad.
Charlie Bird’s wife Claire has admitted that she has moments where she struggles to come to terms with her husband’s illness but has learnt to accept his diagnosis.
Revealing that she goes through moments of grief as she accepts her husband’s Motor Neurone Disease diagnosis, and described some of the “terrible days” they both go through.
“There are terrible days when I break down and cry but in those moments, I don’t want Charlie to see me,” Claire told the RTE Guide.
“In the beginning, the medical people told us that we would eventually accept the diagnosis and we thought that there was no way we would. But we have accepted it.
“So now it’s about enjoying each other every single day.”
Claire’s heartbreaking revelation comes as she told the publication that Charlie already knows where he is going to be buried and what his headstone will read.
Claire revealed that Charlie has decided to be laid to rest on Inis Thiar (Inisheer) which is the smallest of the Aran Islands beside his best friend Peadar.
Also deciding on his headstone, it is apparently almost complete and the inscription is expected to reference a famous Chaucer line that Charlie’s father would always quote.
It will read: “Here lies the ashes of Charlie Bird in this beautiful place.”
“Then it will be 1949 to whatever year I die and underneath that line: “Time or tide waits for no man” My father used to say that to me all the time,” Charlie explained.
Charlie hasn’t been well over the last few weeks as he prepares for his climb of Croagh Patrick in April and while his physical health is doing good, he has a fear of coughing and choking while he eats as his throat is hugely affected by his illness.
