Heartbreaking.
Charlie Bird held every heart in the nation during his appearance on the Late Late Show on Friday night, and told viewers he was “blown away” from the support he’s received since his diagnosis.
Bird was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease earlier this year and is now speaking publicly on air about his journey.
“I cry every day because of what happened to me. If I was a betting person, my feeling is that I don’t think I will see another Christmas,” he told Ryan Tubridy.
Going on to tell Ryan of how he has been receiving letters from people across the country almost every day, the former RTÉ journalist said of how it lifts him up.
“I have people praying for me, [I get] mass cards, candles, I am blown away by that support. It lifts me.”
While his journey has been difficult it is important to Bird to remember that he is not “the only one going through this”.
And his one final wish? For Ireland to truly help those who are ill and really look after them.
“Thousands of people waiting for a hospital bed, facing the same challenges as me. As a country and as a people, it is my final wish that we look after everyone who is ill,” he said.
Keeping up a positive attitude, Bird added that his great friends and family, “a beautiful wife, five grandkids, two beautiful daughters” get him through and motivate him.
“I want to see my grandkids grow up – I know I am in a fight and I am doing my best,” he said.
Bird later spoke about the day he got his diagnosis, receiving a call from Professor Orla Hardiman.
“She was writing something on a piece of paper and told me, ‘don’t you read that’,” he said, then driving back to Wicklow before taking a look at the note.
“It said Charlie Bird has a terminal illness – we went home together crying. But what can you do, you can’t change it, so now we are getting on with life and trying to deal with it.
“One to three years is what I have been told. I won’t have my voice in three or four months’ time – what keeps me going in a way is the support I have got from all over the place.
“I get out and walk every day to prove to myself that I can still do it – I jokingly told my mates I have one wish, to climb Croagh Patrick again – to prove I can still do it.
“I want [to use] whatever time I have left to help other people.”
