Greg O’Shea has revealed it was incredibly hard to watch his granny deteriorate after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
He recalls Monica as a strong and wonderful woman, who made every effort to keep her independence until she sadly passed away in 2019.
“There’s probably no family in Ireland really that hasn’t been touched by Alzheimer’s in some shape or form,” he said on The Six O’Clock Show.
“My own grandmother had Alzheimer’s dementia. She’s a really strong independent woman and there was just a little delay here and there where she might forget your face.
“She was a strong woman. It just kind of gets their mentality and it’s quite sad to see but sure, that’s just the way it happens.”
He continued, “What happened was, she had a stroke which just kind of accelerated it. She lost the use of her mouth and it’s hard to think about it now because she just went from such a strong independent woman to needing a lot of care.
“Then when the stroke happened, we sent her to the Nenagh Hospital where they took great care of her and then she got a bit worse again.
“So we sent her to Talbot in Malahide up here in Dublin and there was 24 hour just until she passed away.”
Greg admits she loved nothing more than watching her family follow their dreams, and do the things they love.
“She was so strong, she was really independent. She used to take care of me and my sisters and she was just a really tough woman,” he said.
“She would’ve loved the fact I went on Love Island and that I had a radio gig, that I did the Six O’Clock Show at one stage and I was on the Late Late Show.
“She loved her TV like any Irish granny, it was just unfortunate that dementia got her and she just deteriorated very quickly.”
Greg was on Love Island when he heard the news of her passing. Show bosses allowed him to leave the Spanish villa for a few days and go to the funeral, before returning.