Clelia Murphy has opened up about the loss of her grandfather, who she says was more like a father to her.
The Fair City star lost her grandad in 2013 and praised the support from the hospice, who helped her family get through it.
Speaking about her close bond with her grandad – Seamus Farrell- she revealed he was the ‘backbone’ on their household.
“My grandparents rared me along with my mother, I lived with my grandparents and my mother and my sister and my uncle. We lived up in Castleknock and my grandad was my dad really, he was the main man in our life, not only was he our grandad he was also my daughter Clarabelle’s grandad,”
Sadly, Seamus fell ill in 2009 and passed away four years later.
“He was a great man, I couldn’t have asked for a better man, but he got sick in 2009. He was never sick, he was the backbone of our house so we weren’t prepared for it at all. He had lung cancer and he never smoked, so it was shocking. We weren’t as a family prepared for it at all.”
After keeping up work for much of his illness, Clelia’s grandfather eventually availed of palliative care from the hospice for his end of life treatment.
“He was very sick but he kept working, he got treatment obviously but with his age, he very quickly got brought into the palliative care.”
Clelia passionately recalled the incredible help the hospice service provided to her and her family during the tragic time.
“They educated us, they looked after us, they taught us how to look after him and they allowed us to have him die at home. We wouldn’t have been able to do that only for the angels that are here in the hospice.
“I can’t gild the lily on this one, this place is so important for all of us because it’s going to touch somebody we love, and this place isn’t about dying it’s about living. It’s about that part of our life that we’re all going to come to and we’re all going to face with someone ill. Only for them, it would have been a problem. We wouldn’t have been able for it and our family would have fallen apart only for this crowd.”
The actress praised the workers at the hospice for always having a positive attitude when dealing with such unfortunate circumstances.
“They helped us and they did it with a smile and they did it with love and a humanity that I will never forget. When the backbone, the person that’s holding you up, falls, what do you do? We were just so lucky to have the hospice.”
“It’s not just the beds here, they also bring in people who are regulating medication, people don’t just come here to die, they come here to live and that’s the most important thing about this place. It’s a place where life is celebrated, there are no sad faces there are happy faces and they do that for a reason. To have that depth is incredible, I don’t have it!”
Clelia, along with Brendan Gleeson spoke at the launch of Ireland’s Biggest Coffee Morning for Hospice together with Bewley’s in St. Francis Hospice, Blanchardstown.
The actress is an ambassador for the coffee morning that runs on Thursday, September 20th to help raise vital funds for their local hospice and home care service.
“This place is so important for all of us, because it’s going to touch someone we love,” she said, encouraging everyone to hold their own coffee morning.
“It’s an excuse to get your pals out and have a chat and a gossip. To have the coffee morning helps these guys so incredibly,” she added.
“It’s only now that I realised with all my pals that had been doing the coffee mornings – because they are going on over 25 years – the impact it has on people.”
