Motor neurone disease will not stop filmmaker, Simon

WHEN Ruth met Simon Fitzmaurice, she sensed he was special. But they were in college, and he always had a girlfriend. The two didn’t get together until 2000, when they met by chance at a bus-stop.

Eight years later, Ruth was pregnant with the couple’s third child; Simon was heralded as Ireland’s most promising film director; and the couple planned to move into a large country house in Co Louth. Life was perfect.

Then, Simon went to the Sundance Festival for the screening of his second short film. He developed a limp. It didn’t go away, so Simon went through a battery of tests. He was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, and was given three years to live.