Daughter giving back in honour of her parents: 'I’ll never fill my dad’s shoes, but I’ll just keep going'

Cork nurse Stephanie Cronin’s mother had multiple sclerosis, so her father joined MS Ireland in gratitude. Now, she volunteers in memory of them both 

Stephanie Cronin, a volunteer for MS Ireland, and a PHN with her daughter Molly. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

Stephanie Cronin works “pretty much full-time” as a public health nurse. She has two young children, four-year-old Tomás and two-year-old Molly. Yet her volunteer role with MS Ireland is an important item in her diary.

The Mallow-based mother, who is in her early 40s, says: “You just have to have the motivation to give a little bit of time to somebody else. You just have to write it in the diary and make it part of your month.”

Cronin pays tribute to her husband, Jason. “Without his support, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to be part of MS Ireland.”

The charity is “like a family” to Cronin, whose mother, Ellen, became ill with MS when she, an only girl, was one years old. “My parents got on with it. They were very happy together, and it was a very happy home to grow up in.”

The most important service from MS Ireland was the way they helped her father, Tom, to care for his wife at home. “They provided support around physio, as well as around practical considerations, like adapting our house, two miles outside Mallow town, which was then quite rural.

“They helped with getting a specialist wet room for my mum’s personal hygiene. And they helped get an adapted bed that both my parents could sleep in, which was very important to them.”

Cronin is also grateful for the social outlet the charity provided her parents. “They were able to meet other people affected by MS. They travelled to Lourdes with MS Ireland, and they loved it. MS Ireland was very helpful to my father — it was a lonely journey for him, looking after my mum, because she’d been sick for so much of their marriage.

“Particularly towards the end of her life, he had great friends and confidantes he met through MS Ireland.”

After her mother died in 2004, Cronin’s dad got very involved with the charity on a local and national level. “He did it in her honour. He had a lot of input as a volunteer countrywide, just travelling to committee and board meetings and to AGMs.”

Even when he was diagnosed with stomach cancer in April 2020, he continued his volunteer work. “When covid hit, a lot of the meetings were on Zoom, so he was still able to do what he could. Even in hospital, having chemo, he’d bring in his laptop, so he could be involved with meetings.”

Cronin’s father passed away in September 2024, and, that Christmas, Cronin accepted an award from MS Ireland in recognition of all he had done for the charity. 

My father was a very inspiring man. I saw the joy he got out of helping others, and I just wanted to continue it on. That night of the award, I decided I’d start going to the meetings

Cronin says her role is “quite little” compared with other board members. “I sit on the Cork committee and we discuss any issues relevant to the branch. I’m involved with the flag days. Our main one is in March and we have church-gate collections, too, as well as coffee mornings and other fundraising events.

“On flag days, I’ve stood at church gates in Cork City and at the shopping centres. I did the Cork City Marathon in 2025 in honour of my father.

“I called my fundraising appeal ‘Run for Tom’. I made almost €5,850 for the Cork MS Ireland branch.

“Why do I do it? You’d be proud representing MS Ireland. You meet so many wonderful people. I feel I’m giving something back to an organisation that gave so much to us when we needed it. The people on the Cork committee were close friends of my father, and they supported him throughout his illness; and my mother through hers. They’re like family to me.

I’m following in my father’s footsteps in some small way and that does bring him closer

MS Ireland is a national organisation that provides information, specialist services, and support to people living with multiple sclerosis and their families.

More than 11,000 people in Ireland live with MS, and two-thirds access MS Ireland’s services and resources.

Supports include one-to-one assistance through the charity’s regional community worker programme, physiotherapy and exercise programmes, symptom-management courses, sessions for the newly diagnosed, counselling, and the MS Information Line.

In addition, MS Ireland Care Centre is Ireland’s only national respite centre specifically for people with MS. “Alongside these services, we advocate for the MS community on issues that affect their rights, access to services and quality of life,” says a spokesperson, adding that volunteers are central to this work.

“Volunteers organise fundraising events, support local branches and offices, share professional expertise, and help us remain connected to communities throughout Ireland. Their time, skills, and commitment enable MS Ireland to reach more people and continue providing vital services nationwide.”

Meanwhile, Cronin says, “I’ll never fill my dad’s shoes, but I’ll just keep going, doing a little bit of what he did. Because the work MS Ireland does is invaluable.”

• See: ms-society.ie