'The tea and scones have been had': Vicky Phelan meets Charlie Bird

And she's climbing Croagh Patrick too

Vicky Phelan and Charlie Bird in Limerick on Monday December 13, 2021.

Vicky Phelan has met former RTÉ broadcaster Charlie Bird and his wife Claire in Limerick. 

The meeting came following Bird's emotive appearance on Friday's Late Late Show, which prompted Vicky to reach out. 

“Every day is the same for me, I make no bones about this — I cry every day because of what happened to me," Bird told Ryan Tubridy.

“It’s not just my voice, every time I sit down to eat I’m struggling. Thankfully I can still walk, but other people with motor neurons can’t walk, I still can.

"When I wake up in the morning and I’m lying in my bed, I think for one moment maybe this is all a dream. Then when I talk to Claire, or Tiger the dog, I realise I’m living this nightmare."

Phelan tweeted Charlie Bird following his interview, commending his honesty in the face of such a harrowing disease. 

"You were so vulnerable sharing so openly the terror of living with a disease that you know is going to take everything from you - your voice, your swallow, your mobility...yet your love of life, family and friends shone through. I have no doubt that you brought comfort to so many.

"I really hope that you get comfort from all the love and support that is being sent your way from all over Ireland."

Recently, the duo had shared an exchange on Twitter about meeting up, when Vicky told him that she'd be thrilled to meet up and chat to him - "We have a lot in common...unfortunately!"

Speaking about medically assisted death, Bird said,

“In relation to [assisted] suicide, whatever I decide in the future, I believe all of us, if we see somebody who is in a dark place, we should put out arms around them and don’t hide from it," he said.

“I haven’t worked out where I’m going to end and how. I want to meet Vicky and talk about lots of things, but eventually I will have to make up my own mind about where and how I end up.

And so the tea and scones were had in Limerick on Monday. Vicky Phelan thanked her friend Mary Fitzpatrick, who is the head of the Centre for Transformative Learning at University of Limerick for making them, before announcing that she will be joining the expedition to climb Croagh Patrick. 

"The conversation flowed. We laughed. We cried. We hugged (apologies in advance to the Covid brigade!) We made plans to meet again. I have also been roped in to climb Croagh Patrick with Charlie and Claire and the whole of Ireland, it appears."