What a difference a day makes: Soprano Claudia Boyle on the moment her dad passed away
'I held his hand as he passed away. In a weird way, I cherish it. He was surrounded by his four daughters and I was just holding his hand as he left. It was profoundly sad but a wonderful gift.'
My dad, Thomas Joseph Boyle, TJ — I called him Teej — took his last breath on December 20, 2023, at 4.30pm. My instinct was to look up at the clock on the wall, I don’t know why… it was important just to mark it.
His passing was expected — and also it wasn’t. He’d been ill for some years with Alzheimer’s. He could still have very lucid days but he was definitely up and down, and the Tallaght Hospital team had given us a time frame: 24 to 48 hours.
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