What a Difference a Day Makes: ‘A wheel came off his chair — if we didn’t laugh, we’d cry’

Grandmother Siobhán O’Dea recalls the fateful day when her beloved older brother, Michael, told her he had motor neurone disease. She tells Helen O’Callaghan how life changed in that moment

Siobhán O'Dea on Sandymount Strand, Dublin. Siobhán's brother Michael Carmody died almost six years ago from Motor Neurone Disease. She and her son, Luke, are doing Ironman Barcelona in October in Michael's memory. Photo: Gareth Chaney

I remember exactly where I was on the M3 when my brother, Michael, told me his diagnosis. It was a Saturday, December 10, 2016.

He’d been in CUH all week, having tests. I’d wanted to go down, but he fobbed me off, said he’d be seeing the doctor on Friday.