Former patient joins protest to show appreciation

A MAN who spent a record 311 days tethered to a machine before getting a heart transplant last December joined hundreds of protesting nurses outside the Mater Hospital in Dublin yesterday as a show of solidarity.

Jerry O’Leary, 50, from Kanturk, Co Cork, had returned to Mater to be treated for a minor chest infection but decided to make a stand with around 300 nurses outside the hospital when they stopped work for an hour as part of their campaign for a 35-hour week and a 10.6% pay rise.

Mr O’Leary, a former welder, suffered a heart attack in 1995 while watching Dublin play Cork in Croke Park. In 1998 a second heart attack ended his working life. When his heart began to fail last year he was connected to an artificial heart machine before beginning his wait for a donor.