'Too young to be here': Parkinson’s patient, 47, trapped in Cork nursing home due to lack of State support
'Hell, Hell, Hell' is how Colm O’Cathain, 47, describes life in a nursing home. With no age-appropriate care available, he feels trapped in a system that doesn’t support people with early-onset Parkinson’s. Picture: Chani Anderson
Colm O’Catháin is well accustomed to having strangers wander into his bedroom at any time of the day.
“It’s to be expected in a place like this,” he tells me.
A 'place like this' is Ballincurrig Care Centre in Leamlara, currently home for Colm. At just 47 years old, the once energetic geography and Irish teacher is now facing spending the rest of his days in a nursing home.
“Some of the residents have dementia,” he says. “At times they have ended up in my bedroom after becoming confused or disorientated."
A world map and miniature glass globe on his bedside locker serve as bitter reminders of the life so cruelly robbed from Colm by an aggressive form of Parkinson’s disease. Pictures of Colm with staff adorn the walls, in an attempt to provide a home away from home for him.
His current existence, largely spent in his room, is a far cry from the life he imagined as a young man who adored travelling the world and working with young people.
Colm tells me:
The wheelchair user struggles during our interview as a result of violent tremors. He powers through, nonetheless, determined to express his frustrations at the lack of State support for young Parkinson’s patients, many of whom he says are hidden away in nursing homes.
Initially diagnosed with Parkinson's in February 2016, Colm had endeavoured to continue to live independently. However, a fall scuppered his hopes of maintaining any semblance of a normal life and he entered a nursing home in Riverstick in December 2023.
He has since relocated to his current care home in the fading hope of finding a better fit for his social needs. While Colm praised the care provided by the Leamlara facility and its exceptional staff, he said that his quality of life is non-existent.
A visit from his friend Jerome Maume, who is secretary of the Cork branch of Parkinson’s Ireland, comes as a welcome distraction. Jerome is apologetic after realising he has forgotten the jelly babies that Colm had requested.
They laugh for a moment. Despite losing so much, Colm has managed to hold on to his sense of humour along with his sweet tooth.
The laughter, however, is short lived, when I ask Colm to detail his daily life and routine.
“It’s hell,” he tells us. “There is nothing for me here. You might have kids coming in to do Irish dancing or singing from time to time but this is more of the stuff suited to grandparents. On Monday and Thursday they have musicians but again, it’s aimed at a much older crowd. I don’t listen to it. If it’s on I’ll go to my room."
"It’s really hard to get signed out to go anywhere outside of the home since staff need to know where I am for medication purposes.”
Colm says that while he has support from staff at the centre, there is nobody he can call a friend.
“There wouldn’t be anyone I would refer to as a friend,” he admits.
“There are people who tell me things, yes, but would they be friends? Outside of here you would never really see a 47-year-old with a friend who’s 84. They see me as support but realistically I’m much younger than them.”
Living in a nursing home also comes at a significant cost for Colm.
"I knew that when I had to sell my car after a year of it being parked in the driveway. I am selling my stuff to stay in this place, but more importantly to live.
"The television is going, everything is going. I’ll never need my fridge again. It costs me €3,000 a month to stay here so all of my savings are nearly gone. When they’re gone I will likely go into a public service unit and spend the rest of my life with 70- or 80-year-old men.”
Jerome Maume is appealing to the State and HSE for an alternative model for young people like Colm who are in need of 24-hour care.
“We need a system where people who require regular home help get it. It’s much better to have people cared for in their own environment, in their own home, particularly young people. Colm’s situation is just impossible.
"We need home help for the people who need it with aggressive forms of Parkinson's. We need multidisciplinary teams with not just neurologists but physiotherapists, occupational therapists and voice therapists so people with Parkinson's can help themselves and prevent their conditions worsening with facilities like neurogyms.”
Jerome outlined the benefits of assisted living programmes for people like Colm and other Parkinson's sufferers.
“Assisted living environments where people like Colm can live in communities should be prioritised. This suits younger people a lot better than putting them into an institution. People like Colm are being given the basics of life to live, but what kind of a life is that? It’s horrific.”
Jerome and Colm were speaking ahead of A Walk in the Park for Parkinson’s which takes place nationally this Saturday, April 5, to mark Parkinson's Awareness Month. Cork is among the locations on board with a “walk in the park” event leaving from the Sacred Heart Parish Hall and finishing in Fitzgerald’s Park.
The events will raise much-needed funds for Parkinson's Ireland who provide exercise classes and support groups, among other services. Donations are also ploughed into research in a bid to improve treatments globally and eventually find a cure for the disease.
For more information or to register for 'A Walk in the Park' events visit parkinsons.ie.
