Johnny Ward has opened up about a difficult year as his mum's health has worsened.
In 2019, the Fair City star's mum was diagnosed with Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, also known as broken heart syndrome, after the death of her husband and Johnny's father.
He immediately moved in with her in order to care for her, but he has admitted that unfortunately her health hasn't been great throughout the year.
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Speaking to RSVP Live, Johnny said: "It's been very up and down. She had cancer, that was diagnosed in late June, July so she's been in and out of the hospital. She went through quite a major surgery called a whipple surgery. It's pretty much where they take out part of the pancreas, the gallbladder and a large part of her bowel and pretty much stitch it all back together. It's a very serious procedure and recovery is very slow.
"As of now, she has been transferred over to convalescent care, so that's one step closer to getting her home from there."
Johnny has been caring for his mum since 2019, but he admitted he is very lucky to have such amazing family and neighbours that can help out.
"I've found myself extremely lucky, number one because of where I live," said Johnny. "Tallaght Hospital is down the road, James' Hospital is down the road."
He continued: "But I also know I'm so lucky that if there is a planned event or a wedding or something like that, I have amazing neighbours and amazing friends and members of my family have just been incredible. I genuinely don't know what I would have done if I didn't have family members, friends, or neighbours."
While it has been hard on Johnny watching his mum struggle with her health, he loves spending time with her and caring for her.
"I wouldn't have it any other way," he said. "It's an absolute no brainer. Of course there's things you do have to sacrifice, my wife Brenda and I were supposed to go to Lanzarote for a week this year but my mum had just been transferred over to St James' Hospital so I wasn't going to do that. You cancel those things and there is a lot of cancelling. You just have to get used to a schedule and a timetable of inconsistency."
Johnny has partnered with Lidl as they launch a new charity partnership with Family Carers Ireland to support ‘heart of gold’ employees and half a million family carers across the country.
Lidl’s much loved Trolley Dash charity fundraising initiative will see 181 lucky shoppers across Ireland win a supermarket sweep style dash around the store to bag a festive feast this Christmas.Returning for its 11th year, shoppers will have the chance to win a spot on the dash in their local Lidl store by picking up a Trolley Dash ticket at the till for just €1, with all proceeds going directly to Lidl’s new charity partner Family Carers Ireland.
For more information about Lidl’s Christmas Trolley Dash, please visit: www.lidl.ie/trolleydash
English (US) ·