Chapter Sixteen - ‘Mary and her daughter, little Mary’
Over the next year or two, Mary and her daughter stayed in various places as she couldn’t decide where to settle and she wanted to shake off all possibility of Rory ever finding her again.
One evening, Mary was looking at the property advertisements in the window of a property agent when she saw a small house that instantly took her fancy. She grabbed hold of little Mary’s hand and went inside to enquire.
Mary asked for a leaflet describing the house and after reading it several times she bought it on the spot; even offering €5000 above the asking price to ensure that it was taken off the market. It wasn’t that Mary had become a spendthrift since her large award of compensation; it was just that she wanted nothing unexpected to crop up that might prevent the sale going through.
The house that Mary Fanning bought was in Portlaw, County Waterford and the address was 14, William Street. Mary couldn’t believe it when she first saw the house advertised. This was no ordinary house; this property had been the home of her maternal grandparents, Mick and Lizzy Lanigan ever since 1955.
Mary had not seen her Grandmother Lizzy or her aunts and uncles and their families since the funeral of her parents and siblings. Mary’s discreet inquiries as to the reason for the house sale led the estate agent to learn that Grandmother Lizzy Lanigan still lived.
“The owner, the widow Lizzy Lanigan, unfortunately had to enter an Old Folk’s Home in Waterford when dementia started to set in. Given her age, condition, and the fact that she will never leave the Old Folk’s Home until the day she dies, she is obliged to sell up to offset her care costs,” the estate agent replied.
“I will need to think about placing my own mother in a home soon,” Mary suddenly said, in order to maintain the same line of conversation. “Is it a good home where this Lizzy…. Mrs Lanigan resides, do you know?”
“‘Meadow Vale Residential Home’ is as good as they come, I hear,” the estate agent replied as he completed several forms which he then handed to Mary.
Mary felt ashamed for having lied about her own mother, and, having dug her up from her grave to make her inquiries appear all the more real.
Mary was wealthy enough to have bought the most splendid mansion had she chosen, but she wanted a small place where she would feel comfortable; a home from home. While Mary wanted to live in her grandparent’s house, if she was to live there, she preferred to hide from her past in the eye of Portlaw locals and neighbours.
One evening, Mary was looking at the property advertisements in the window of a property agent when she saw a small house that instantly took her fancy. She grabbed hold of little Mary’s hand and went inside to enquire.
Mary asked for a leaflet describing the house and after reading it several times she bought it on the spot; even offering €5000 above the asking price to ensure that it was taken off the market. It wasn’t that Mary had become a spendthrift since her large award of compensation; it was just that she wanted nothing unexpected to crop up that might prevent the sale going through.
The house that Mary Fanning bought was in Portlaw, County Waterford and the address was 14, William Street. Mary couldn’t believe it when she first saw the house advertised. This was no ordinary house; this property had been the home of her maternal grandparents, Mick and Lizzy Lanigan ever since 1955.
Mary had not seen her Grandmother Lizzy or her aunts and uncles and their families since the funeral of her parents and siblings. Mary’s discreet inquiries as to the reason for the house sale led the estate agent to learn that Grandmother Lizzy Lanigan still lived.
“The owner, the widow Lizzy Lanigan, unfortunately had to enter an Old Folk’s Home in Waterford when dementia started to set in. Given her age, condition, and the fact that she will never leave the Old Folk’s Home until the day she dies, she is obliged to sell up to offset her care costs,” the estate agent replied.
“I will need to think about placing my own mother in a home soon,” Mary suddenly said, in order to maintain the same line of conversation. “Is it a good home where this Lizzy…. Mrs Lanigan resides, do you know?”
“‘Meadow Vale Residential Home’ is as good as they come, I hear,” the estate agent replied as he completed several forms which he then handed to Mary.
Mary felt ashamed for having lied about her own mother, and, having dug her up from her grave to make her inquiries appear all the more real.
Mary was wealthy enough to have bought the most splendid mansion had she chosen, but she wanted a small place where she would feel comfortable; a home from home. While Mary wanted to live in her grandparent’s house, if she was to live there, she preferred to hide from her past in the eye of Portlaw locals and neighbours.
~~~~~
In the August of 2007, the ‘pretend widow’, Mary Fanning and her 5-year-old daughter, little Mary, moved into 14, William Street to live. This was the very same house that the peg-selling Romany gypsy told Lizzy Lanigan fifty years earlier, that she was to have seven children, and that her firstborn would be a ‘special’ daughter.
In a bid to keep all knowledge about herself to herself and to avoid unhelpful gossip, Mary let it be known that she was a young widow, the mother of a young child, who possessed a small income on which to get by.
It was about one month after moving into her Grandmother’s house in Portlaw that Mary visited a hospital consultant in Waterford to check out recent changes that she had noticed in young Mary.
For the past year, since Mary had reached her fourth year of life, there had been gradual changes that her mother had observed. These were changes that Mary initially ignored until they grew more noticeable week by week. They were worrying changes!
Little Mary’s movement gradually became more sluggish. She wasn’t as coordinated in her movement and overall dexterity as she’d been since birth. Little Mary was now showing signs of rapid motor skills deterioration. She often dropped things and was unable to catch objects thrown to her, as many children were able to do at similar ages.
The private consultant examined little Mary and confirmed that due to probably lacking air at birth, the child had, during her 4th and 5th year of life, start to develop the delayed onset of Cerebral Palsy.
Several hospital tests were made which took up most of the afternoon. Mary was grateful that she was able to purchase private medical treatment. She knew that had she to wait in line with all those other poor buggers who had no choice but to use the NHS, she wouldn’t have got her first appointment to see a consultant for at least six months after referral!
When Mary Fanning saw the consultant again that day to discuss the various findings the tests had revealed, she was to learn how permanent and troublesome her daughter’s condition would be for the remainder of her life.
“What can I do to improve her situation?” Mary asked, adding, “I’m a widow of means and can afford anything on the market that’s helpful! Is the condition curable or degenerative?”
“Some improvement can be made,” replied the consultant, “but in the main, stabilising the condition is often the best one can hope for. Physical therapy can help to improve mobility and there are some medicines which can control some of the symptoms that Cerebral Palsy can produce and help to prevent some complications. Whereas certain types of mild Cerebral Palsy can be outgrown, Mrs Fanning, I’m afraid to say that Mary’s condition could grow more severe. I’m afraid Mary is more than likely to have bouts of epilepsy, given the results of her MRI scans and EEG tests.”
Mary Fanning took a deep breath as she started to take in the seriousness of her only child’s condition. She immediately told herself that she’d seek a second opinion at the earliest opportunity.
“It will prove kinder to yourself and daughter in the long run, Mrs Fanning if you start off realistically. If you expect the worse to begin with, you will be better able to cope with young Mary’s inevitable deterioration in mental and bodily functioning when the time comes. Depending upon how far along the spectrum of Cerebral Palsy young Mary is, you can expect impairment in the areas of her vision, hearing, speaking, and intellectual disabilities. There are likely to be other developmental delays, and movement disorders.”
“You will, throughout young Mary’s life, need to draw upon the help of many specialists and therapists to deal with these specialised areas I’ve outlined, and when Mary is schooled she will need education in a special school establishment to help her become as independent as it is for her to become.”
“As to her lifespan, Cerebral Palsy does not generally affect life expectancy. Depending on how the condition is managed, motor skills can either improve or decline over time. While symptoms and severity vary from case to case, most people diagnosed with this condition can go on to lead a rich and fulfilling life.”
“To seek proof of this, simply refer to Stephen Hawking, the theoretical physicist and cosmologist who recently died. He had the best brain in the world and although he was medically indicated an early death, he managed to live to the age of 76 years.”
“Did this Stephen Hawkins have Cerebral Palsy?” Mary asked the consultant.
“No! While his condition was different from young Mary’s here, as he had a motor neuron disease, he nevertheless lived most of his life with many of the symptoms your daughter will display,” the consultant concluded.
One month later, she sought a second opinion with a private consultant in Dublin. The answer she received was identical to her first medical opinion and the tests carried out on young Mary.
Mary returned home that afternoon after receiving her second medical opinion, knowing that her work with young Mary would be cut out for as long as she lived.
In a bid to keep all knowledge about herself to herself and to avoid unhelpful gossip, Mary let it be known that she was a young widow, the mother of a young child, who possessed a small income on which to get by.
It was about one month after moving into her Grandmother’s house in Portlaw that Mary visited a hospital consultant in Waterford to check out recent changes that she had noticed in young Mary.
For the past year, since Mary had reached her fourth year of life, there had been gradual changes that her mother had observed. These were changes that Mary initially ignored until they grew more noticeable week by week. They were worrying changes!
Little Mary’s movement gradually became more sluggish. She wasn’t as coordinated in her movement and overall dexterity as she’d been since birth. Little Mary was now showing signs of rapid motor skills deterioration. She often dropped things and was unable to catch objects thrown to her, as many children were able to do at similar ages.
The private consultant examined little Mary and confirmed that due to probably lacking air at birth, the child had, during her 4th and 5th year of life, start to develop the delayed onset of Cerebral Palsy.
Several hospital tests were made which took up most of the afternoon. Mary was grateful that she was able to purchase private medical treatment. She knew that had she to wait in line with all those other poor buggers who had no choice but to use the NHS, she wouldn’t have got her first appointment to see a consultant for at least six months after referral!
When Mary Fanning saw the consultant again that day to discuss the various findings the tests had revealed, she was to learn how permanent and troublesome her daughter’s condition would be for the remainder of her life.
“What can I do to improve her situation?” Mary asked, adding, “I’m a widow of means and can afford anything on the market that’s helpful! Is the condition curable or degenerative?”
“Some improvement can be made,” replied the consultant, “but in the main, stabilising the condition is often the best one can hope for. Physical therapy can help to improve mobility and there are some medicines which can control some of the symptoms that Cerebral Palsy can produce and help to prevent some complications. Whereas certain types of mild Cerebral Palsy can be outgrown, Mrs Fanning, I’m afraid to say that Mary’s condition could grow more severe. I’m afraid Mary is more than likely to have bouts of epilepsy, given the results of her MRI scans and EEG tests.”
Mary Fanning took a deep breath as she started to take in the seriousness of her only child’s condition. She immediately told herself that she’d seek a second opinion at the earliest opportunity.
“It will prove kinder to yourself and daughter in the long run, Mrs Fanning if you start off realistically. If you expect the worse to begin with, you will be better able to cope with young Mary’s inevitable deterioration in mental and bodily functioning when the time comes. Depending upon how far along the spectrum of Cerebral Palsy young Mary is, you can expect impairment in the areas of her vision, hearing, speaking, and intellectual disabilities. There are likely to be other developmental delays, and movement disorders.”
“You will, throughout young Mary’s life, need to draw upon the help of many specialists and therapists to deal with these specialised areas I’ve outlined, and when Mary is schooled she will need education in a special school establishment to help her become as independent as it is for her to become.”
“As to her lifespan, Cerebral Palsy does not generally affect life expectancy. Depending on how the condition is managed, motor skills can either improve or decline over time. While symptoms and severity vary from case to case, most people diagnosed with this condition can go on to lead a rich and fulfilling life.”
“To seek proof of this, simply refer to Stephen Hawking, the theoretical physicist and cosmologist who recently died. He had the best brain in the world and although he was medically indicated an early death, he managed to live to the age of 76 years.”
“Did this Stephen Hawkins have Cerebral Palsy?” Mary asked the consultant.
“No! While his condition was different from young Mary’s here, as he had a motor neuron disease, he nevertheless lived most of his life with many of the symptoms your daughter will display,” the consultant concluded.
One month later, she sought a second opinion with a private consultant in Dublin. The answer she received was identical to her first medical opinion and the tests carried out on young Mary.
Mary returned home that afternoon after receiving her second medical opinion, knowing that her work with young Mary would be cut out for as long as she lived.
~~~~~
As advised by both consultants, after making all the necessary enquiries about appropriate schooling for young Mary, her mother placed her in a private home and education establishment, eight miles out of Waterford. This was far enough away not to be the regular topic of Portlaw gossip and near enough for Mary to visit regularly and maintain fruitful contact.
Young Mary would ‘live in’ and be educated there Monday to Friday, as she would need to be provided with this continuity at least until teenage years. Mary would pick her up every Saturday morning at 10.00 am and return her daughter on a Monday morning in time for her hydrotherapy session.
This arrangement seemed to work well for both mother and daughter, especially as Mary and her daughter would spend the whole weekend away at some resort or beach having fun, every weekend.
As to the expense of her daughter’s education and in-house care, Mary Fanning could well afford it. The mere interest alone on the monies she still had remaining, would easily cover young Mary’s lifelong care if required, without touching the principal sum that was tied up in stocks and shares and high-yield bonds.
Young Mary would ‘live in’ and be educated there Monday to Friday, as she would need to be provided with this continuity at least until teenage years. Mary would pick her up every Saturday morning at 10.00 am and return her daughter on a Monday morning in time for her hydrotherapy session.
This arrangement seemed to work well for both mother and daughter, especially as Mary and her daughter would spend the whole weekend away at some resort or beach having fun, every weekend.
As to the expense of her daughter’s education and in-house care, Mary Fanning could well afford it. The mere interest alone on the monies she still had remaining, would easily cover young Mary’s lifelong care if required, without touching the principal sum that was tied up in stocks and shares and high-yield bonds.
