Against The Odds
Michael who originally comes from Drumcliffe, now living in Cartron Point is a well known personality all over the north and northwest, first as a peoples person in Henderson Motors where he worked in the service department and second as an entertainer where he brought great joy to peoples hearts with his music, he played in pubs, clubs and dance halls in Sligo, Donegal, Leitrim and in the north of Ireland. Due to an illness he was forced to give up his job and his music.
Finally in 1999 he was diagnosed with C.O.P.D. an umbrella name for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, it’s a condition in which airflow from the lungs is permanently obstructed.
COPD is a slow silent progressive killer disease, which affects 150 million people worldwide. 115,000 people diagnosed with the disease in Ireland alone.
The disease is a combination of chronic bronchitis and emphysema that causes a loss of lung function. Chronic Bronchitis means that the bronchi or breathing tubes have been inflamed over an extended period of time which eventually leads to scaring of the tubes. The term emphysema means that the elasticity of the lung tissue is lost resulting in the trapping of air in the alveoli or tiny air sacks.
You loose your independence, Things that most people take for granted like getting dressed and undressed, going up stairs , tying your shoe laces, walking all of these leave a COPD patient very breathless.
It is estimated that between 80 to 90% of all cases of C.O.P.D. are due to cigarette smoking, which means that we would observe a significant reduction in the chronic disease if the incidence of smoking were reduced.
The symptoms of chronic bronchitis include chronic chough, mucous production and shortness of breath. With the condition sufferers lose their independence and have difficulty carrying out daily tasks that others take for granted such as tying your shoe laces or simply getting dressed in the morning.
However against all the odds and medical advice, Michael has succeeded in recording a 14 track CD which is aptly entitled “Against the Odds” and plans are advanced to launch his CD on the 14th October 2004 in Kelly’s Strandhill, Co. Sligo.
Published by “The Scene “ Oct. 2004