Fundraiser for Gerard Kelly to help him live with Parkinson’s diagnosis and Multiple System Atrophy

Set up by Patrice and Fionn Kelly, the GoFundMe fundraiser has set a target of €5,000 to help with the cost of adapting their home and for medical costs for Gerard Kelly.

A fundraiser for Gerard Kelly has been set up to help adapt family home and support with medical costs

Askeaton woman, Patrice Kelly has made a heartfelt plea to raise funds, supporting her husband Gerard who is battling a series of health challenges following a Parkinson’s Disease diagnosis.

With an initial target of €5,000, the page has so far raised just over €2,500 with a number of people making donations and sending comments and thoughts of well wishes.

Ger, diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2018 at the age of 44, has faced an uphill journey as his condition progressively worsened over the years. Taking to GoFundMe, the campaign set up by Patrice and Fionn Kelly, they hope to raise funds to help adapt their home and support in medical costs.

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Writing on the fundraising page, Patrice said, “I’m Ger’s carer now and he now needs 24-hour care. I’m looking to help to raise money for him so our house can be adapted for him and for any equipment he will need to improve his quality of life, also to avail of treatments to help him. He’s an amazing man and going through all this he still manages a smile on his face.”

The father of four was diagnosed at the age of 44 in 2018, and Patrice says, “For a while, his medication was working but as the years passed his medication was not as effective.”

“In October 2022 he woke up one Saturday morning and didn’t recognise any of us, we have 4 sons who all live at home, after being admitted into hospital he was being treated for an infection on the brain but his memory never recovered and the 32 years we have been together never came back to him,” writes Patrice.

It was then the family discovered Ger had Multiple System Atrophy (MSA), a rare condition of the nervous system that causes gradual damage to nerve cells in the brain.

Patrice said, “This affects balance, movement and the nervous system, which controls several basic functions, such as breathing, digestion and bladder control.

“He gets a lot of pain, his speech has deteriorated and he now needs an aid to help him with it, he is wheelchair bound and is unable to dress himself without help, he sometimes needs help with eating and drinking.”

She writes on the GoFundMe page that there is no cure but treatments are available to “reduce the impact it has on a person’s daily life, but these treatments are expensive and mostly abroad”.

The mother of 4 thanked those who donated for their support and said, “If you can help in anyway at all we would be greatly appreciated”

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