'He soaked up every last minute with his children': Father of three Bryan loses battle with MND

Mon, 17 Jun, 2024 - 10:46

Olivia Kelleher

The death has occurred of a 41-year-old father of three from Co Cork who was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of motor neurone disease (MND) in February. He had gone to the doctor last year with what he believed was a back injury.

Bryan ‘Bob’ O’Brien had his initial symptoms in October of 2023, when he was walking his daughter to school. She had started in junior infants. After 20 yards, he was deviating to a sideways walk.

Mr O’Brien, who lived in Carrigaline with his wife, Charlotte, and their three young children — Elle (6), Jesse (3), and Ty (11 months) — passed away on Friday. Fundraising had taken place in recent weeks to send him to the US for advanced treatment.

On GoFundMe, his family confirmed Mr O’Brien’s passing.

“We are blown away by the outpouring of support and all of the effort put into fundraising events. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

“Unfortunately, Bryan lost his battle with this horrible disease yesterday. He gave it everything he had. The mental strength he showed, as he was paralysed in his legs and arms, was immense.

“He soaked up every last minute with his children. He was still his joking self, right up until the end, even as his voice weakened. We are heartbroken and will miss him every day; our world has gone dark without his spark.”

Last month, Mr O’Brien spoke of the shock of his diagnosis. “I was diagnosed after undergoing tests for what seemed like an innocent back injury late last year,” he said.

“I kept hearing words like ‘rare’ and ‘accelerated’, which was quite scary. At first, no one knew what it was, and new symptoms kept appearing rapidly. The speed and intensity of my symptoms surprised my neurologists, doctors, and nurses from day one.”

Mr O’Brien said that he was coping with his diagnosis thanks to the incredible strength shown by his family.

“Every day presents its challenges, but these tangible positive stories have compelled me to push forward now.”

“My motivation is my wife, Charlotte, and our three beautiful children — Elle, Jesse, and Ty. They’re my driving force, my reason to keep going. Every single added day with them is precious.” Mr O’Brien urged engineers and tech companies to share details on available and upcoming innovative solutions, such as robotic assistive gloves and advanced AI speech support. His plan was to collate information to make it available to others.

He was also actively seeking out US clinical trials that were not available to him in Ireland and Europe, in the hope of slowing down the progression of this aggressive disease.

MND is an incurable, life-limiting neurological condition that attacks the motor neurons or nerves in the brain and spinal cord.

Messages gradually stop reaching the muscles, which leads to progressive wasting, weakness, and paralysis. The cause of MND is not known. Mr O’Brien had a very virulent form of the illness. The speed at which his illness accelerated was not typical.

Bryan was supportive of the efforts of MND Ireland to research and develop medicines against this disease.