RTE Fair City star Johnny Ward has opened up on his mum’s ongoing health battle.
The actor’s mum Kathy was diagnosed with Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, also known as broken heart syndrome, after the death of her husband and Johnny’s father, in 2019.
Johnny Ward’s mum was recently diagnosed with cancer[/caption]
Kathy has since struggled with her health battle as she later suffered a heart attack and a stroke.
After the now-73-year-old’s stroke, Johnny made the decision to move back into his family home in order to take care of her.
In March 2021 his sister Maureen moved back in with their mum while he was busy working on a project, which is when he met his wife Brenda.
Johnny’s mum was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year and has “been in and out of the hospital” ever since.
The 37-year-old told RSVP Live: “It’s been very up and down. 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.”
The Walkinstown native shared how grateful he is to have a good support system that can also help out.
He said: “I’ve found myself extremely lucky, number one because of where I live. Tallaght Hospital is down the road, James’s Hospital is down the road.”
“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.”
And while it’s been difficult on Johnny watching his mum sick, he spoke about how much he loves spending time with her.
Johnny added: “I wouldn’t have it any other way. 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’s 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.”
The Love/Hate star has joined with Lidl to launch their new charity partnership with Family Carers Ireland, which supports half a million family carers around the country.
The retailer has pledged to raise €1 million over the next three years in support of the charity‘s vital work.
CARRIGSTOWN RETURN
Johnny, who is best known for his role as Ciaran Holloway in Fair City, returned to Carrigstown recently after five years off air.
Ciarán is most famous for keeping Katy O’Brien in a box for over a year, as revenge against her brother Emmett.
After he kidnapped her and she got away, 13 months later, he then came back and took her grandmother Rose, before fleeing in 2019.
The storyline gripped the nation, with an online #freeKaty campaign launched and frequent mentions on Liveline.
The infamous villain returned on screens this September when he stunned Damien in prison after making his presence known inside.
Damien was arrested after he lashed out at James but knocked over Buckley in the process.
