Joe Fahy

Joe Fahy is a Resuscitation Officer in Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe.


“My  brother Thomas moved to Australia to be with his fiancé three years ago, he  was  43  at  the time.  A  week  after  Tom  went  I   got  a  phone  call  from  his  fiancé  Jodie saying he had  collapsed  and  had been admitted  to  hospital  with  a  “brain  bleed”.  I have a  nursing  background  in  ICU, CCU  and  ED  so I  immediately rang  the  hospital  in  Melbourne  and  I  spoke  to  the  Neuro  Registrar.  They  were  planning  to  try  to  coil  the  vessel  in  Thomas’s  brain  to  stop the bleed and prevent future bleeding.  The  procedure  was  a  success  but  due  to  size  of  the  bleed  Thomas  was  very  ill  and  had to be put on a ventilator.  My  sister, Rose and  left  the  next  day  and  by  the  time  that  we  arrived   the  outcome was  bad.  Thomas donated  his  organs  to  four  lucky  recipients.

The team in Melbourne advised me and my sisters to get sibling  screening  for  Cerebral  Aneurysm,  as  I’m a  nurse  I  decided  to  go  first  to  set  an  example. I  didn’t  think  that I  would  be  diagnosed  with  the  same  problem.   I was  diagnosed with  a  Cerebral  Aneurism  but it  was  not  suitable  for  coiling,  so  I  had surgery  to  have  vessel  clipped  by  Mr  Pidgeon  and  his  team  in  Beaumont  Hospital.

I  made  a  full  recovery  but  the  vessel  ran  over  the  speech  centre  in  the  brain so I lost my speech for a period of time.  The speech centre was disrupted because they had to dig out to get to the vessel.  

With  the  support  and  help  of  my  wife  Tracey,  my  sons Aidan  and  Joseph,  my  family , friends  and  work  colleagues  I  made  a  great  recovery.  I  also  got  wonderful support  from  the  Speech and Language  Therapist  in  St  Brendan’s  Loughrea.

I’m  now  back  at  work  but I still have small  problems  with  my  speech but I know I’m a lucky man because the screening saved my life and prevented a deadly stroke.  Thankfully, my two sisters were screened and they’re clear.   I think my story shows that screening is important and can save lives".