Thursday, October 23, 2008
Friends and family celebrate launch of Pat’s unique book
By: Michael Tracey

ABOVE Ground and Breathing is the curious title of a new book by Portlaoise writer Pat Dwyer. To those who know Pat, the title will be of little surprise.

His mantra is “No matter how bad it gets for you, it could be worse”. As his friend Tony Delaney said at the book’s launch last Friday night, “it’s a unique title for a unique guy”.
 

Pat is a multiple sclerosis sufferer and Above Ground and Breathing is his third book. It’s an anthology of poetry and prose with travel as the main theme.

The book’s cover is an illustration of Pat with a Mariachi hat on a beach in Uruguay. Pat’s love of travelling is evident he has visited Cuba, Montreal and New York.

Originally from Thurles, he has lived in Portlaoise for 20 years. He is married to Joan and has three children, Isabel, Paul and Martina.

All funds from Above Ground and Breathing will go towards MS groups. The aim of the book is to highlight MS to many who know little or have misconceptions about the condition.

Pat was diagnosed with the disease in 2000, although he believes he may have had contracted it years earlier.

“I always had trouble with the leg,” he said. “As I played a lot of hurling when I was younger I thought it might have been a sports injury.”

Pat remembers when he was told by medical staff, almost casually, that he had MS.

“It was bleak. I was told by a young doctor that I had MS. He said to me ‘it could be worse’. I was on my own and as I travelled home on the train, I was asking myself how I was going to tell my wife. We had young children at the time,” he said.

Pat worked up until 2004 as a civil servant before MS made it impossible to continue to do so. Literature and poetry had always been a love for Pat but they have taken on an even more significant role in his life in recent years.

“I’ve always had an interest in poetry. I write as it’s like self-therapy. I never considered my work as academic or anything but it helps me get out of my frustrations,” he said.

A fan of Ernest Hemingway and the wit of Oscar Wilde, Pat’s prose and poetry are honest, fresh and witty. He deals with the heavy science of MS with a lightness of touch.

The poems are not intended to be politically correct, as he states in the book’s introduction. Pat quoted WB Yeats to explain: “We make poetry out of quarrel with ourselves.”

What riles Pat is the common misconception held by people about MS sufferers.

“They think when you have MS that it must affect your mind. You would ask for something in a shop but people would talk to the person that you are with because you would be in a wheelchair,” he said.

There are several types of MS. Primary-Progressive is one of the most severe and Pat has this type. He has a daily regimen of light training to help him control his spasticity. He is also an active member of Offaly MS.

Offaly Olympian Pauline Curley officially launched the book in the Tullamore Court Hotel last Friday night.

Scores of family and friends attended the launch including Laois TD Charlie Flanagan. Shanahoe man Tony Delaney performed MC duties at the book launch. Tony said the book’s content would affect how people thought about MS.

“It will impact on you,” he said. “You will not read the book without it making you change the way you think. It will make you gasp at times but it’s important that you read it.”

Tony cited one of the book’s poems, Will I be remembered, to say that Pat and his work will certainly be remembered. Tony predicted that Pat’s words will be pored over by students in years to come, such was the book’s relevance.

Pat expressed his thanks to Tullamore Lions club and Tullamore cycling club, who sponsored the book launch. He also thanked Jimmy Dolan and the Ballingar Community Centre for their recent fundraising.

To conclude the launch, Pat gave an emotional recital of two of his poems, When I die and Mushroom picking in September.

To purchase Above Ground and Breathing, or to get information about distributing the book, contact Pat at 057 8620387.