Colm murrays daughter speaks about heartbreaking impact of mnd

A daughter of the late RTE sports broadcaster Colm Murray has spoken about the “heartbreaking” impact of Motor Neurone Disease and praised the ice bucket challenge for raising €1.4 million to support people with the condition.

A native of Moate, Colm died on July 30 last year after battling the debilitating illness for more than three years.

His daughter Kate spoke poignantly about her Dad on Today FM's Ray D'Arcy show earlier this week.

She compared the moment when she was told about her father's terminal condition - on Good Friday in 2010 - with the ice bucket challenge itself.

“It was like a bucket of cold ice (being poured on you). You feel shocked and as if you're drowning, in a sense. That's the only way I can describe it.”

Kate said one of the hardest moments during the illness was when Colm lost his famous voice.

“That was really, really tough. When you were able to hear the deterioration of his voice that was sad, but when it came to the point that he couldn't speak at all that was really heartbreaking,” said Kate.

“The time from when he was diagnosed to when he died was an absolutely awful, really terrible, time... but there were also some really lovely moments that we had.

“If there's a positive to everything, (then it's that) it really tied our family together.'

She also praised the work done by the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association (IMNDA), which said it has received €1.4 million in donations as a result of ice bucket challenges on social media.

“The IMNDA are great. They supplied us and they supply families of people with MND with things like power wheelchairs, hoists - things I never even knew existed, that would cost thousands, and that nobody would be able to afford.

“When you get this diagnosis you don't know what to do or who to turn to but they are always there to swoop in and show you in the right direction or listen to you,” she commented.