The Carrigaline woman was just 32 when her life changed dramatically in January 2008. While undergoing surgery to remove a brain tumor, she suffered a stroke that left her awake and aware but unable to move or speak.
Her family shared the news of her passing on the Facebook page dedicated to her, writing: "It is with great sadness that our beloved Catherine passed away peacefully this morning, surrounded by family. She will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved her."
After her diagnosis, Catherine spent months in Cork University Hospital before being transferred to a specialist rehabilitation facility in Putney, England. There, she initially showed signs of improvement.
However, later in 2008, she stopped breathing and slipped into a coma. Doctors warned her family that there was little chance she would recover, but Catherine defied the odds and regained consciousness.
Catherine O'Leary and her son.
She spent another four years in hospital before finally returning home in 2014. From then on, she required 24-hour care, communicating only through blinks and being fed through a tube.
In 2013, Catherine’s family settled a High Court case against the HSE for €2.5 million. They had claimed her condition was caused by a late diagnosis of the brain tumor after she first presented with months of unexplained hiccups, headaches, and weight loss.
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The HSE denied any wrongdoing, but the settlement helped cover the extensive costs of her care. Catherine’s parents, Pat and Margaret, were her tireless advocates and primary caregivers.
Speaking on Primetime in 2018, Pat shared how they still spoke to her every day: "People say, 'Does she understand you?' We are there. We are talking to her as if she understands everything. But I mean there is a certain amount of interaction.
"When she wakes up she looks at the ceiling and sees all her lovely photographs of her son and herself and you would see her smiling and her eyes travelling around the ceiling looking," he explained.
Pat described his daughter as a "fighter" and said the family did everything they could to give her the best possible life at home.
Catherine is survived by her parents, her son Brandon, and her extended family and friends, all of whom will remember her strength, determination, and the love that surrounded her until the very end.
* This article was originally published on Evoke.ie.
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