Actor tells of gratitude to hospice staff for their support when her parents were dying
Fair City star Tina Kellegher has spoken about the importance of palliative care services after both her parents used them for end-of-life care.
Speaking at an event in Tullamore, Co Offaly, as part of Palliative Care Week, she said she first encountered the service 25 years ago. At the time, her father John was in the final stages of his battle with cancer.
“He needed pain management and he wanted to die at home with his family around him. I can clearly remember the day we were told that Daddy was being handed over to palliative care,” she said.
“I can remember being very shook by that, by those words – feeling it was very final. But that wasn’t the case.”
Once her father was put into the care of the palliative services, she and her family were “all empowered that day”.
“Daddy was now able to leave hospital and return home. We were given the opportunity to show our love by giving him 24-hour, hands-on care,” she said.
“But we could only do that with all of the wonderful support and guidance of the palliative care team.”
She paid tribute to the staff as a “wonderful team of ladies”.
“Rita came into our home to prepare the house for Daddy’s return, getting all the necessary equipment to look after his practical needs. But she took the time with us, sat at our kitchen table, chatted with us, listened to us, answered all our questions,” she said.
She helped prepare them for the “really difficult road ahead”, which was the bereavement that followed. Using the hospice services gave them a few weeks of “really precious care time” at home with her father.
“That was a huge gift to us,” she said.
Ms Kellegher, who was helping to launch the new Midlands Palliative Care Alliance, also lost her mother Brigid in January 2025. Due to her age and “fragile condition”, she was unable to come home.
Her mother spent her last day and night in a “beautiful, large, comfortable, homely room” in Mullingar’s Midland Regional Hospital.
“All of us could be with Mammy – just us – with the support of the unobtrusive nursing staff. That was priceless to us, that peaceful, private time that we had with Mammy,” she said.
The actor, who starred in The Snapper and plays money-lender Ger Lynch in Fair City, said the palliative care teams have had a “profound effect on my life”.
“They were with me to support me and my family during the two most challenging times in my career and I will be forever indebted to the Hospice Foundation for that,” she said.
The theme of this year’s Palliative Care Week is “It’s not what you think”. Organised by the All-Ireland Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care, it aims to address common misconceptions about the service. It hopes to show it is “about living as well as possible for as long as possible”.