A POPULAR community garda in Killarney has gone public with a very personal family story to help promote a project set up to help two worthy charities.
Garda Diane Collins told the Ryan Tubridy Show on RTÉ Radio One this Thursday how her husband Paudie Twohig, also a hugely respected and well-known garda in Killarney, is fighting a battle with cancer.
They were stunned to learn, just four weeks ago, that Paudie (44) has stage four melanoma which has spread throughout his body. He is currently undergoing ground-breaking immunotherapy therapy in Cork University Hospital and, if successful, he has a 70 per cent chance of recovering.
Diane, the mum of a 22-month-old girl with another baby due in July, is one of the main driving forces behind a super community-based project – Behind the Mask – which will involve the publication of a book charting stories and photographs of how several people in Killarney coped during the Covid-19 lockdown.
The engaging tales and images were gathered by freelance photographer, Marie Carroll-O’Sullivan of the Little Memory Galley, between January and December 2020, and she operated well within her 5k travel limit in the process.
In recent days she also completed a photo-shoot with staff at University Hospital Kerry.
Proceeds from the sale of the book will be shared between the Irish Cancer Society and Pieta House (Nathan’s Walk) and, in addition, all of the frontline staff in the Covid ward at UHK will be treated to a five-star hotel spa treatment in appreciation of their dedication.
Diane first got involved in the project through her community garda role working with local organisations and charities and her Co Clare based graphic designer sister-in-law, Sinead Collins, has volunteered her services to design the eagerly anticipated book.
Diane told Ryan Tubridy that when she and Paudie first got involved in the book venture, little did they think that they would go from being one of its supporters to potentially becoming one of the beneficiaries.
“Our lives have been turned upside down and inside out in the last four weeks. None of us know what any of us are facing,” she said.
They were stunned when Paudie – a non-smoker and non-drinker – received his diagnoses as he was super fit, very active and enjoying long runs and playing football.
“We’re shell-shocked. We’re absolutely petrified of what we we’re facing and it’s important to acknowledge these feelings,” Diane said.
She and Paudie met on her first day on the beat in Killarney in 2006 and they were married in St Mary’s Cathedral in 2018.
The happy couple are really well known in Killarney, where they have built up a great rapport with the public and Diane said the support they have received from their families, garda colleagues, friends and the people of in Killarney since he was diagnosed has been incredible.
“If love and support and encouragement could cure Paudie, he’d be Superman at this stage,” Diane said.
She added that if anything good can come out of the turmoil they have been through over the last four weeks it would be to generate support for Marie Carroll-O’Sullivan’s fantastic charity project.
She is encouraging the public to rally behind the Behind the Mask project and donations to support the charities can be made on https://mailchi.mp/b84530d67058/behind-the-mask-killarney.
