Former RTE broadcaster and author Gareth O'Callaghan has been discharged from hospital nearly three weeks after he sustained serious injuries to his hands after a freak accident while he was taking his bins out for collection outside his house.
Mr O'Callaghan, who is also a qualified psychotherapist, needed to undergo two operations on his hands in the days after he was hospitalised.
His wife Paula O'Callaghan posted on Twitter following his discharge yesterday afternoon that it was "the best -- he's home" present she had ever received.
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She said that her husband, who was diagnosed with Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) in 2018 had been in a "bad way" following the accident.
Paula stated that he was bringing the bins out when the bin "slipped and Gareth's fingers were caught around the handle."
Meanwhile, in January of last year Mr O'Callaghan returned to a regular slot on Irish radio four years after his retirement after he was diagnosed with a serious neuro degenerative illness. He rejoined Classic Hits to present a one-hour programme every Saturday morning.
O'Callaghan had stepped down from broadcasting in 2018 when he was diagnosed with MSA which is a progressive and ultimately fatal neurological condition for which there is no known cure.
In an interview with Cork's Red FM, following his diagnosis, O'Callaghan said he had been feeling unwell for several years but he attributed certain symptoms of the condition to stress.
Mr O'Callaghan said it was important to make his diagnosis public because the changes were becoming noticeable. He also discussed his relief in finding out what was going on with his body.
"I was tripping. I was dropping things in work. When you drop a cup of coffee literally out of your hand and it scalds your foot and people look at you and think "what's wrong with him?"
"I fell out of the bath one morning and I didn't understand why I fell out. I have noticed changes in you have to stop and choose words. It is not that your speech changes the way you transport the words it happens in a different way.
"When I was diagnosed I was told I have had this for a couple of years which in a way was a relief to me. There were times over the last few years where I thought I was going mad. I couldn't figure out what it was."
Mr O'Callaghan added that he didn't want to become an "internalised prisoner" of the condition.
"You have got to put on that metal jacket and say 'I don't know what this is or what it is doing to me inside but it is not going to get near what is me. The soul of person.'
"It seems to be having a good go at chewing away at the physical part of me.
"Once you keep that light inside burning brightly. I never thought for a moment that I would be handed this. "
The former 2FM DJ added that following his diagnosis he had received a lovely tweet from Dr Ciara Kelly which read that "music is medicine.''
"I have always found music to be great medicine. The radio show for me is more than just a job. It always was."
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