Mark Cagney has opened up about his brush with death after suffering a stroke and how it changed his perspective on life.
The former Ireland AM presenter discussed how he felt more down than ever after his illness, before a call from a close friend helped him see a more positive outlook.
"This one is the most personal brush of all. And when it does happen, all sorts of mad stuff goes through your head," he told RSVP Live.
"I think it's an Oscar Wilde quote that goes: 'Life gives us the test first and then the lesson after'.
"You don't really realise what has happened until after. Coming face to face with the Grim Reaper is a bit scary, and you do start to make deals in your head with whoever, you know, 'make sure my family are okay'.
"And then I started to think, 'Hey, I'm not done yet. I still have a 16-year-old and an 18-year-old and they're not through school yet, they're not through college yet.
"I haven't finished doing me job which is teaching them, guiding them, seeing them equipped to stand on their own two feet so they can go off about themselves in the world. The job isn't done'.
"And that's the most important job. In the end it's the only job that actually matters... you know you have two choices in life: you go on or you go under. People are rooting for you, people need you, you can't fail or flunk on them, you have to go on."
Mark explained what sparked this positive thinking while he was lying in bed on the stroke ward at Beaumont Hospital.
He said: "I was lying there going, 'c'mon, enough is enough, give me a break,' and Fergus Finlay (broadcaster and former charity boss) called me to wish me well. I was moaning a bit going, 'Jesus, I can't catch a break and then this happens'.
"And he says, 'I know exactly what you mean, but here's the thing: maybe this is the break. Because to survive you've had an enormous amount of luck.
"Yes, life has landed you a huge lemon on your lap, but you can make more lemonade with that'.
"Then I looked around the ward and saw a number of different scenarios that could have been me.
"A pulmonary embolism and an acute stroke - either one of them should have done me. Luck lucky lucky boy - someone was looking out for me.
"So what can you do with that? Make as much lemonade out of that giant lemonade as you possibly can".
You can read Mark's interview in full in the latest issue of RSVP Magazine out now.
