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Irish Examiner
4 days ago
- Health
- Irish Examiner
Terry Prone: Memory of late Thalidomide victim Jacqui Browne should be honoured
Just under a year ago, Jacqui Browne stated her grim certainty. That certainty was that the Government was simply waiting for Irish Thalidomide survivors to die. This week she died, her death not probative of such an intent, but a reproach to the system, nonetheless. She held that certainty even though, this time last year, the Government was indicating that it would take a new approach to solving the problems caused by doctors prescribing a morning sickness drug to pregnant women, those doctors unaware that it would cause grievous damage to their unborn babies. Long after that drug had been removed from sale in other countries, it lurked on the shelves of pharmacies here, ready to maim and disfigure. Jacqui Browne, front, with other members of the Irish Thalidomide Association arriving at Government Buildings in 2022 for one of many meetings where they sought long-overdue justice for survivors of the Thalidomide drug. File picture: Sam Boal/Rolling News Kerry woman Jacqui Browne was one of the babies born disastrously damaged by Thalidomide. Her hands and forearms were shortened. Her hearing less than normal. Her speech impaired. When most toddlers are learning to play and explore, Jacqui was being poked and tested, torn from her family for special education in a school for deaf children in Dublin. The first of 35 major surgical operations was done to the little girl when she was a tiny five-year-old. Big surgical interventions continued throughout her life. And yet, she forged a career for herself, internationally, as a disability equality consultant. Intrepid yachtswoman She had a life; becoming a yachtswoman who survived a shipwreck near Java. The Cork Clipper — with Jacqui Browne among the crew — leading the fleet out of port at the start of Race 3 from Rio to Cape Town in the 2010 Clipper Round the World Race. File picture: Clipper Ventures/PA One of a group competing in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race 15 years ago, when their boat went aground, she and the rest of the crew managed to get to a place where they could survive until rescue boats came. Despite the never-ending problems caused to her life by Thalidomide and the corrective surgeries that never seemed to be complete, she was a self-confessed optimist. 'I'm always happy,' she confirmed. 'I have wonderful friends and great family support. But I do find physically there is so much I can't do.' Along with the other 40 survivors (together with some people who the Thalidomide Association believe to justify adding to that number), she went public in recent years to ask the powers that be to apologise to the mothers who have blamed themselves all their lives for the hurt to their children caused by the 'miracle' drug. What emerged last year aggravated, rather than assuaged, the anger of the survivors. It was an expression of sympathy rather than a straight-up apology. In its aftermath, another mother died. The Thalidomide survivors, Jacqui front and centre among them, have for years asked the State to revisit the issue, pointing out that, just as polio victims suffer post-polio syndrome decades after they thought they were done with the sequelae of the infection, victims of Thalidomide enter new levels of suffering as they enter old age — for different reasons. 'When you have impairments due to the thalidomide drug, you're all the time compensating,' Jacqui pointed out. You're doing things maybe differently to how somebody else might do them, but you're actually overusing one side of your body. So that too becomes inflamed and sore and painful because you can't use the other side. Paying tribute to Jacqui, Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission chief Liam Herrick talked of mourning the loss of a 'colleague, advisor, and friend'. Her Thalidomide Association colleagues — 39 of them now left to continue the fight they shouldn't still be fighting — talk of losing a warrior. Her family will experience the loss differently: They grieve a family member, a beloved sister. The Taoiseach and Tánaiste — each of whom has at various times expressed understanding of the issue and a wish to solve the remaining problems — might honour the memory of Jacqui Browne by kicking life into an administrative process that's almost one sadly unproductive year in business this month.
Irish Times
24-06-2025
- Health
- Irish Times
Irish Thalidomide Association ‘devastated' by death of Jacqui Browne
Jacqui Browne, a disability activist and thalidomide survivor, has died at the age of 63. Ms Browne, who was from Co Kerry, died peacefully at her home on Monday 'surrounded by her loving family' and a palliative care team. Ms Browne, who was born in November 1961, is predeceased by her parents Donal and Jean, and her brother-in-law Jean Paul Baro. She is survived by her siblings, nieces and nephews, and wider family. In her death notice , her family said they are 'heartbroken' by her passing. READ MORE Ms Browne will be reposing at the Gleasure Funeral Home in Tralee on Thursday from 6pm to 8pm. Her funeral Mass will take place at midday on Friday at St John's Church in Tralee. A spokeswoman for the Irish Thalidomide Association (ITA) said its members are 'devastated' by her death and 'grieving the loss of a great friend'. [ 'Physically there is so much I can't do': Thalidomide survivor Jacqui Browne believes the State is simply waiting for her to die ] Thalidomide was introduced in the mid-1950s to counter morning sickness but was withdrawn from most markets in 1961 after widespread evidence of it leading to birth defects. However, it was retained on the shelves in Ireland until 1964. The medication led to deformities and the deaths of thousands of babies across the world. Many children of women who took the drug in pregnancy were born without limbs, or shortened limbs, with hearing and vision impairments and injuries to internal organs. Members of the ITA have been campaigning for decades for a State apology for the immense toll thalidomide has had on their lives. Ms Browne, who worked as a disability equality consultant for more than 35 years, underwent several operations throughout her life due to the condition. In an interview with The Irish Times last year , she said that receiving a State apology would give her 'closure' and 'take this big cloud off from over my head'.
