{"id":279005,"date":"2026-01-11T08:29:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T08:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/279005\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T08:29:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T08:29:08","slug":"west-belfasts-guardian-angels-man-with-parkinsons-praises-community-for-helping-him-after-numerous-falls-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/279005\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018West Belfast\u2019s guardian angels\u2019 \u2013 Man with Parkinson\u2019s praises community for helping him after numerous falls \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A west Belfast<\/a> man has described local people as his \u2018guardian angels\u2019 after they literally picked him up following numerous falls linked to his Parkinson\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n

Hugh O\u2019Reilly is only 58, but was diagnosed with Parkinson\u2019s eight years ago which has resulted in his quality of life deteriorating significantly. <\/p>\n

Parkinson\u2019s is a progressive neurological disease that affects how the brain controls movement. After 30 years at work, Mr O\u2019Reilly was forced to retire at 50, and since then his mobility has deteriorated. <\/p>\n

Read more: <\/b>Parkinson\u2019s disease facing \u2018diagnosis crisis\u2019, charity warns<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Sean<\/a>\"Run<\/a><\/p>\n

He says his daily activities have been limited, leaving him feeling isolated. But if he has to leave the house at any point, he describes it as a \u2018military operation\u2019.<\/p>\n

Speaking to The Irish News<\/a>, Hugh described how his life has changed but also how local people have revived his faith in humanity.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cIt\u2019s a gradual deterioration. You go from A to Z eventually. One of my biggest problems now, is my mobility. When I have to go into town to collect anything, I have to plan a military operation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe brain\u2019s telling the legs one thing. The legs just refuse to budge. I am afraid to go to the shop. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis thing is going to beat me, but I must fight to the death. However, it is taking its toll on me. I can\u2019t get a night\u2019s sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks to the condition there have been numerous occasions where Hugh has collapsed in public, with no way of helping himself. But thanks to the help he has received he says people in his community are his \u2018guardian angels\u2019. <\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThey physically lifted me off the street, put me in their car, brought me round to the house. I can\u2019t place them highly enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know these people from Adam. One time I collapsed in the chippy on Andytown Road, and one girl picked me up and brought me home, with my chips. I couldn\u2019t thank her enough. And off she went, disappeared in the night, like a guardian angel. That\u2019s the only way I can describe it. <\/p>\n

Read more: <\/b>8 things you need to know about Parkinson\u2019s disease<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cDarren from ACE Taxis has saved me, too, I can\u2019t praise him enough. One girl was only 14 or 15 years old, she didn\u2019t have a car. But she held my hand and made sure I got home.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single story, the pattern\u2019s the same. A complete stranger picked me literally up out of the gutter, put me in their car brought me into the house. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt made me realise there are a lot of good people out there. You see west Belfast, I used to think was going down the tube, but it made me realise there\u2019s more good people than bad people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Reilly said more needs to be done to help people with Parkinson\u2019s, so they don\u2019t feel isolated or scared to leave the house.<\/p>\n

Tearing up, he added: \u201cHonest to God, I can\u2019t thank them enough. Every single one of them is my guardian angel. They are all champions in my book. Wests Belfast\u2019s strength is its people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A west Belfast man has described local people as his \u2018guardian angels\u2019 after they literally picked him up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279006,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[7944,18,135,107454,19,17,140899,15497],"class_list":{"0":"post-279005","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-community","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-health-and-wellbeing","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-parkinson-s-disease","15":"tag-west-belfast"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115875529643354072","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}