\u201cIn a way, my mother speaks for all the mothers and for the children,\u201d Sharon Clarken says. \u201cThe mother\u2019s interests were the children \u2026 and now we\u2019re grown up and old and worn out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sharon\u2019s life has been heavily impacted by thalidomide<\/a>, the drug that was marketed to pregnant mothers as anti-morning sickness medication in the 1950s and 1960s. It had devastating side effects for developing foetuses, creating disabilities including the shortening and absence of limbs. <\/p>\n Her mother, Mary Clarken, took one tablet for nausea before giving birth to Sharon in 1962. Mary turns 96 on Thursday, and the State apology that she and the dwindling community of survivors in Ireland have long been fighting for is yet to arrive. It would be \u201celectric\u201d, Sharon says, and would \u201creally help\u201d her mother. <\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019d be very pleased,\u201d Sharon says. \u201cShe would really appreciate the fact that they had admitted to doing wrong and said they were sorry for doing wrong, and meant it. We\u2019re still waiting.\u201d<\/p>\n Thalidomide entered the Irish market in 1959. An international withdrawal of the drug took place in 1961, but the Irish government did not issue a public warning around its dangers. Instead, the Irish Thalidomide Association (ITA) says an ineffective recall resulted in it remaining on the shelves of some rural pharmacies, and in household medicine cabinets, until 1964. <\/p>\n About 40 Irish thalidomide survivors remain. Many of those affected have died , as have friends and family members. \u201cIt\u2019s heartbreaking,\u201d Sharon says, \u201cbecause there\u2019s so much sadness attached to thalidomide.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTo what it did to families and friends. A lot of our friends are even gone now. I have friends whose mothers have died and it\u2019s just so sad, it breaks your heart.\u201d<\/p>\n Mary Clarken was born in 1930. She lives in Portlaoise, where she grew up. Sharon says her mother was sporty, and an excellent golfer with a handicap of three. She was determined to give her daughter an independent upbringing, never shying away from Sharon\u2019s disability and making sure she did everything that other children managed.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was no psychological talk or any of that,\u201d says Sharon. \u201cIt was get up and get on with it, and you\u2019ll be alright. She\u2019d watch you doing something and you\u2019d flop at it, and feel like you wouldn\u2019t be able to do it. She wouldn\u2019t come running over. She\u2019d say if you want help, ask.\u201d<\/p>\n