{"id":653342,"date":"2026-08-24T06:08:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T06:08:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/653342\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T06:08:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T06:08:23","slug":"co-antrim-teacher-brings-oxygen-tanks-to-class-as-she-waits-for-lung-transplant-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/653342\/","title":{"rendered":"Co Antrim teacher brings oxygen tanks to class as she waits for lung transplant \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Co Antrim primary school teacher waiting on a double lung transplant has welcomed \u00a3500,000 in lottery support for patients with serious respiratory illness. <\/p>\n

Mary McGrath (49) from Newtownabbey<\/a> has lived with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis for the last 20 years.<\/p>\n

The condition scars her lungs and can make it difficult to breathe properly, which she said at times can feel like \u201cthe scariest thing in the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

In recent years she has had to rely on oxygen tanks while teaching at her school in north Belfast<\/a>, but said practical support from Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke has been life-changing as she waits for \u201cthe phone call\u201d to approve her transplant.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/a>\"Jeffrey<\/a><\/p>\n

The lottery funding will now support the three-year Breathing Better programme from NICHS, helping others with similar conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe transplant has been a long time coming as it\u2019s such an exhausting condition, it\u2019s every day and there\u2019s no let up,\u201d she told The Irish News.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you just have to fight it and go on with your life or let it get to you, which wouldn\u2019t be good. That\u2019s why I try to stay in work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PrimaryPrimary school teacher Mary McGrath still needs her oxygen tanks while in class. <\/p>\n

Needing to wake up around 6am to get ready for class, she said even simple tasks like putting on her shoes could be exhausting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I wasn\u2019t working, it can just be easier to stay at home instead of forcing yourself so that\u2019s why it\u2019s so important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the often direct questions from her pupils were also refreshing. <\/p>\n

\u201cI ask them if they had seen something like it before and they were so funny,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne boy said \u2018my granda used it when he was dying,\u2019 so I had to explain that not everyone on oxygen is going to die.<\/p>\n

\u201cExplaining to them is so important. Children also love to help you, the boys in my class would hold the doors open when I get an oxygen delivery.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf any children don\u2019t know they\u2019ll just say \u2018miss, why have you got that up your nose, what\u2019s wrong?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re always direct and always challenge you, they\u2019ll ask you questions that adults don\u2019t think of.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s better to be honest with them, because then they\u2019re not afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DaithiD\u00e1ith\u00ed Mac Gabhann after his succesful heart transplant operation last year. (Mairtin Mac Gabhann\/PA) <\/p>\n

Mary said another source of hope was the recent news that Belfast boy D\u00e1ith\u00ed Mac Gabhann<\/a> had finally received his heart transplant, and his family\u2019s successful campaign to change the law on organ donation, <\/p>\n

\u201cThere has been evidence that is making a difference. So to have that conversation with your family is so important, because it can save so many lives or extend their lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I want to keep talking about it as well as the work that NICHS do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RespiratoryRespiratory consultant Dr Martin Kelly and Ursula Ferguson, Director of Care at NICHS. <\/p>\n

Ursula Ferguson, NICHS Director of Care, said the Breathing Better programme will focus on self-management, wellbeing, peer connection, community capacity and health inequalities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is absolutely vital given the facts more than 220,000 people are estimated to be living with respiratory illness across Northern Ireland and it accounts for 12.5% of deaths- numbers that will probably surprise a lot of people,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

With respiratory illness characterised by frequent emergency admissions and long-term care, Ms Ferguson added that the programme would ease pressure on a health service struggling with \u201cunacceptably long\u201d waiting lists and an ageing population.<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Co Antrim primary school teacher waiting on a double lung transplant has welcomed \u00a3500,000 in lottery support…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[74],"tags":[88256,2597,18,140912,19,17,28468,14730,114506,4172,82,5530],"class_list":["post-653342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-co-antrim","tag-education","tag-eire","tag-health-and-social-care","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-lung-disease","tag-national-lottery","tag-newtownabbey","tag-schools","tag-technology","tag-transplant"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117148996535189438","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653342","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=653342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}