Country Living with Francis Farragher

IN the greater scheme of things, I’d probably slip into the conservative category as regards medical and health issues, on the basis that it’s a case of everyone knowing their own job . . . carpenters to make cabinets, blocklayers to build walls, journalists to write stories and doctors to give us the appropriate medical guidance.

Here and there too, along the journey of life, I’ve had a few occasions – not too many thankfully – when I’ve had short stays in places the Galway Clinic, the Bons Secours and University Hospital Galway. In all of the visits the level of care and expertise was nothing short of excellent.

Over the years, I’ve tended to get the flu jab as a matter of routine and pretty much went through the full course of the covid jabs, apart from the last one, when the medical advice seemed a bit more iffy this time around, as to whether I should bother or not.

If I had to have a ‘little bitch’ about hospital and medical issues, it would probably be confined to complaints of having a sore arm or shoulder for a day or two after vaccine jabs while maybe the food at ‘The Regional’ mightn’t exactly give me an appetite. But what the heck about that latter complaint . . . the medical care was excellent  . . . and If I want good food, there’s always the option of a trip to places like Blake’s or Park House in the city.

There have been too fanatical groups of anti-vaxxers who went to all kinds of extremes including pulling people out of hospitals while I’ve also encountered individuals who are convinced that there has been a cure for cancer around for decades but that it has been suppressed by the big pharma and medicare giants.

However, having said all that, like a lot of other people around the country, I was quite taken aback by the inquest last week into the death of a 23-year-old man from Waterford, Roy Butler, an absolute ‘picture’ of health and fitness, until he had the misfortune to take the Johnson & Johnson covid vaccine on August 12, 2021. Just four days later, soccer and fitness fanatic, Roy Butler, died at Cork University from what was described as a catastrophic brain bleed.

It is an utterly heartbreaking story made all the worse by the fact that Roy Butler never wanted to get the vaccine in the first place but needed proof of having been vaccinated to go on holiday to Dubai with his friends. His father, Martin Butler, told the inquest that Roy was apprehensive about getting the vaccine but felt pressurised into getting it in order to go to Dubai with his friends.

Pictured: Do’s and don’ts of getting a covid-19 vaccine.