Brian was never normal

In January of this year a nephew of mine in England died, aged 31. Brian was born two months prematurely, a blubber of red flesh, no eye-brows, no nails. He was epileptic and spastic, with a cyst on his brain. He was not expected to live beyond the day he was born but he did.

He was the youngest of a family of seven, and his parents, brother and sisters, are truly exceptional. They nursed and loved Brian to a point where he was as ‘normal’ as could be expected with all his limits and disabilities.

His life was extraordinary. He joined the scouts as a cub, and rose through the ranks to become a scout leader, and to receive the top scout award in Windsor Castle, where he met the Queen Mother of England. He had a job, an apartment, and a girlfriend.

He devoted himself to helping lame dogs in his spare time, he pushing wheelchairs around in the local rest home, regularly visited old folks’ homes, and raised thousands of pounds through sponsored walks or bike-athons for such places.

He always strove just to be ‘normal’, and to be accepted as ‘normal’. But, as his brother Paul said at his funeral, Brian was never ‘normal’ – he was much more than that!

Fr Jack Mc Ardle,  And that’s the Gospel truth, www.columba.ie