Catherine Purdy

T1 Diabetic ✨️
Diagnosed 03 Mar 2003 ✨️
Pumping since 04 Oct 2022 ✨️
Medtronic 780G & Guardian 4 Sensors✨️

[Tiffany Fong @TiffanyFong]

Holy shit. This 21-year-old woman died in Brazil today because these bungee jump workers forgot to attach her safety rope. Absolute retards.

[Noah Kahan @NoahKahan]

You’re not ready for how beautiful this stadium stage design is like it is truly a story up there

[BUCHANAN: Dublin Time Machine @RobLooseCannon]

On this day in 1984 a terrified, freezing 15- year-old schoolgirl called Ann Lovett was crouched in the fetal position, in agony, at the grotto of the Virgin Mary in Granard, Co. Longford.

But whilst this child is certainly innocent and worthy of help, and this is a place where pious people come to seek assistance from Our Lady, her desperate prayers will not be answered that lonely night.

Amid the darkness and cold, Ann will give birth to a stillborn baby. Compounding that unimaginable tragedy which occurred in this dreary garden of Gethsemane, just hours later the teenage mother will also perish in Mullingar hospital.

Although barbaric scenes like this have played out countless times in "modern" Ireland, this instance captured the country's imagination. The 80s were a more media-savvy age than ever and with the added symbolic poignancy of the grotto was impossible to ignore.

The town of Granard, then only a rural village of 1,285 souls reacted in a variety of ways to these horrific events. Ireland, let alone rural Ireland, in 1984 was practically a religious theocracy. The Catholic Church and conservative outlooks born of generations of poverty strangled the lives of people in general but women and girls in particular.

Some locals were aware of Ann's pregnancy. Gardaí have never revealed how a visibly pregnant schoolgirl could leave a classroom on a freezing rainy winter's day. Everyone had failed this girl and baby boy, from the nuclear family unit all the way up to Leinster House.

Four months before that fateful night, two-thirds of the country had voted in an abortion referendum to enshrine the "right to life" of the unborn in the constitution, without adequately clarifying what happened when this clashed with the constitutional "right to life" of the mother. Ann's deceased infant boy was posthumously baptised Pat. The two innocents, the child, and her child, were buried together in the same coffin.

It was obvious this very homegrown horror story would become a religious and political football for parties on both sides who didn't give a damn about women or babies. But when the handful of female TDs and activists attempted to speak out for victims, they were roundly ignored in favour of a soundbite from a bishop, or a geriatric male politician.

Despite Minister of State for Women's Affairs and Family Law Nuala Fennell making a passionate plea in the Dáil for an inquiry, none materialised. However, amid the sanctimonious accusations and assignations of blame real social progress took root.

The closest Irish society came to openly dissecting the issue was on The Gay Byrne Hour radio show.
Hundreds of people, mostly women, wrote in to talk about their experiences and their hopes for change.

[Jonathan Slater @slater57649]

As it should be

[Noah Kahan @NoahKahan]

39,000 people from a place far from my home felt like family last night. Thank you Dublin

[Nature is Amazing ☘️ @AMAZlNGNATURE]

White mountain ermine hopping in the snow

[Niall Harbison @NiallHarbison]

Rodney was a tiny puppy we found on the streets of Thailand hanging onto life by a thread.

He's now been in Wales for 1 year in his forever home. Just look at him 😍

[Catherine Purdy @cath_purdy]

@AdoptionsUk @puddins13 💔

[My Lovely Horse Rescue @MyLovelyHorseR]

POOR LITTLE GUY ABANDONED AND TIED TO A RAILING IN PALMERSTOWN, DUBLIN💔💔💔💔

Locals alerted us early this morning and two of our volunteers got there in minutes, luckily one lives near by.
The poor little dog was totally distraught, scared, it’s whole world upside down.
We have no idea how long this poor little dote was left.

It’s crazy, people don’t want their dogs so they are literally throwing them out like rubbish because pounds and rescues all over Ireland are full.

There is a series DOG CRISES 💔🤬

This poor little guy will be saved and loved, we promise 💔💔💔💔

Please donate if you can, we just don’t stop 💔💔💔

https://t.co/IdWevf2lqM

[Catherine Purdy @cath_purdy]

💀

[Ginger Tucci @Ginger_Tucci]

Lord, grant me the confidence of absolutely below mediocre men on the internet.

[Buitengebieden @buitengebieden]

The Oscar goes to.. 😅

[Catherine Purdy @cath_purdy]

First time flying with my insulin pump last week. So impressed with how friendly and accommodating the Security Team at @DublinAirport were. Looking forward to my next trip already ✈️🌞

[Catherine Purdy @cath_purdy]

@ShivGaffney Thank you. I'll check it out 😃

[🇮🇪🇵🇸Shiv Gaffney @ShivGaffney]

FYI #iredoc #nidoc updated map with #T1D #peersupport groups in #Ireland - please share/RT, bring to attention of all #plwt1d , #diabetes clinics, #HCPs 😉 any amendments/inclusions/deletions required just let me know

https://t.co/caEouDWA7r

[Charlotte's Battle Against Glioblastoma (BAG) @alexeades1]

I will never stop raising awareness. I haven’t got a massive following and I’m not a celebrity I’m just a mother who lost her only daughter to brain cancer 7 years ago 2 many that’s so long ago 2 me it’s yesterday glioblastoma a RT would b appreciated TY

[Catherine Purdy @cath_purdy]

@HolDuffy @faulkner_alyssa I received an email from them back in December about a known issue with their battery caps