Grandad battling back to health pens poignant poem for nurses
The granddaughter of an 83-year-old man from Bettystown who started writing poetry for the first time while in hospital says her family was shocked to discover his newfound talent.
Jimmy Lynch was admitted to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda five weeks ago and has been keeping himself busy writing an array of poems including one dedicated to the team of nurses looking after him. They now have the poem ‘The Life of a Nurse’ proudly displayed in their ward office as granddaughter Sinead Lynch (21) explains.
“He had never written a poem in his life before going into hospital, we couldn’t believe he was writing these amazing poems all of a sudden. He was bored in hospital and asked for a little copybook and he just started writing. He doesn’t love being in hospital but the nurses are looking after him so well, he just got creative one day and decided to put how he felt about them down on paper.”
The handwritten poem is hanging in the nurses ward office
Jimmy, originally from Kentstown now lives in Bettystown with his wife Mary. He has another couple of weeks to get through before returning home and not one to sit around he is looking forward to getting out and about again according to Sinead,
“He has heart failure and got a pacemaker put in a few years ago. He has sepsis, that’s why he’s in hospital. They only gave him a few hours to live about two weeks ago but the next day he started to improve and he is still going strong. He’s a really strong man and always wants to be doing something so I suppose writing keeps him occupied. He thought he was going to be out for the Bellewstown Races a few weeks ago and he was so disappointed when they told him that he had to stay in.
“They have to send him to Dundalk hospital for a couple of weeks now to keep a closer eye on him. We had a couple of scares with him, the doctors said it wasn’t looking too good at one point but he pulled through every time.”
The Life Of A Nurse
When the night is over
the sun begins to peep,
the nurses scurry home to bed
to try and get some sleep.
The time it passes very fast
as all of us can see,
They must be back that night again
to care for you and me.
There's nurses for the night shift
there's nurses for the day,
it's sad to see them work so hard
most times for little pay.
As I leave this hospital
It's plain for me to see,
the team of nurses working hard
to care for you and me.
JIMMY LYNCH