Book will be launched about Tipperary child who 'stole the hearts of so many'

The incredible bond between a mother and her daughter, and a love that has endured over four years after her daughter’s death, is outlined in a book written by a Fethard woman.

‘Keri: My Inspiration’ is the story of Clodagh Sweeney’s daughter Keri Brett, and her fight for survival following the catastrophic brain injuries she suffered at birth. These resulted in a case she successfully contested against the HSE in the High Court in 2009.

The book will be launched at the Talbot Hotel Clonmel between 7.30 and 9.30pm this Thursday night, February 8.

It was “a pity” the HSE’s apology to Keri’s family over the mismanagement of her birth at St Luke’s Hospital in Kilkenny on October 20, 2003, which included an apology for the “undoubted trauma” they had suffered, had not come sooner given the anxiety they had experienced, Ms Justice Irvine stated at the High Court hearing in 2009.

Speaking to The Nationalist, Clodagh Sweeney said that during her harrowing experience in the labour ward, when she faced the possibility of losing her baby, “I begged God to give the child to me. I made a pact with God that I was willing to take on whatever was to come”.

Keri was born with severe cerebral palsy in all four limbs and had severe brain damage. She couldn’t crawl, walk, talk or feed herself. She was also visually impaired and suffered from seizures.

For the first six months of her life she screamed for between 16 and 20 hours every day, a time that her mother described as “an absolute nightmare”.

However, Clodagh says while she would love Keri to have been healthy, she wouldn’t change a second of her time with her, and she cherished every one of the 5,844 days they spent together.

Although Keri required around the clock, 24/7 care, Clodagh says “I wanted to rear her, she was my child”. With the help of what she calls some “amazing carers,” she achieved that.

“Keri was very aware of what was going on, she was very aware of her surroundings,” she says.

“She was as clever as a fox. She spoke with her eyes, her ears and her facial expressions. I could read her like a book. If someone didn’t address her she would keep shouting until she was acknowledged. She was in tune with everything.

“Anybody who was in her presence was the better for it. She stole the hearts of so many people. She would melt you with her smile”.

When Clodagh brought her out in her wheelchair, she was so popular that people who Clodagh didn’t know would say hello to Keri.

“She was like a little celebrity. She loved her style and her clothes, and loved to go shopping”.

One of Keri’s favourite pastimes was to sit on the settee with her mother and her younger sister Lucy Brett, who will turn 17 this month; have a cuddle and watch the television programme ‘Say Yes to the Dress’.

“The bond between the three of us was indescribable,” says Clodagh.

Despite the difficulties that surrounded her birth and during her first year, life for the family improved when their GP Dr Gillian Lalor put them in touch with the late Dr Eddie McGrath, a paediatrician at Tipperary University Hospital, who Clodagh says was “an amazing support”; and what she describes as a top class paediatric team at the hospital.

Keri attended Scoil Aonghusa in Cashel, where Clodagh says everyone was very kind to her. She also took part in and won medals at the Special Olympics National Games in Limerick in 2014, and received a monthly sports award from Butlers pub in Fethard.

Because they weren’t getting answers about the circumstances surrounding Keri’s birth, Clodagh and her former husband, Keri’s father Brendan Brett got in touch with Ernest Cantillon Solicitors in Cork in 2004 and began legal proceedings.

“The HSE fought us at every corner, we had a five-year battle” says Clodagh.

The HSE had apologised to Keri and Clodagh Brett earlier in October 2009 after conceding liability in both cases the previous July. It had denied liability in a defence in 2007 despite, the High Court heard, the existence of an internal investigation, published in 2004, identifying systems failures and the mismanagement of Keri’s birth.

That report was obtained by Keri’s solicitor Ernest Cantillon on foot of a court judgement.

Agreement in the case was eventually reached in late October 2009, when Ms Justice Mary Irvine said she had “no hesitation” approving a settlement of €4.5 million.

Clodagh says that the settlement allowed her and Brendan to build a new home at Garrinch, Fethard, at the foot of Market Hill, one that was suitable for Keri, and in which she had access to every room.

Clodagh says that this was a far cry from the times when she spent weeks on end with Keri at Tipperary University Hospital, and when she was too embarrassed to tell her family that she didn’t have the price of a cup of coffee.

Keri underwent surgery on her back at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London in 2015, after which she enjoyed “the most pain-free time of her life”.

However, on a family holiday in 2016 Keri was struggling to swallow her food and her health deteriorated further over time. Towards the end of August she contracted pneumonia and “never properly recovered”.

Clodagh wanted to keep Keri at home, “her favourite place,” and after people had called to say their goodbyes she passed away at 7.30am on her 16th birthday on October 20 2019.

“Keri had the most horrendous entry into this world but she had the most beautiful exit,” says Clodagh.

Doctors, health nurses, carers and the local clergy rallied around Keri and the family in her final days.

“No matter what was asked, people couldn’t do enough for us”.

The local community was also a collective tower of strength during her final days and the funeral ceremonies, with people lining the roads and streets to bid her a final farewell.

“She kept going until her 16th birthday so that the anniversary of her death wouldn’t be a sad day,” says Clodagh.

“In October, Keri thought ‘my work is done’. Lucy had just started secondary school and she had seen me remarry”.

After Clodagh and her first husband separated in 2012 and later divorced, Clodagh married Mark Marett in July 2019. Keri was Clodagh’s matron of honour and was “the belle of the ball” at the wedding, not that her mother minded.

“Keri will always live on and I never want her to be forgotten. She was just one of the most amazing people I have ever met and so many people learned so much from her.

“I never thought I would have been as strong as I am but Keri gave me strength I never knew existed. She brought so much happiness and because of Keri I am grateful for so many of the small things in life.

“I never took for granted what Keri was able to do. She was treated as a child first and then as someone with a disability.
“She might have had a short life but we lived every day as if it was our last. She missed out on nothing, Keri came on every holiday”. These included trips to Disneyland Paris and Lanzarote, and she also enjoyed cycling accompanied on a specially-adapted bike.

“She made me the person I am. I literally can still feel her breathing inside me. I could never thank God enough for giving her to me. My two girls are literally my world”.

Clodagh says that Lucy was so good to Keri, and was like “her little nurse. They weren’t just sisters, Lucy would tell her she was her best friend.

“Even though she is gone more than four years now, Lucy still cries herself to sleep a few nights a week”.

The idea for writing the book was suggested to Clodagh by Dr Eddie McGrath. She started writing in 2005 and when Covid came she says she went “hell for leather” with it.

“People say it must have been a bittersweet experience but there was never any bitterness. Keri, along with Lucy, were the most beautiful gifts I’ve ever been given.

“I never had any anger in me over what happened, I still don’t.

“I’m very proud of the book. It’s very emotional, it’s real life, it’s our life, and I think Dr Eddie McGrath would have been really proud of it”.

Clodagh hopes it will help other families who find themselves in similar situations, and who are looking for inspiration and hope.

“In some ways, writing the book was quite therapeutic. My whole way of getting through the book was that I was doing Keri proud and helping other families”.

‘Keri’s Inspiration’ is available in local shops and for order by bookstores. It will also be sold online via Amazon.