Dare to Dream

It is the story of a boy who as an infant was lost among hundreds of other boys in the Irish Industrial School System. Like a small minority of these children he came to accept that he was either an orphan or just unwanted. Released age sixteen from Artane Industrial School his ultimate disposal was to a complete stranger: his birth Mother. Little was she aware that after years of neglect and abuse he was uneducated emotionally barren and his developmental levels were stunted. In turn she passed him on to his newly found married twenty-year-old sister. Within weeks of sharing a one-room tenement slum in Dublin City with his sister and her husband he vanished. Years of instilled fear evaporated as he realised he was free to take control of his life. Aged seventeen he found himself in the RAF. Four years later he fell in love with Jean an eighteen-year-old Durham girl. She was his salvation and the inspiration that gave wings to his imagination to dare to dream of a future rich with happiness and love. They married and achieved what appeared impossible goals beyond his dreams. However plans of an early retirement together were shattered when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. After painful experiences with the established system of caring for Alzheimer's victims he rejected well-intentioned advice and decided to care for her alone at home. No longer able to move or speak she was given only days to live she amazed doctors when with loving care they spent a further four and a half years together. Combining details of his life with the experiences of caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's. The story reveals that the impact of our pasts and our love for another human can affect our decisions and choices in life.