RTE Fair City star Una Crawford O’Brien got emotional on air as she opened up on her partner’s heartbreaking illness.
The actress’ partner Bryan Murray was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease six years ago in 2019 and went public with his story in 2022 to raise awareness of the disease and to help others.
Una stars as Renee Phelan in the hit soap while Bryan plays Bob Charles.
Their characters had an affair on-screen and later married, while Bryan and Una’s initial friendship on set later blossomed into a lasting relationship.
After over two decades of captivating audiences with his iconic character, Bryan’s time on Fair City has come to a close due to his declining health and his last appearance on screen will be Thursday, April 24.
Una sat down with Elaine Crowley and Ray Foley on Ireland AM on Sunday to speak about her beloved partner’s condition.
The Clondalkin native revealed she had to make the difficult decision for Bryan saying: “He wanted to continue for as long as possible so I wanted him to continue for as long as possible.
“But I had to make the heartbreaking decision for him. He was finding it difficult. He wasn’t enjoying it the way he was before.
“The best thing you could have given Bryan all his life, basically, was a script. If he got a script into his hand, it was incredible. He came to life.
“He would sit down. He’d study it. He’d learn his lines. And it got to the stage when it was distressing him a little bit and not quite getting the intonations that were being fed to him through the earpiece.
“And he might give a wrong intonation to something and then it would upset him. So the time had come for him to go out, not with people feeling sorry for him, but for him to go out on a bit of a high still. And that was important.”
Una explained how Bryan’s short term memory is “completely gone” and his long term is “going”.
When asked how the journey has been for her, Una replied: “The only positive thing I can say about it is that it’s gradual. You don’t wake up and it’s there. I knew before he was diagnosed that it was a great possibility so it wasn’t a surprise.
“I have adapted and adopted things. We have learned along the journey. It’s probably just as well that it doesn’t happen overnight because it’s heartbreaking. The person that I fell in love with is not really there now.
“He had such a love of life. If he had a bit of money, [he’s say], ‘Where are we going? What are we doing?’.
‘DOESN’T KNOW IT’S HOME’
“So Bryan would never have any money because he’d always want to do something or go someplace. And we had fantastic holidays and that’s gone.”
Una explained how all Bryan wants to be is “at home”, but even that is difficult to give him.
She told: “When he’s at home, he doesn’t know it’s home. It’s very hard because like he’ll say to me, ‘Please bring me home, you’re breaking my heart that you won’t bring me home’.
“And I’d say to him, ‘Well, where’s home?’, thinking it might be his childhood home. But it’s not because we’ve gone there and we visited and that’s not what he wants.”
“Edel Carey, who is the most wonderful woman that I met, runs a course called Féileacán Bán Nursing Service, and she says that home is a feeling.
‘WONDERFUL MAN’
“But I’m not sure what the feeling is because you try and support him and wrap him up in love and warmth. But it doesn’t seem to be enough.”
And while Una admits she felt “guilty” for asking for help, she believes she should have done it “earlier”.
Una said: “I didn’t because I’m one of these people who thinks, ‘I can cope, I can cope – I’ll do it, I’ll be fine’. And I should have asked for help earlier.”
Ireland AM shared a short clip of the eye-opening interview over on Instagram and fans flooded the comment section with support.
Siobhan wrote: “Heartbreaking to see this. Bryan is an amazing actor and he always lit up the screen, always with a twinkle in his eye. Sending him and Una all the best wishes in the world.”
Mary said: “A cruel, cruel illness. Bryan was a superb actor.”
Soracha commented: “Sharing Byran’S story is going to help so many. A wonderful man with a wonderful wife by his side.”
Jennifer added: “Amazing woman – Such an horrendous disease. Sending them both so much love.”