A man with Motor Neurone Disease who broke two world records for swimming yesterday has said he couldn’t believe it when he saw his times.
Mark O’Brien was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) on St Patrick’s Day in 2022.
MND is a terminal condition that attacks a person’s nerves in their brain and spinal cords - which slowly impacts their ability to walk, talk, drink and breathe.
On The Pat Kenny Show, Mr O’Brien said he first noticed something was wrong when he was playing tennis and at the end of matches “my racket used to fly out of my hand for no apparent reason”.
A very fit and active man, the news that he was dying came as a complete shock.
“I actually had to ask what MND was; I had no idea what MND was,” he said.
“Then there’s a period of another six months, where you get tested again and again because MND can mimic other diseases.
“Because obviously MND is a terminal condition, they’re obviously very careful with it, so that six-month period was a real dark time - mentally I was shot to pieces.”
Not every day you get a good luck message from the Irish Olympic Champion, Daniel Wiffen!- thank you @WiffenDaniel you are an absolute legend for supporting us and for achieving the 800m swim gold in Paris plus the bronze at 1500m!@mndassoc @IMNDA #als #mnd #olympics #swimming pic.twitter.com/9nloNyc0xo
— Mark O'Brien (@warriormarkmnd) August 28, 2024
Final confirmation of his diagnosis came in December 2023 and at that point, he “actually felt relieved”.
“I thought, ‘Okay, we know now 100% – whatever life I’ve got left, I’m going to live it and live it in the most positive way I can,” he said.
The average life expectancy of someone once they are diagnosed with MND is between two to three years - although some people can live for longer.
“I’m at two-and-a-half at the moment,” Mr O’Brien said.
“I don’t intend to be going anywhere any time soon.
“Fortunately, my MND is very much centred down my right side at the moment.
“My speech is okay; my left side is not too bad. So, hopefully it still progresses at quite a slow rate.”
Insight into the hard training and its impact on the MND itself. Down day today but going to keep on pushing💪#mnd #alsa @challengingmnd @MNDManchester @mndassoc #Wednesday #wednesdaymotivations @IMNDA https://t.co/CDyife9msY pic.twitter.com/GnNSH9159X
— Mark O'Brien (@warriormarkmnd) August 14, 2024
Mr O’Brien decided he wanted to keep active and broke the record for the longest unaided open water swim by a person with MND.
Having achieved that, he decided he wanted to achieve two more records in the sprint category.
But first, he needed his doctor’s permission to participate.
“He laughed when he was signing it off,” Mr O’Brien said.
“He went, ‘I don’t agree with this at all - but I’ll sign it off for you.’
“The overriding factor of why I was doing it was, firstly, to help people - not just who have got MND but also people who suffered with terminal illnesses and their friends and their families.
“I’m just trying to offer some kind of inspiration and encouragement.
DOUBLE GUINNESS WORLD RECORD HOLDER MOB @IMNDA @mndassoc @challengingmnd @WatfordFC @VoisOfTheVic pic.twitter.com/IdElS3jDPz
— Mark O'Brien (@warriormarkmnd) September 1, 2024
On Sunday, he shattered the record for the fastest 50m freestyle for a person living with MND and then the 100m freestyle record.
“They were set yesterday - both of them - in a 50-metre pool just north of Luton Airport,” he said.
“My time to beat was 38.72 [seconds], I did that in 36.1 [seconds].
“Then we en masse came over; family and friends, came over to Ireland.
“We went to the National Aquatics Centre - I’ve trained every couple of weeks for the last six months in that centre.”
When the time came for him to compete in the second race, Mr O’Brien was “really tired” but he completed it in one minute and 29 seconds.
“I didn’t believe it myself when they gave me the time,” he said.
“It was nearly 10 seconds under [the record], I was just shocked and amazed.
“It was brilliant.”
Huge well done @warriormnd - you are amazing!!
You smashed your @GWR swim challenge 🏊♂️
£17,000 raised to be split equally with MND Assoc Herts branch, Bedfordshire Branch and the MND national office for research.https://t.co/yolhvavzNG@DenhamWaterski
🧡💙🧡💙🧡💙🧡💙🧡 https://t.co/MykwZ3J2UM
— MNDA - Hertfordshire Branch (@MndaHerts) September 25, 2023
Mr O’Brien said he wanted to do one of the records in Ireland as he has a “huge family” here.
It was all particularly poignant as his father passed away during the pandemic and many of his family members had been unable to attend the funeral.
He said breaking the word record in Ireland was a special way to ‘honour my Dad’.
Main image: Mark O'Brien. Picture by: Newstalk
