Forty years after USA President Ronald Reagan presented Monica O’Kelly with her Paralympic silver medal, she gathered with her fellow residents at the HSE-run Farranlea Community Nursing Unit (CNU) in Cork to celebrate - and watch the 2024 Paralympics.

In 1984, Monica celebrated her 21st birthday by winning a silver medal in swimming and three bronze medals for shot putt, club throw and slalom at the Paralympics in New York. She won two gold medals in swimming the following year at the European Championships in Vienna. In total, Monica competed internationally for eight years.

Farranlea Community Nursing Unit (CNU)

Four decades after her Paralympic success, staff at the Farranlea CNU hosted a green, white and gold-themed garden party for all 80 residents. They gathered to watch the start of the Paralympics, an ever-expanding celebration of sporting achievement featuring 4,400 athletes competing in 549 medal events, across 22 sports.

Monica has been a resident at Farranlea CNU since 2013. Reflecting on her initial move to the facility, Monica says that “coming from home to here was nerve-wracking - a huge change. But luckily I found ways to settle. I get a lovely breakfast here every day and I feel a lot better now. The staff are very good to me. My family is very supportive as well.”

Clinical Nurse Manager, Mini David, says Monica loves life: “She is so famous - such an inspirational lady. She just loves her family and social life. She loves putting on her make-up and going out with her brothers for a sneaky KFC. She's such an intelligent lady, always doing quizzes and, of course, she loves Elvis.”

Monica’s brother David O’Kelly explained how Monica was “one of the first residents of the Cedar Unit at Farranlea in 2013. We are so grateful to the team who care for her multiple-needs so well. They are absolutely fantastic with her, so professional, and there's great communication between us and the care team. She's very lucky and this party was a great celebration.”  

Another of Monica's brothers, Vincent O’Kelly, noted how he was “always her sidekick as we are the two youngest. I remember well travelling every week to training camps and sleeping on the floor. We were always very proud of Monica and her achievements.”

Monica grew up on the Old Blackrock Road in Cork and started representing Ireland at a young age: “I loved horse-riding, and when I was nine I was picked to go to Amsterdam and ride in front of the Irish Ambassador to the Netherlands,” she recalls.

In the summer of 1983, Monica was invited by Cerebral Palsy Ireland to train at the Sandymount Clinic:

“I travelled by bus every weekend and slept in a sleeping bag on the floor in order to train and reach Paralympic standard,” she explains.

When Monica was chosen for the Irish Paralympic team, her family rallied to fundraise for her and others to make the trip, organising a bike ride from Shannon to Cork. Local sponsorship and support also came from local businesses and sports clubs:

“My mother and aunt came with me to New York and I spent three weeks there. The athletes got up every day at 5.30am and trained until 4pm - the only breaks were to eat. It was tough but then Ronald Reagan opened the Paralympic Games and it was a brilliant experience."

“I am enjoying this year’s Paralympics in Paris. I also watched the Olympics and was very happy with the swimmers who won medals for Ireland - Mona McSharry and Daniel Wiffen. Who is my favourite? Oh the man Daniel!” she concludes.