Kevin Barry Speed Peter Gallagher 1931 - 2013

When my brother and I called into the hospital on Saturday at lunchtime we were asked to leave almost immediately because there had been a suspected outbreak of the norovirus on the ward.

My dad first went into hospital on Good Friday with confusion. He had some localised infections and his blood sugars were all over the place, but he was still a physically strong man and in excellent good humour. Two weeks into his stay on hospital he developed pneumonia and despite the unstinting efforts of the hospital staff it had become clear that this was a fight he would lose.

We had lunch with our mum and sister and cousins instead and afterwards, because it was such a beautiful day, went for a walk around the university

As I was leaving I saw this sign and took the picture you see. I don't know if it was a simple piece of graffiti, a viral marketing campaign for a certain brand of energy drink or a tribute to someone who had passed.

In my mind I kind of knew that this would be my blip. Dad passed at 1.30 Sunday morning, about 10 hours after this was taken. At the end it was peaceful and he was surrounded by people who loved him.

ps: They were right about the norovirus. Both my brother and one of my sisters came down with it later on Sunday.