Former taoiseach Brian Cowen is slowly recovering from a stroke and suspected bleed on the brain he suffered last July and "hopes to walk again" soon, his wife Mary Cowen has said.
Mr Cowen (60) fell ill last summer and spent five months in St Vincent’s Hospital receiving treatment.
However, his wife Mrs Cowen said the former Fianna Fáil leader has now been moved from a hospital setting into a rehabilitation centre and hopes to return home in the near future.
Speaking to radio station Midlands 103 at the Laois-Offaly general election count over the weekend, Mrs Cowen said her husband was making “slow and steady progress”.
“He’s beginning to see progress now himself, which is very encouraging for him, whereas we’ve seen progress before him because we’ve been with him from day one when he was very seriously ill,” she said.
“He’s very encouraged by what he’s doing at the moment, he’s very determined and hopes to walk again and get out and come home soon.”
Mrs Cowen said her husband was not feeling well a couple of days prior to the stroke. He was due to see a consultant at the Beacon hospital on July 4th last.
“When he got there he was admitted, they were going to do a procedure on him the next day which was an everyday procedure. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. That night, Brian collapsed and he had a very bad stroke and a very bad bleed to the brain,” she said.
He was transferred to St Vincent’s Hospital where Mrs Cowen said he was resuscitated and then transferred to ICU.
Mrs Cowen said the past seven months had been a very difficult time for the family and she thanked the public for their support and good wishes.
Mr and Mrs Cowen’s daughter, Sinead, said the family has been encouraged by the progress her father is making.
“He’s been inspirational, really, in his determination to get better and that’s made it a lot easier for us.”
