Coping with motherhood and MS

Caoilinn de Bairéad has enough on her hands with three young children under eight years of age – the youngest only four and just started play school. But Caoilinn has an added burden that most young mothers don’t have to deal with - she suffers from a common disabling neurological disorder, Multiple Sclerosis. At just 30 years of age, Caoilinn was told she was suffering from MS. She was just after giving birth to her youngest child Órlaith. Caoilinn, originally from Dublin, moved to Galway in 1990 to start her education. She did a degree in Commerce followed by a Masters in Community Development. It was in her Masters class that she met her husband Brian, who was studying the same programme.Caoilinn went on to work in Cork and Dublin for a short period of time but moved back to Galway to work in the Economics Department in NUI Galway.She gave up her job in the University when she had her third child. “It would have been far too manic trying to hold down a job with three young children.”Caoilinn’s father was confirmed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2001 at the age of 55, which is…..