Marguerite Penrose - Yeah, But Where Are You Really From?: A story of overcoming the odds

1. There are just three months between my sister Ciara and me. Weve been inseparable since the day I became part of the Penrose family, aged three.2. Mam and me, 1980.3. Ciara and me in our matching shoes, 1980.4. I was very fond of this stray dog, but we had to have him collected by the ISPCA a few days after this, 1983.5. Ciara and me on our First Holy Communion day outside St Patricks on the Navan Road, 1981. This is right outside the mother and baby home where I spent the first three years of my life.6. Me, Nurse Aoibheann and two other patients in St Catherines Ward at Crumlin Childrens Hospital, 1982.7. Me in hospital on a Stryker bed, which allowed me to be turned, 1981. I was glad to have a visit from Dad, Auntie Angela, Uncle David, my cousin Gary, Christian (a French student who was staying in our house) and Ciara.8. Making your mind up: after Bucks Fizz won the Eurovision in 1981, they came to visit us in Crumlin Childrens Hospital. Here I am with Cheryl Baker. I was featured on RT News with the band the day this photo was taken.9. Nana Kitty took me to Lourdes when I was ten. The trip was incredible fun, though I didnt experience a miracle while I was there. It was my parents persistence in helping me with my rehabilitation exercises that really allowed me to walk again.10. Dad and me on a family holiday in Yugoslavia, as it was called back then.11. Ciara and me enjoying the sunshine in County Clare, aged nine. Mam and Dad made sure the holiday was an exciting adventure for me, as it was for the rest of the children. No big mystery was made of the wheelchair, which was soon integrated into our games!12. All tuckered out on holiday in Tenerife with the family, 1986.13. Mam and I met these Laurel and Hardy lookalikes when we went to California in 1990.14. Nana Josie, Ciara and me in Auntie Angelas house on our confirmation day, 1987.15. Dad and me hanging out at Auntie Angela and Uncle Daves house, 1992.16. By sixth year I was rocking a pair of Doc Martens with my school uniform, 1993.17. Ciara and me about to head out to our Debs, October 1993.18. A family gathering at Auntie Angelas with all the cousins, uncles, aunts and great-aunts. The kids at the front are Gary, Sarah, Aisling, Rebecca and Conor.19. Ciaras twenty-first birthday party shes in brown with our friends, sisters Yvonne and Lisa, who weve known since we were three! 1995.20. Ciara and me about to head out on the town, around 1998. We were both working for Ryanair at the time.21. My friends Alan and Sandra, who Ive known since secondary school, 1999.22. Mam, Dad, Ciara and me having a laugh in our house at Portmarnock, around 1992.23. Mam, Dad and me at the wedding of my friends Yvonne and Dave, 2005.24. In RT Radio One with Ryan Tubridy when he interviewed me in July 2020.

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First published by Sandycove in 2022

Copyright Marguerite Penrose, 2022

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Cover photograph Charles McQuillan

ISBN: 978-1-844-88594-7

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