How do we start?
That’s exactly the question we’ve just asked ourselves.
I suppose the best way to start is to introduce ourselves, and Dunny.
Dunny: who this is all about, he’s a husband, he’s a father, a grandfather, a great-grandfather, an uncle, a friend but most importantly: He’s our hero.
….Should I say he was? No, I can’t and I won’t. We may have lost him but that doesn’t mean we have lost who he is to us.
I’ll start with me, why not!
I’m Laura, Dunny was my Grandfather, IS my Grandfather.
Posting alongside me will be:
Denise: My Mother and Dunny’s Daughter.
Nichola: my little sister and Dunny’s Granddaughter.
Rachael: my cousin (might as well be my sister!) Also Dunny’s Granddaughter.
There’s a good chance more of Dunny’s huge family will be posting. They can introduce themselves if and when they post.
On February 18th 2014 Edward Dunn, head of our family, said Goodnight one last time.
His passing was peaceful, calm and absolutely filled with love.
It was the very least he deserved.
What you will read in this blog is how the last year (ish) of his life was NOT what he deserved. You will read how the organisations who were entrusted with his care failed him on every level.
You’ll hear how we, his family, are racked with guilt. How we tried to fight a system which would not listen.
Most importantly, you’ll hear how we want changes, we want to ensure that what happened to Dunny doesn’t happen again.
Let me give you a bit of history.
Dunny is my Grandfather, he is also my hero.
To me- Granda was a huge man who could do absolutely no wrong. He was a fountain of all knowledge and on the rare occasion he didn’t have the answer to my question stored in his head, you can guarantee he had it in a book which he stored in his ‘library’ (the spare bedroom at his & my Nanna’s house).
He was my great defender, he was the man who swore he’d fight a thousand bulls for me. I guarantee you, if he could have found a thousand bulls he’d have battled each and every one of them and won.
Nothing was too much trouble for my Granda. There is nothing he wouldn’t have done for his beloved Grandchildren.
Then, he got dementia.
Dementia is a cruel illness. It robs a person of who they are, it steals someone from their family piece by piece. It’s a gut wrenching, heartbreaking, funny disease.
Yeah, you read that right. FUNNY.
My Granda lost a lot of things, but he never lost his sense of humour. Thankfully, we didn’t lose ours either.
Over the course of this blog we’ll tell you how the dementia progressed, how we were forced into making a devastating decision, how he was let down by those we trusted with his care and how we plan to fight to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Laura
x
Goodnight Dunny 