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CIA director John Brennan with Kilteevan businessman John Gilooly at the Gathering event on Friday night.
JOHN BRENNAN, THE head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) will be returning to the US with a piece of turf cut from a bog in Kilteevan, Co Roscommon, after attending a Gathering event on Friday night.
Brennan made an appearance at the Kilteevan Community Centre, which was originally the church that his Irish father, Owen, was baptised in.
Local man John Gillooly told TheJournal.ie that the night was “so emotional”.
“The man is 94 years of age and he did a couple of speeches and waved to everyone – people broke down,” he said. “It’s just amazing to have the head of the CIA coming over to our little place, I mean we’re only a small community with less than 500 people, so to have one of the top men in the world, Obama’s righthand man, here, is unbelievable.”
Gillooly was showcasing some turf craft products from his business ‘LuckySods’ at the event and gave a piece shaped like an Irish harp to Brennan as a gift.
“He couldn’t believe that it was an actual piece of Ireland and that it came from Kilteevan, where his dad was from,” he said. “He wanted to pay me for it but I said it was a gift and I could tell it meant a lot to him. He’s heading back to the White House now with a little piece of Kilteevan.”
The local businessman also had a framed piece of turf shaped like President Barack Obama’s head (pictured above), which he said “went down well” with the CIA director.
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No mention of insulin pumps which are becoming much more prevalent in Ireland now, they’re advancing (experimentally currently) to a stage were there is no human decision making in the day-to-day management of T1 diabetes, a massive step forward doesn’t even come close to encompassing that.
My sister in law, who lives in Germany but is from Ireland has been using a pump for at least 10 years if not longer!
I am an insulin pump user for over 12 years living in Ireland. Thankfully research and treatment has come along way. I too remember as a young child having to inject with large needles!
When science and the magic of life combine to open the door to the world
Humbling to read this , but also rembering the advances being made that enables people across the world to lead life’s of hope and to think the impossible
As a T1 I would hate to have living throughout the 70s/80s ..it can be hard enough trying to control your sugars now but back then would have been even worse ..thankfully with advance in medicine and technology it’s makes it a good bit easier ..I’ve always wondered what gluco machines were like back then and how long it took to check your bm..
My dad is T1 diabetic for last 30 years and it’s only reading this I now remember him with his bottles of insulin. Now he has a pen but still has to test his blood 4 times a day and calculate how many units of insulin to take. An automatic pump would be another huge improvement. So great for children.
Automatic pumps exist.. You still need to measure blood before meals and enter in the number of carbohydrates consumed into the pumps handheld monitor and then the pump can automatically release the right amount of insulin. No injections required. Is this what your dad has?
Modern Pharma is an incredibly broken system. But damn its effective when there is money to be made.
Damn its effective when it saved my 7 year old from dying. The big pharmaceutical companies are my daughters saviour and life line. I can’t help but be thankful.
Sure but they are still brutal at research.
Im a t2 diabetic and use 2 types of insulin. The use of insulin pens and a quick, simple testing device makes living a normal life very much easier
We all have a go at the drug companies but without them where would we be,dead thats what !!
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