Robbie was born on the 10th of July 1985. For 19 wonderful years, Robbie led a rich and fulfilling life. Robbie attended St. Nicholas Montessori and St. Andrews College, where he excelled at several subjects, finally securing at place in the Arts Degree Course at University College Dublin. He was a very active sportsman, and particularly enjoyed swimming, cycling and soccer. He had a large network of friends and he loved nothing better than a good night out socialising!
It was while cycling home from college one day in February 2005, that Rob experienced the first symptoms of his illness. He became short of breath and realised instinctively that something was not right. He went to his local G.P. of his own accord, who immediately diagnosed a build up of fluid around his lungs. This signaled a first class symptom of Dilated Cardiomyopathy. Rob was admitted to St. Vincent Hospital later that day under the expert care of Dr. Ken McDonald and his team. During his stay in St. Vincents Hospital, Rob's condition was stabilised for a time with appropriate medication. He was discharged from Vincents and was scheduled to attend regular appointments for tests and updates at the Heart Failure Clinic in Dun Laoghaire (St. Michaels Hospital). However, just one week after being discharge from Vincents, Rob began to feel increasingly unwell. His heart was failing despite the medication and treatments.
He was re-admitted to hospital, this time to the Mater Hospital Heart and Lung Transplant Unit. For the next month, Rob was expertly looked after under the care of Mr. Freddie Wood and his team. However, during this time Rob's condition reached a stage where he was not stable enough to undergo transplant surgery. It was decided that the only way to stabilise Rob for surgery was to fit him with artificial heart pumps, an operation that was the first of its kind in Ireland. Rob's heart pumps were funded by the Irish Transplant Patient's Association to the tune of €160,000. This operation was an important development which could help patients for over three years while they await a heart transplant. The pumps worked very well but Rob's vital organs had failed to such an extent that he was unable to recover and died on the 12th of May 2005.
Robbie remained optimistic and never lost his sense of humour during his illness. He once said to one of his friends 'Live a good life, eat healthily, don't smoke, don't do drugs and do plenty of exercise. what a load of Bollox!.