An inspiring and insightful memoir about the importance of holding on to hope - from Number One bestselling author Gareth O'Callaghan
'Heart-breaking and uplifting, I defy anyone to read this memoir and not be affected by O'Callaghan's honesty and humanity' Irish Times
In 2018, after receiving a life-changing diagnosis, broadcaster Gareth O'Callaghan retired from full-time work and gave up the career that he had loved for decades.
In this deeply personal and inspiring memoir he tells that story, from the moments after his doctor uttered the words Multiple System Atrophy - a progressive and incurable neurological disease that ultimately carries a fatal prognosis - to his struggle to come to terms with a life unplanned.
Recounted with insight and searing honesty, What Matters Now reveals how, regardless of circumstance, we can choose how we live, to the fullest. A stunning and life-affirming account of the power of the human spirit, and the potential for hope even in the darkest times.
"For me, this is not a choice. It's all I want, namely a full and loving life that I strive to choose every day over everything else - considering that maybe the big odds are heavily stacked against that. But I don't care what the odds might be; I'll keep defying them for as long as I can keep fighting and living."
Gareth O'Callaghan is a Irish radio broadcaster known throughout Ireland for his lively radio afternoon show on 2FM. He has been a radio DJ for twenty years, after having spent time working for a department store, in insurance and briefly joining the priesthood. He has qualified as a master practitioner in neurolinguistic psychology and now travels Ireland giving talks to doctors and support groups on the subject of depression. He has three daughters and lives in North Dublin.