Who was Paddy?To use the words of one tribute, “Patrick was one of life's good guys. He was so friendly and kind and always made time for others.” He was humble, resilient and always determined to see the best in people. He loved nature as much as he loved people and sought to be out in the open whenever possible. He biked, skied, hiked and, most importantly, swam all his life - and he had a British medal to show for it. Music was central to his life and was an essential part of his stress busting armoury. Patrick was also autistic and born with serious hearing problems - but he never used either as an excuse for holding back. On the contrary, Patrick downplayed the challenges he faced. He loved life and squeezed every drop he could out of it.
Which made it all the sadder when he was diagnosed with melanoma in 2016. He recovered well from his original surgery and lived his life to the full, working as a swimming instructor and taking part in all the sports he loved until the melanoma came back with a vengeance in early 2025. The last five months of his life were very dificult, not least because professionals involved in his care missed opportunities to alleviate his suffering due to a lack of understanding of autism.
Throughout it all, Patrick remained positive and did everything in his power to beat the cancer. He recovered from a double spinal fracture which had kept him bed-bound for months, learnt to walk again, got back into his club pool to swim a final km, despite predictions from the medical staff that he would never get in the water again. Sadly, he died about a month after his last swim.
Paddy's legacy
To prevent other autistic individuals from facing the unnecessary suffering Paddy experienced, PAT seeks to educate staff involved in the provision of end of life care in the additional challenges faced by autistic individuals. To do this PAT will identify and attempt to fill the gaps in research on the autism community at end of life. We hope that this research will provide an evidence base on which to build training materials to equip professionals with a deeper understanding of the autistic experience of end of life.
