Brave Kilkenny woman shines a light on largely unknown disease

A brave woman living in Kilkenny for the past 50 years is fighting for more to be done in all areas of the political to raise greater awareness and treatments for Lyme disease.

Ann Maher has battled the horrific toll the cruel disease can have, battling severe side-effects over the past 29 years.

Despite the immeasurable personal challenges she has faced since her health first began to decline in 1995, the Kilkenny resident has proven to be a continuing vocal champion for those inflicted with the condition.

The little-known disease is a bacterial infection that can be spread to humans by infected ticks and is usually easier to treat if it’s diagnosed early. Many people with Lyme disease can be treated by antibiotics by their GP but some may experience long-lasting, life debilitating effects.

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Most people with early symptoms of the disease develop a circular red skin rash around a tick bite, but that isn’t universally the case and treatment can prove complex due to many unknowns in the medical profession.

Born in Cullohill, County Laois in 1953, Ann moved to Kilkenny 21 years later to become a child care assistant in St Patrick’s Special School.

After a number of months, she fell in love with the county and made the Marble City home, a place where she subsequently met her late husband Mick and laid down family roots.

Unfortunately, life took a downward spiral in 1995, when Ann began to feel severely unwell.

She jumped from one consultant to another, trying to find out what was causing her 'strange symptoms' but to no avail.

Years of torrid side-effects followed, impacting Ann’s life immensely, with memory loss, stroke-like symptoms and extreme fatigue just some of the daily challenges that she had to overcome, with fear a constant as her husband working during the day left her in many cases, home alone and in fear of a medical emergency, a nightmare which was, unfortunately, credible with a number of hospital visits and bewildered doctors to follow.

However, 2003 proved to be a year that offered a glimmer of hope and the beginning of a new chapter. After going to great lengths to research the disease, Ann became aware of a Lyme Literate in Switzerland and after weeks of communication via email and phone calls, the local woman was on the plane to Basel and a hospital in the city where she received the diagnosis she had suspected all along, Chronic Lyme disease. It was a diagnosis that brought some relief to the Maher family after years of turmoil.

Now in 2025, Ann still stares Lyme disease square in the face personally and on behalf of other people.

The Lyme disease advocate has devoted much of her life to shining a light on the day to day hurdles those with the disease face, both from the illness and the still relatively unfamiliar world that we live in.

Currently, Ann works in co-ordination with her colleagues in Lymechat-Eire and Chronic Lyme Warriors England and Ireland.

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The latter wrote to the Royal family ahead of Lyme Disease Awareness Month, receiving replies from Prince William’s Office and King Charles’ offices last week.

Closer to home, Ann has written to all county councillors asking for awareness signs to be erected, which ‘might prevent someone else from a lifetime of Needless Chronic Lyme disease’, Ann said.

"Unfortunately, people don’t take it seriously, I wrote my story last year and friends who knew I was unwell only really understood how unwell I was after they read it."

"The reason I do this is we have two young patients up in Donegal in and out of hospital and they (the doctors) don’t want to hear about Lyme disease and that’s replicated around the country," she said.

"It’s not about me anymore, it’s about young kids to notify schools to let parents know that there is a risk and to check their kids after they’ve been outside."

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