{"id":361692,"date":"2026-03-24T00:42:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T00:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/361692\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T00:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T00:42:09","slug":"una-crawford-obrien-on-bryan-murray-moving-to-full-time-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/361692\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00dana Crawford O’Brien on Bryan Murray moving to full-time care"},"content":{"rendered":"

Actor Bryan Murray has moved to full-time care amid his Alzheimer’s battle, his partner and fellow Fair City star \u00dana Crawford O’Brien confirmed.<\/p>\n

Murray was diagnosed with Alzheimer\u2019s disease in 2019, but continued to appear on Fair City before going public with his story in 2022 to raise awareness of the disease and to help others.<\/p>\n

Known for playing Carrigstown’s Bob Charles for two decades, Murray first appeared on Fair City in 2005, and retired from the soap<\/a> at the end of April last year.<\/p>\n

Since then, his illness has progressed, and he is now in full-time care in a nursing home, Crawford O’Brien told Miriam O\u2019Callaghan on RT\u00c9 Radio 1\u2019s Sunday with Miriam.\n <\/p>\n

She explained that his illness had \u201cgalloped\u201d in the last year, leading to what she described as “the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make”.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year was a disaster. His illness galloped, is the only way I can describe it. And the decision had to be made that Bryan would go into a nursing home,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\" The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Emma Blain, singer Daniel O\u2019Donnell and actors \u00dana Crawford O\u2019Brien and Bryan Murray pictured at the launch of Alzheimer\u2019s Tea Day in 2025. Picture: Leon Farrell \/ Photocall Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was probably the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make because I really thought I could cope. And I knew I was a strong person. I had survived my daughter dying, and I thought if I could survive that, I could survive anything. So I was determined to look after Bryan myself, but I just couldn\u2019t in the end.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

When asked if there was a moment in particular that had led her to make that decision, she said: \u201cIt wasn\u2019t any one thing\u2026. It was just a continuous build-up. Every day was different.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could never plan what would be good one day, would be bad the next. And Bryan\u2019s mood, as I say, changed. He was always so good-humoured. Now, he would get very angry with me. When he would talk to me, I didn\u2019t know if the right answer would be yes or if it would be no, and so I was walking on eggshells all the time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said that even though she knew it was the right decision, it broke her heart to make it.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody who was seeing him regularly knew it was the only thing to do and that was very reassuring for me, even though it broke my heart,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She said that even though she does not believe that he knows who she is when she visits him, that he is always smjiling and in good spirits again.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis mood has changed completely again, and he\u2019s in great form all the time and he will smile when I come in, but then he smiles at everybody, and I\u2019ll say, \u2018It\u2019s \u00dana\u2019 and he\u2019ll go, \u2018Yes, yes\u2019.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said that when she brings their dog Bob to visit, he does not know him at first, but that he\u2019ll call him by his name when on a walk.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t know the dog when I bring Bob in to see him but if we\u2019re out walking, he\u2019ll take the lead and at some stage he\u2019ll say, ‘Come on Bob, come on.\u2019 That\u2019s the only person that he calls by name now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Actor Bryan Murray has moved to full-time care amid his Alzheimer’s battle, his partner and fellow Fair City…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361693,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60,19930],"class_list":{"0":"post-361692","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-this-much-i-know-column-shape-i"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}