You Can’t Keep A Good Man Grounded

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It was back in August 2017 that Benny Taglienti was diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease, a condition that leaves your brain and five senses intact, but slowly cripples your legs and hands.

When we met up with Benny in January, he was still able to walk, and could grab his coffee as we chatted outside Café Gray, just across the road from Joker’s, the takeaway he co-founded.

Today, in his Kilcoole home, walking is almost impossible, and that grip is becoming ever more elusive.

Not that Benny Taglienti is going to let that bastard MND grind him down. The man has too much spirit for that.

Benny would much rather just get on with the job at hand. And right now, that job is building a wet room out the back of his house, given that he can no longer make it up the stairs.

Utilising a government grant that part covers the cost, the cheapest estimate Benny can find is €50,000 for such a room. For builders, ‘grant’ is Latin for ‘double it’, and so, without it, Benny reckons he could get it done for €25,000 – or quite a bit less. 

So, his daughters have put together a gofundme page, and are planning a series of fundraisers – including a possible Halloween party in the Greystones Rugby Club and, revisiting one of their father’s old loves, a charity motorbike ride.

We’ll be spreading the word as each of these events comes to fruition. In the meantime, you can throw anything you can spare – no matter how small – into the hat right here, so Benny can get one step closer to leading a normal life again…

That donation page again, my friend, is right here. Better than any Christmas present.