Offaly woman ‘Mary Menopause’ lauded as a 'true champion' in Seanad speech

The work that Edenderry woman, Mary McHugh, also known as ‘Mary Menopause’, is doing to raise awareness around menopause care in Ireland was applauded in the Seanad on Wednesday afternoon by Junior Minister Pippa Hackett. 

Mary has been telling her story, to anyone who will listen, about how “menopause depletes of us of all the hormones that make us natural” and is sharing the debilitating symptoms she has been experiencing for years without treatment. 

The Minister was speaking following an event, held by Mary McHugh in Rhode, last Monday, where she noted an “outpouring of support and similar stories from the other women in the room, each with their own accounts of the difficulties associated with menopause and for some women these difficulties lasted over a decade. That is no way to live” she said.

“Menopause will affect 50% of our population, yet many are suffering in silence. Women have stopped working because of menopause symptoms - women in their 40s, their working lives cut short” the Minister said.

While December marked an important milestone for menopause care in Ireland, with the opening of the first of four publicly funded specialist Menopause Clinics, the Minister said that the rest needed to be rolled out as quickly as possible and that access to specialist advice and proper treatment is essential.

“Women need to know they are not alone, that’s why all of us in that room last Monday night were so grateful to Mary - for her courage and her relentless determination to rectify this situation. You are a true champion Mary” the Minister concluded.

See the full video here: https://youtu.be/Ew_YUUAH3cc