Six months after her ninth child was born this week's guest, Kathleen O'Connor, found herself diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and faced the rest of her life with the disease.

Despite this setback in her life, as well as raising her young family, she chose to get involved with local charities and groups around her home town of Carrick on Shannon.

In 2015, after years of being restricted to a wheelchair and a mobility scooter to move around, she took her first steps with the assistance of a mechanical exo skeleton supporting her body.

After her retirement last year she made the decision to start a campaign to bring an exoskeleton to the north west of Ireland and created Step West, a fundraising initative to raise the €150,000 required to make this essential, inspiring and life changing facility to her region.