Last Thursday, both of Maeve Boothby O’Neill’s parents testified at the inquest into her 2021 death from ME-related complications. (I earlier posted Sarah Boothby’s statement as read into the record.) It was the penultimate day of two weeks of court sessions in Exeter, in the south-east of England, UK. The coroner, Deborah Archer, is scheduled to release her factual findings this coming Friday.
Archer presided over the proceedings with a firm hand while exhibiting enormous compassion for both parents at key moments. As Sean O’Neill began reading his prepared statement into evidence, he paused. Archer immediately offered to read the statement herself–an offer he accepted quietly and, it seemed, gratefully.
Below is an edited version of the statement as read out in the courtroom.
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Maeve: “My first child and a very special girl”
Maeve was my first child and a very special girl. I remember the combination of love and overwhelming responsibilitly I felt when taking her home from the Royal London Hospital to the house where Sarah and I then lived in East London.
She was a beautiful baby and one of the most precious things about her early years was the bond she formed with her Irish grandmother. Maeve’s second name was Bernadette, named after my Mum, and the affection between the two of them was plain to see. Maeve was the only grandchild my mother knew because she died, aged just 66, from pancreatic cancer in June 1999..............
