Home News Features How a magic story changed Lucille’s life

How a magic story changed Lucille’s life

Saturday, 12 December 2009

A SOUTHSIDE woman who was left brain damaged after a serious car accident has found a new therapeutic outlet in creative writing that has led to the publication of her first children's story. Lucille McDonald, who lives in Monkstown, penned ‘Magic Molly and the Little People’ that has been published by the Deansgrange Writers’ Group. The local group is a collective of 12 amateur creative writers who had never been published before. In 2000, Lucille was at the height of her academic career and in the second year of her PHD course in psychology in the United States. But disaster struck when she was badly injured in a car accident on a short break home to Ireland. Then, after surgery in 2001, it was confirmed that she had frontal lobe brain damage, which significantly impaired her cognitive abilities. Doctors also told her she would never be able to work as a psychologist or achieve any of the ambitious goals she had set for herself in the academic world. In 2006 doctors persuaded Lucille to take part in writing therapy workshops at the National Rehabilitation Hospital, which she was attending as an outpatient. Lucille explained how devastated she was when doctors told her she would never be able to pursue her career. However, she said that while at first she did not enjoy the creative writing workshop at the hospital, she eventually realised that writing could prove to be a worthwhile pursuit. “I went reluctantly to the creative writing course at the hospital,” she admitted. “I was very despondent when I started and I didn't take to it. “But I think I just eventually resigned myself to the fact that the people who were caring for me knew what they were talking about. They had suggested this so I thought I had better try it.” When local man John Piggott, the chairperson of the Deansgrange Writers’ Group, invited her to become a member, Lucille – who formerly worked as a childcare worker - started writing her first children's story, which will be published in the new anthology ‘Crossroads’. “All of a sudden, with encouragement from John, I started to write children's stories,” she recalled. “It has taken me two years to write the little story in the anthology but I had fun with it. The writers’ group itself has given me a whole new purpose and I have been able to put my past life behind me.” Lucille further explained how the process of writing and being a member of the group had helped her come to terms with her new life and identity. “From a therapeutic standpoint, to have lost your sense of identity and then get something from a group of people who can motivate you and support you in doing something new and something that you can enjoy, is fantastic,” she said. “For me, after being in the National Rehabilitation Hospital, I cannot speak highly enough of the benefits of being part of the writers’ group and how it gave me a link back to the real world.” John Piggot is also one of the contributors to the new anthology. He believes that writing can make a hugely positive impact in the lives of people who have suffered disability by teaching them to access and deal with their emotions and invoking the powers locked away in the subconscious, which is the creative side of the brain. He said Lucille's experience showed one of the many benefits on a personal level that creative writing can have on those who engage in it. “It shows there is a lot more to writing than just a way of just getting information across or making money,” he said. The Deansgrange Writers’ Group launch their anthology, which was edited by author, poet and lecturer Katie Donovan in Bakers Pub, Bakers Corner, Deansgrange on December 8. It will be available in all good bookshops from the second week in December. People who want to order a copy of the book can do so by logging onto www.deansgrangewriters.com The price of the book is e10.