Mrs Brown's Boys' Dermot O’Neill reveals stepdaughter's final surprise for dying mum
Mrs Brown's Boys star Dermot O’Neill lost his wife to stage four cancer in the early hours of Monday morning (01.06.26).
Mrs Brown's Boys' Dermot O’Neill said his wife's final hours were brightened when her daughter arrived at her hospice bedside wearing her wedding dress.
Patricia ‘Chickie’ Maguire, 60, lost her battle with stage four cancer in the early hours of Monday morning (01.06.26) at St Francis Hospice in Blanchardstown, Dublin, Ireland, after being given months to live.
Her daughter, Yolanda, decided to wear her bridal gown because Chickie was too sick to attend the nuptials, following her terminal cancer diagnosis in January 2025 after surgeons could not remove a hernia as they found tumours on the stomach.
Dermot - who plays Grandad in Mrs Brown's Boys - told The Irish Sun: "Yolanda got married last March, but Chickie was too sick to attend.
"So Yolanda walked into her room yesterday in her wedding dress. Chickie was just delighted to see it and thought Yolanda looked so beautiful."
Dermot and his late wife - who got hitched in 2012 - enjoyed one last night out a few weeks before her death.
He said: "Chickie had a week off the chemo. I brought her home and took her down to see singer James Brown at the Cock and Bull pub in Coolock.
"She managed to have two Baileys, and James Brown even sang a song for her."
Days later, her health declined, and went back to Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, for more chemotherapy.
As the treatment did not work, she was moved to St Francis Hospice for palliative care.
Dermot recalled the moment former Dublin Airport worker Chickie departed on Monday.
He said: "It was about 3.30am when Chickie left us. My daughter Nicola was with her.
"I rushed in from home and got here within 10 minutes.
"She passed away in St Francis Hospice. She had been in Beaumont Hospital, but there was nothing they could do for her.
"She had a blockage in her heart that couldn’t be shifted, and the chemo had stopped working.
"Chickie knew that she didn’t have much time left and was on the way, but was hoping she could get a few more weeks.
"They had her on morphine because she was in terrible pain, and she could only whisper for the last few days."
The actor added: "I can’t put into words how much I am going to miss Chickie. I just have to get through this."
Chickie only found out about her stage four cancer when she went to Spain to have a hernia removed, but the surgeons could not operate because they found tumours on her stomach.
The mum-of-seven previously told the publication: "If I hadn’t have gone abroad, I’d never have known I had stage 4 cancer. Once they found it, the doctors wanted to send me to another hospital in Spain.
"I told them, no way! I wanted to come back to Ireland, or I’d never see my kids again."
Chickie also supported Dermot through his cancer battle before he got the all-clear in 2020.
