Dermot O’Neill, beloved star of Mrs Brown’s Boys, is mourning the devastating loss of his wife Patricia ‘Chickie’ Maguire, who passed away in the early hours of Monday at St Francis Hospice in Blanchardstown. She was just 60 years old.
In a heartbreaking statement to The Irish Sun, Dermot said: “Chickie left us about half three in the morning. We are absolutely devastated. I am going to miss her so much.”
Chickie, a devoted Dunnes Stores worker, had only recently been given months to live following a shocking stage 4 cancer diagnosis. Earlier this year, she travelled to Spain for a routine hernia operation — only for surgeons to discover multiple tumours in her stomach. “If I hadn’t gone abroad, I’d never have known I had stage 4 cancer,” she revealed. Determined to be with her family, she returned to Ireland rather than staying in Spain for further treatment.
The mum-of-seven faced one of the hardest moments of her life in telling her sons, Salvador, 39, and Evan, 24. From her hospital bed, she recalled: “Dermot put his hand on my knee and both boys held each of my hands, and we all hugged and cried.”
Chickie’s wish was simple yet poignant: to spend another Christmas with her loved ones, especially her three-year-old granddaughter, Ellie. “My dream is to make it to Christmas Day and give her a kiss, so she can remember that kiss,” she said.
Throughout her illness, Chickie praised the staff at Beaumont Hospital and her colleagues at Dunnes Stores in Portmarnock, where she had worked tirelessly, even setting up the branch’s click-and-collect service.
Her strength and bravery echoed the devotion she had shown Dermot during his own cancer battle, which he overcame in 2020. “Dermot has been amazing. He’s old school, a real man’s man. Being 14 years younger than him, he never believed he would see me being sick,” Chickie said, reflecting on the couple’s unbreakable bond.
As Dermot and his family grieve, fans across Ireland and the UK have been sending condolences to the couple, touched by Chickie’s courage, warmth, and love for her family.
