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ANDREA CORR bursts into tears as she talks publicly for the first time about the death of her beloved mother. It has been a year since Jean Corr died but the pain is still fresh for her beautiful daughter, who describes the moment her ‘guiding light’ went out.
Andrea says: “I think everybody knows to lose someone so close to them is a feeling that never goes away.
“Mammy was diagnosed in April and died in November but the illness would have been in her for probably two years before then and we knew nothing about it.”
Jean was just 57 when she was struck down by a rare disease called cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis, which blocks the air sacs in the lungs.
Tragically, Jean’s life was ebbing away just as her four children were achieving worldwide fame. Now the band feel strong enough to talk about their grief for the first time.
And they are playing a special gig in January to raise cash for a new wing in the Newcastle hospital where their mother died.
Andrea, 26, the youngest member of the Corr family, seems to be the most deeply affected by Jean’s death. The singer – who was voted the world’s most beautiful woman in a recent poll of 3,000 young people – says she feels her mother’s presence every time she goes on stage.
Andrea explains: “Our mother is still very much a part of us when we play. She is part of me at all times, at every moment, in every gig, every time I go on stage. She was normally so healthy – it was a really bizarre disease she got.
“But we hope more research can be done so it will be less likely to happen to somebody else. We just feel glad that we will be able to put money towards a new hospital wing for research.”
The close-knit family were distraught when Jean became ill and after a few months she suddenly got much worse. Doctors said she needed life-saving surgery and flew her from the family home in Dundalk to Newcastle upon Tyne’s Freeman hospital.
Violinist Sharon, 30, says the family were hoping for a full recovery as Jean was assessed for a lung transplant – but she died before the operation.
Her eyes filling with tears, she says: “She just deteriorated so rapidly that within a week she was dead. Nobody expected that. They don’t know what causes the disease but it is something that scars the lungs’ air pockets and it means the lungs cannot take in air. It is very rare and no one knows where it comes from.
“But to build or extend the research centre in that hospital would mean so much to us. Then perhaps the doctors will be able to find out more about diseases like this. There are many other people out there suffering like we did.”
Sister Caroline, 27, continued: “According to the doctors, it was caused by her breathing something in but we just don’t know what it was.”
Frowning, Andrea adds: “We had a quick learning curve but unfortunately for our mum it was too late. We knew people did well using steroids and often recover – but Mammy’s form of it was so aggressive.”
Brother Jim, 36, the oldest member of the band, was the first to discover his mother would not survive. He broke the news to his sisters.
He says: “When our mother told us what this thing was actually called, I looked it up on the Internet. I saw that the prospects weren’t very good…they were very bad. People only live for a maximum of three or four years.”
Although the band enjoy amazing success as one of the worlds top acts, they say they still struggle to control their grief when they perform.
But Andrea says instead of making them want to quit, their mother’s death inspired them to carry on the career that made her so proud.
Speaking in Germany, where the Corrs are on tour, she adds: “When mum died, it made us appreciate what we had and want to go on. It felt like an awakening. We realised exactly what we should be doing. The songs just came out and they flowed. There was no feeling of, ‘Oh, I’m going to give up.’ We just got stronger.
“One song was written about my mother, No More Cry. It’s a song about rebelling from pain and going on with life. It’s also a song for our father, to let him know he’s not alone.”
Parents Gerry and Jean used to have their own band in Ireland and inspired their children to take up the musical careers which are set to make them multi-millionaires.
Andrea says: “Both our parents were a guiding light.”
Sharon continues: “Mum was a great singer and Dad was a great keyboard player. And they loved music. They just lived for music. So I suppose they both gave us a great passion for music.”
Andrea says: “We were fortunate we weren’t on the other side of the world when Mammy got ill. At the time we were recording MTV Unplugged so we were in Dublin and were able to see a lot of her. Our writing reflected what was going on, it’s very relevant.
“Music is about expression and you have a lot to express when something like that happens. So she’s very much in the songs but not in a morbid way.”
Consultant chest physician, Bernard Higgins says the band is making a vital contribution to the Freeman hospital. He says: “Lung disease isn’t very glamorous. By drawing attention to the problem and raising money, the band are making a fantastic contribution to the hospital. The Health Service has a problem raising money for its day-to-day costs, any research is funded by donations and without donations like this, we would not be able to progress.”
The Corrs want to raise £100,000 for medical research by playing at Newcastle’s Telewest Arena on January 8. Tickets go on sale today. The gig will be the first date of their UK tour.

Disease that suffocates its victims

Around 1,000 people in England are suffocated to death by fibrosing alveolitis each year. Life expectancy may be only around three years and sufferers – like Jean Corr – find it increasingly harder to breathe as the condition takes hold.
The disease is caused by the cells normally involved in the body’s own defence against infection going on the attack to cause inflammation, injury and scarring in the lungs. Although doctors know how it is caused they do not know why, according to the British Lung Foundation. But it is not infectious and it is not a form of cancer.
External scars help injured areas to heal, but scar tissue in the lungs can be a killer, preventing them performing their normal function of transferring oxygen from the air to the blood while at the same time removing carbon dioxide.
The disease can hit people of any age but sufferers are usually in their fifties. Men and women are equally affected.
Alarmingly, fibrosing alveolitis seems to be on the increase. Exposure to certain occupational hazards, such as asbestos dust, or to another condition such as rheumatoid arthritis, can trigger the disease.
In addition, most sufferers are or have been smokers. But for most people the provoking factor cannot be identified.
In these victims, the disease is called cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis, from the Greek for ‘of unknown origin’.
It is treated with steroids or with immuno-suppressants and young patients may need lung transplants. It must be identified early if treatment is to succeed before patients become severely disabled.
Sufferers are likely to need treatment for the remaining years of their lives.