When Andy McGovern was given a special computer to write his book, it took him two weeks just to complete a thank-you note, using his right foot to laboriously key in each individual letter.
The Leitrim man, who has lost the use of his arms, is Ireland's longest-surviving sufferer of Motor Neurone Disease, a muscle-wasting terminal illness. Andy, a father of six, who was diagnosed as having the disease in 1978 at the age of 45, has recently had his book published after three years' work. Entitled They Laughed At This Man's Funeral, it is a compilation of stories about his father, Jimmy, and rural Ireland of the 1940s and 1950s.
He wanted to bring to life the Ireland of a bygone era - his father was well known as a storyteller and local character in his home parish of Aughavas - and to give people enjoyment. "If people get a laugh from the book, I will have achieved my aim," he says.
Writing the book also took him out of what he calls his "comfort zone" because it posed such a huge challenge.
"With a terminal disease, you could easily sit at home and wallow in the bosom of your good family and do nothing. Writing the book took me out of that," he says.
Proceeds from the book will go towards the Motor Neurone Disease Association, which provided Andy with a touch-screen computer.
He used his right foot and had to input each letter individually. To check spelling, he says, he had to open a dictionary with his mouth.
It took a lot of patience. "There is only one failure, and that is the failure to learn from failure, so I had to persevere." If he decides to write a second book, the task will be a lot easier as he has now been given a new computer with voice-recognition capacity.
The opening chapter tells of his struggle with the disease as his condition progressively worsened. A visit to Lourdes in 1990 was a turning point after an earlier visit had left him bitter and angry. "I had got the greatest gift given to anybody, that of acceptance. For 10 long years I had suffered hell, because I had failed to recognise that gift."
As well as writing the book, Andy has also climbed Croagh Patrick to raise funds for the MND Association. His motto is: live for the moment.
"I got one up on the disease by getting back the art of writing. Being able to pick up a pen was long gone. Once I was able to put one word down on paper, you can imagine the feeling inside me. To get back something you had lost is a great thing," he says.
Motor Neurone Disease affects people of all ages and backgrounds, and life expectancy for sufferers is between two and five years. There are some 280 people in Ireland with the disease.
The Motor Neurone Disease Association is a support organisation for sufferers and their families. It can be contacted on freefone 1800 403 403. They Laughed at This Man's Funeral is available through the association or booksellers nationwide at £6.99.