THE writer Pat Tierney died suddenly on Thursday, his 39th birthday. Tierney was HIV positive, due to drug abuse, but had conquered his addiction at the time of diagnosis. His energetic, creative attitude to life had made him a symbol of hope for people with HIV.
Tierney made the story of his life known through his autobiographical book, The Mood On My Back, and his dramatisation of this work. Born to an unmarried mother in the 1950s, he was put into a home in Galway. He was fostered by an elderly, rural couple, with whom he had little communication, and where he worked extremely bard. Put out of this home he found himself living on the streets of Galway.
He went to the US in search of a new life, but instead found drugs. This led to his contracting HIV. He was diagnosed when he returned home and found a flat in Ballymun. After a period of depression, he threw himself into community work, and into writing. He became well known as a performer on Grafton Street.