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Bar to raise glasses, funds for owner

Four siblings need $80,000 to bring their terminally ill father back from Ireland, and they're using his pub to get it.

By CAMILLE C. SPENCER
Published August 15, 2006

Michael Brennan gave more than just his name to Brennan's Sports Pub & Grill. He gave the Holiday pub a warmth and energy that customers felt as soon as they walked through the door.

"Mike was Brennan's," said family friend Jan Priest. "When he walked into the bar, he remembered your name and what you drank. He always shook your hand and greeted you when he came in."

For years, Brennan and his pub at 1144 Alt. U.S. 19 flourished. Then cancer struck in 2004, and Michael Brennan and his pub faltered.

Michael, now 61, returned to his native Ireland for treatment at a hospital in Galway.

Priest took over the once-busy pub, which used to open at 11 a.m. for lunch. Now, business is slow. The pub doesn't open until 4 p.m.

Michael's cancer is now terminal after spreading to his bones and stomach. His wife, Margaret, is by his side in Ireland. His children, 4,000 miles away in Florida, are eager to bring him home.

A few weeks ago, Michael's four children gathered around a table at Chili's to brainstorm ideas on how to bring their father back to Florida.

Naturally, they decided to use the pub.

* * *

The Brennan children - Kurt, 37, Jennifer, 23, Katie, 19, and Michelle, 24 - spent their early years in Staten Island, N.Y.

Michael, a friendly joker with a warm smile, worked as a manager at the Blarney Stone, a Manhattan pub. Sometimes, he would take Michelle to Mets games at Shea Stadium.

The family moved to Florida in 1988 so Michael could start his own pub in Holiday.

The pub is the stuff of childhood memories for Michelle, who remembers racing her sisters inside to find a booth to do their homework. Def Leppard and Pink Floyd blared from the jukebox.

"I grew up in the pub," Michelle said. "We would watch TV and hang out. I credit my music knowledge to the jukebox playing at the pub."

Local residents responded and business was good.

"His dream was always to have his own bar," said Kurt Brennan. "He worked his butt off all these years to build his business."

Life was rolling along until two years ago, when Michael was diagnosed with colon cancer.

Michelle learned of her father's condition during a visit her parents made to her Lutz apartment.

"I remember I was about to tell him I was doing the cancer walk in Tampa," Michelle said. "He interrupted and blurted it out ... I was crying uncontrollably."

Because Michael's medical records are in Ireland, he flew there for his treatment. His wife and Michelle joined him.

Doctors removed a large mass from his body, and for a while, his condition improved. Then Michael began having trouble with his digestive system in late 2005.

Doctors performed surgery and found that the cancer had spread to his stomach.

"If it's not one thing, it's another," said Kurt Brennan who, along with his siblings, receives daily health updates via text message from his mother. "He has such a strong mind and spirit, but his body is letting him down.

"We don't know if it will be six weeks or six months. It's been a real roller coaster ride."

* * *

The plan the Brennan children hatched at Chili's goes something like this:

Arrange an eight-hour ambulatory charter flight to fly Michael from Ireland to Holiday so he can be treated by an at-home nurse or a local hospital. The plan's success is dependent on Michael's condition.

But the cost for such a flight could run as high as $80,000. So, they organized a fundraiser for 1:30 p.m. Sunday at their father's pub.

Raising that kind of cash won't be easy. Michelle is advertising the fundraiser on her MySpace Web site, which has drawn 27 people who plan to attend.

Even if they raise the money, the Brennans don't know whether their father is well enough to fly home.

A few weeks ago, he was healthy enough to leave the hospital and stay with his wife at her Ireland apartment. But things took a turn for the worse, and he is back in the hospital.

"Every day it's up and down," said Kurt Brennan. "I really can't get a straight answer if we can get him back."

That won't stop them from trying.

"We just want him home," Kurt said.

[Last modified August 15, 2006, 06:51:41]