Michael Patrick, the Belfast-born actor and writer who appeared in Game of Thrones and later became one of Irish theatre's most celebrated performers by playing Richard III from a wheelchair, died on April 7, 2026, at the Northern Ireland Hospice after three years with motor neurone disease. His wife Naomi Sheehan announced his death on Instagram on April 8, describing him as "a titan of a ginger-haired man" who "lived a life as full as any human can live — joy, abundance of spirit, infectious laughter." He had been admitted to the hospice ten days before his death, and passed peacefully surrounded by family and friends.
He was diagnosed with MND in February 2023. In his final months, he chose to forgo a tracheostomy that could have extended his life but would have required indefinite hospitalization. He spent that time instead doing what he had done throughout his time with MND: writing, performing, and refusing to let the diagnosis be the only story anyone told about him.
Who Was Michael Patrick? Belfast, Cambridge, and a Career Built on Wit
Michael Patrick — whose legal name was Michael Campbell — was born and raised in Belfast, Northern Ireland. His father died of motor neurone disease during Michael's adolescence, a loss that would eventually become the gravitational center of his most important stage work. Michael Patrick attended the University of Cambridge, where he studied physics and materials science but spent most of his time performing comedy with the Cambridge Footlights — the troupe that also launched John Cleese, Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson, and Sacha Baron Cohen.
It was at Cambridge that he met Oisín Kearney, a politics student who would become his long-term creative collaborator. Michael Patrick and Kearney ran the university's Irish Society together and produced their first work, including Frank McGuinness's Someone to Watch Over Me. After Cambridge, he trained formally at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London. He was also a member of the National Youth Theatre. His early stage career built steadily through productions across those cities and Edinburgh before screen work extended his reach.
Michael Patrick's Game of Thrones Role and BBC Career
Michael Patrick appeared in Game of Thrones as a wildling rioter in Season 6 of the HBO series, one episode, but broadcast at the peak of the show's global audience. The credit gave him international name recognition that no amount of Irish theatre could have produced alone.
His screen work went considerably further. He starred in Blue Lights, the BBC's Belfast-set police drama, and in This Town, the 2024 BBC series set in Birmingham and Coventry. He appeared in six episodes of Blasts from the Past and four of The Spectacular. His most recent role was in the 2025 German television film Mordlichtern — Tod auf den Färöer Inseln. He co-wrote the BBC series My Left Nut with Oisín Kearney — based on his own teenage experiences — which brought their writing partnership to a broadcast audience and established them as one of the more distinctive creative teams in contemporary British and Irish television.
Richard III From a Wheelchair — The Performance That Changed Irish Theatre
In 2024, Michael Patrick played the lead in a new adaptation of The Tragedy of Richard III at the Lyric Theatre Belfast. It was the first time in the history of the island of Ireland that an actor with a disability had played the role on a major stage. He performed the role, unable to stand, moving through it entirely in a wheelchair.
The adaptation, co-written with Kearney, made one deliberate change to Shakespeare's text. Where the original play gives Richard a disability from birth, the Patrick and Kearney version gives him a terminal illness acquired during his life — mirroring MND without naming it. Jimmy Fay, executive producer at the Lyric, called it "one of the greatest performances ever on the Lyric stage" and said after the death that "these islands have lost a great artist."
In a conversation with The Irish Times during the run, the actor described what the role cost him emotionally: "It is never mentioned on stage by name, but Richard's terminal illness is MND — so I think, especially in that final speech, it is more myself speaking than him. His fear of death is my own fear of death." In January 2025, the performance was recognised at The Stage Awards at the Royal Opera House in London, where he received the Judges' Award and a standing ovation. Later that year he won the Overcoming Adversity Award at the Spirit of Northern Ireland Awards.
My Left Nut and My Right Foot — The Writing That Defined His Voice
The writing side of Michael Patrick's career — always with Kearney — formed the other half of something that would have been notable on performance alone.
My Left Nut (2017) was a bleakly funny autobiographical solo show about his teenage experience facing a medical scare without his father, who had already died of MND. The play won a Summerhall Lustrum Award at the Edinburgh Fringe and was nominated for best show under one hour at the Dublin Fringe. The BBC adaptation widened its audience significantly. That same willingness to put real pain on stage without softening it is what made Keyla Richardson stop Lionel Richie cold on American Idol 2026 — and it is what has made My Left Nut a piece that stayed with audiences long after they left the theatre.
At the 2025 Dublin Theatre Festival, he performed My Right Foot — a 70-minute solo show described by The Irish Times as "a masterclass in humour, honesty and resilience." The title echoed Daniel Day-Lewis's film My Left Foot about Christy Brown, placing the work consciously in a conversation about disability, representation, and who gets to hold major roles. That he could write and perform such a show, having lost most function below the neck, is the part of his story that resists summary.
MND Diagnosis, the Tracheostomy Decision, and His Final Months
Michael Patrick was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in February 2023, while performing at the Dublin Fringe Festival. The illness started in his foot and moved up rapidly. Within months, standing was no longer possible.
Motor neurone disease, as described by the MND Association's clinical guidance, is a progressive neurological condition that destroys the motor neurons controlling movement, speech, swallowing, and breathing. No cure exists. His father had died of it. He was 32 when his own diagnosis arrived.
In December 2025, he and Naomi launched a GoFundMe for a tracheostomy — a procedure that could extend life by assisting breathing, but that would have required long-term hospital care. The staffing shortfall that made returning home impossible led him to make a different choice. In his February 6, 2026, post — his last public update — he wrote: "I had confirmation it would be around 6-12 months before I could get home due to lack of staffing resources. Everyone has tried so hard, but there just isn't enough staff." That same structural failure — systems that cannot provide what they promise to the people who need them — is something Janel Grant has fought to expose in a very different context, and Julian Kalel encountered when trying to access mental health support as a teenager in El Paso.
The February 6 post ended: "Anyway — still lots to live for and lots planned."
He died on April 7, 2026. His funeral is on Monday, April 13, 2026, at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Carryduff, County Down. He is survived by his wife Naomi Sheehan, mother Pauline, siblings Kate, Maurice, and Hannah, and nephew Micheál.
Michael Patrick — Key Facts
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full name | Michael Patrick Campbell |
| Born | Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Died | April 7, 2026 — Northern Ireland Hospice |
| Age at death | 35 |
| Cause | Motor neurone disease (MND), diagnosed February 2023 |
| Education | University of Cambridge; Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts |
| Writing partner | Oisín Kearney |
| Key stage work | The Tragedy of Richard III (Lyric Belfast, 2024); My Left Nut; My Right Foot |
| TV credits | Game of Thrones (S6); My Left Nut (BBC); Blue Lights (BBC); This Town (BBC) |
| Awards | Judges' Award — The Stage Awards (Jan 2025); Overcoming Adversity Award — Spirit of NI Awards (2025) |
| Wife | Naomi Sheehan |
| Survivors | Naomi, mother of Pauline, siblings Kate / Maurice / Hannah, nephew Micheál |
| Funeral | April 13, 2026 — Carryduff, County Down |
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Who was Michael Patrick?
Michael Patrick (full name Michael Campbell) was a Belfast-born actor and writer who died on April 7, 2026, aged 35, from motor neurone disease. He studied physics at Cambridge, trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, and built his career across theatre, the BBC, and a single Game of Thrones episode in Season 6. His 2024 Richard III at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast — performed from a wheelchair — was the first time an actor with a disability had played the role on the island of Ireland.
Q: What did Michael Patrick die of?
Motor neurone disease was diagnosed in February 2023 at age 32. MND progressively destroys the neurons controlling movement, speech, swallowing, and breathing. His father had died of the same disease. He passed at the Northern Ireland Hospice in Belfast on April 7, 2026, ten days after being admitted.
Q: What was Michael Patrick's role in Game of Thrones?
He appeared as a wildling rioter in one episode of Season 6, broadcast in 2016. Game of Thrones was at the peak of its global audience at that point, and the credit gave him recognition well beyond the Irish theatre community, where most of his career was rooted.
Q: What made the Richard III performance historically significant?
It was the first time an actor with a disability had played Richard III on the island of Ireland. Michael Patrick performed the role from a wheelchair at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, in 2024. The adaptation, co-written with Oisín Kearney, replaced Richard's congenital disability with a terminal illness that mirrored MND. He received the Judges' Award at The Stage Awards in London in January 2025.
Q: What is My Left Nut?
My Left Nut is an autobiographical solo play co-written by Michael Patrick and Oisín Kearney in 2017, adapted into a BBC series. It draws on his teenage experience of facing a medical crisis without his father — who had died of MND — and handles difficult material through dark humour and honesty. It won a Summerhall Lustrum Award at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Q: Who is Michael Patrick's wife?
Naomi Sheehan. She announced his death on Instagram on April 8, 2026, and cited a quote from Irish poet Brendan Behan that he loved: "The most important things to do in the world are to get something to eat, something to drink, and somebody to love you."
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