Rose Magee gripped a newspaper in her hand, pointed to an article and began to scream at her children.
"I was reading about a barbaric operation, never thinking it would be related to me. I came screaming down the hall. I said to them, 'I'm not the bad mother I thought I was. This is what happened to me.'"
It was just over two years ago when the 58-year-old woman, who lives in Ranelagh, Dublin, says she realised she had underwent a symphysiotomy operation in 1963 when delivering her first child. Ever since, she says, she has been incontinent, in acute pain and unable to walk without the aid of a trolley or walking stick.
"I was just 17. I was never told what had happened. I've never been to a dance, to the pictures or on holidays. I've had 30 years of prison - and I'm still in prison. I'm on pain- killers every day and the only reason I'm staying alive is because of my children," says Rose, a mother-of-10.
The memory of what happened to her on December 26th, 1963, will never fade, she says, because she is reminded of the consequences every day.
She had been in been in labour for 56 hours when she was wheeled into the delivery room of St Kevin's Hospital.
"I was given a local anaesthetic. When the doctor sawed through the bone, it was horrific. You wouldn't do it to an animal. There was no reaction from people around me. I was told nothing about what had happened. I was only told I was going to have my baby. My mother or father, no one was informed."
Rose is one of 80 women due to launch legal proceedings against hospitals and health boards where the operation was carried out, but she says it is the last thing she wants to do.
While she is receiving good care from her health board, she says it is unable to make up for a lifetime of pain or financial demands on her into the future.
"I'd rather not go to court. We hope it doesn't go that far and we don't want to cause terrible upheaval and embarrassment for our families.
"I just want some way to try and live properly and get benefits so I can afford the incontinence pads and special deodorant I need. We're not looking for money off the State. We want someone to say we were wrongly done by and we'll help you."