News
Family overwhelmed by community support
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By Sean Moriarty
The wife of a Firies GAA player who lost his leg in a work-related accident has described the support their family has received from the local community as “outstanding” and “overwhelming”.
A fundraising drive to help Seamus O’Brien, a former a Firies Gaelic footballer, has raised over €20,000.
The 49-year-old suffered the injury while working on a construction site in County Cork in February 2018. His left leg was amputated in November last year after undergoing seven unsuccessful operations.
Since his accident, the self-employed carpenter, who is a father of four teenagers, has been unable to work.
That’s left his wife Ruth, a nurse, as the family’s only wage-earner, and placed additional stress on their finances.
In a bid to help, Firies GAA teamed up with his former London GAA Club, the Kingdom Kerry Gaels and his wife’s Seneschalstown Club in County Meath to raise money to pay for three prosthetic legs, to enable Seamus to walk again.
“It is overwhelming, we did not expect this kind of support,” Ruth told the Killarney Advertiser this week. “The community spirit, in London, Kerry and Meath, has been outstanding. His former club in London initiated the fundraising and they shared it out to his clubs at home.”
Physiotherapy, occupational therapy and adjustments to the family’s house will incur even further costs.
Seamus is currently recovering at home but must attend weekly out-patient clinics in Cork and Dublin hospitals. He travels by train adding a further financial burden to the family.
To donate to the Kingdom Kerry Gaels’ page go to:
www.gofundme.com/f/seamus-obrien-support


