Spotlight on our battlers and winners

A SCHOOLGIRL who fought back to health after devastating illness and a bank official turned crusading priest who turned himself into a human guinea pig were among the winners of this year’s ESB/Rehab People of the Year Awards.

Four-times Olympian Sonia O’Sullivan was also honoured, receiving a special one-off award at the ceremony where she was named Ireland’s Greatest Living Sports Person.

The annual awards, which have been presented since 1975, are made on the basis of public nominations to recognise the achievements of outstanding individuals in public and private life.

No overall Person of the Year award was made as it was due to be presented to Olympic gold medal showjumper Cian O’Connor, who decided not to accept the honour after his horse tested positive for banned substances last week.

This year’s nine other winners, who come from both sides of the border, received their awards from President Mary McAleese at a ceremony in Dublin on Saturday night.

Belfast-born Father Kieran Creagh, 42, left a banking job to join the Passionist Order and moved to South Africa where he has dedicated himself to helping thousands of people infected by HIV/AIDS in the sprawling Atteridgeville township. He volunteered to be the first person injected with a trial vaccine that previously had only been tested on mice, despite the unknown side effects.

Teenager Patrick McAweeney from Ballyconnell, Co Cavan, saved the life of his friend, Eugene Blaney, when they were swept out to sea while body-boarding off Glencolumcille, Co Donegal, last June.

The 15-year-olds clung to a board for two hours before Eugene slipped into semi-consciousness and Patrick had to hold on for both of them. Twice Eugene slipped beneath the waves and Patrick dived down to rescue him before they were finally washed onto rocks where Patrick resuscitated his friend before going for help.

Jonathan Irwin and his wife, Mary Ann, set up the Jack and Jill Foundation in memory of their baby son, Jack, who died aged 22 months after spending most of his short life under intensive nursing at home when a near cot death incident left him severely disabled. The Foundation now supports other parents of disabled and terminally ill babies and toddlers so that they can nurse their children at home and keep them at the heart of the family.

Eight-year-old Emma Synnott from Co Wicklow was named Young Irish Person of the Year for her irrepressible attitude to Rasmussen’s Encephalitis, a brain disease that at one stage left her able to communicate only with a squeeze of a hand. She is now at school, relearning to talk and teaching herself to play one-handed piano.

Retired Presbyterian Reverend Roy Magee has been a key contributor to the peace process in the North. He helped broker the 1994 loyalist ceasefire and was a mediator in the annual Drumcree conflict.

Iseult O’Malley, Siobhán Phelan and Peter Ward jointly received an award for their contributions to the Free Legal Advice Centres (FLAC), to which they have given a combined total of 52 years’ service.