Pope’s gratitude for Limerick-made hip

WHILE Pope John Paul held many cherished memories of his visit to Limerick in 1979, workers in a city factory yesterday recalled how the Holy Father thanked their skills some years later for helping him maintain his hectic travel schedule.

The Pope fractured a thigh bone in a fall on April 29, 1994 and it was feared he would have to cancel all travel for months, or even a year.

After being rushed to the Gemelli Poly Clinic, he was put under the care of renowned orthopaedic surgeon, Professor Francesco Pipino.

Prof Pipino decided a hip implant operation was necessary for the Pontiff to be able to walk properly again.

Prof Pipino contacted Howmedica factory in Raheen in Limerick, from which he regularly ordered implants.

Howmedica (now Stryker) immediately got to work on a chrome cobalt hip.

It was flown by express air delivery from Shannon to Rome and rushed to the Gemelli clinic, where it was successfully implanted during a two-hour operation.

With the Limerick-made hip implant, Pope John Paul made a recovery which his doctors described at the time as spectacular.

In June of that year, he stood and greeted President Bill Clinton at the Vatican.

A spokesman for the Vatican subsequently sent a message of thanks to the Limerick plant.

A worker at Stryker, who also worked at the former Howmedica plant, said: “There was a great sense of pride at the time that expertise at our plant was able to get the Pope back on the road to recovery. There were notices on the notice boards to tell us of what we had done to help the Pope recover. There was great job satisfaction.”

The Limerick plant, employing 500, now specialises in artificial knee implants which it exports worldwide.