Uncles had died suddenly months before

THE tragic deaths of Triona and Caitlin were a further blow to the Innes family following the separate deaths a few short months earlier of Winnie’s brothers — Triona’s uncles — Jimmy and John.

Jimmy, who lived in Tullaghan, suffered a heart attack in February last year at the age of 51. The following month, John, a 50-year-old building contractor in London, who hadn’t been well for a year and had suffered a breakdown, committed suicide.

Whether those deaths deeply affected Triona and drove her to take her own daughter’s life and then her own nobody knows.

Winnie recalled: “I remember when John took his own life Triona said that what he did was the act of a selfish b...”

Trish said: “We have been through a variety of emotions. At first I was very angry, but then we kind of sat back and looked at it and said to ourselves that Triona couldn’t go on here. Triona didn’t want to leave Caitlin behind in what she thought wasn’t a great world or life for herself. She didn’t want Caitlin to suffer along with it.”

She added: “Even though Triona had Caitlin when she was just turned 18, we don’t believe the next eight years would have been as happy as they were if that hadn’t happened. Caitlin brought a lot of happiness to this family. And only for Triona we wouldn’t ever have known Caitlin.”

Triona once did a bungee jump as a student. She told her sister Trish she was planning to some day do another to raise funds for a campaign to keep an oncology unit in Letterkenny General Hospital.

Trish said: “We decided the best way to honour the memory of both Triona and Caitlin as the first anniversary of their deaths approaches is to do something that would kind of realise her dream.”

So a series of sponsored bungee jumps will be held in Tullaghan on May 17. The target is €20,000, to be divided between oncology units at Letterkenny and Sligo general hospitals and Mental Health North West.

Gardaí have given official approval to the event, which will be linked to support occasions including a proposed “civvies day” in local schools.

* Interested supporters can contact Trish or Charlene at 087-7575737 and 086-8444778. Email [e-mail] and [e-mail]