Man to take part in marathon – after learning to walk again

A MAN who learned to walk again after being crushed to within an inch of his life in a freak farmyard accident is planning to take part in a marathon to raise money for the hospital that saved his life.

Farmer Pat Holland, 61, was crushed under a massive trailer laden with hay in the horrific accident on his west Cork farm last September.

He suffered massive internal injuries – his lungs and stomach were crushed, his liver was sliced in two, his kidneys stopped working, and he spent six weeks of his 12-week stay in hospital in a medically induced coma. But now his family, from Coomhola, Bantry, has entered the relay race section of the Cork City marathon and Pat plans to walk, hand-in-hand with his grandson, Dylan, five, the last few hundred yards, to raise money for the Mercy University Hospital Foundation.

“I thought it was all over. I was really on death’s door. To survive the accident was a miracle in itself,” Pat said.

“But I am really improving every day. It’s been a marvellous recovery. I would like to thank all the doctors, physiotherapists and nurses in the Mercy University Hospital (MUH). They put a lot of work and effort to get me to where I am today.”

Pat was working on the family farm with his son, Shane, 31, on September 27 when the accident happened.

Shane was driving a truck pulling a trailer laden with hay when a brake on the trailer jammed.

He switched off the engine as Pat went in between its wheels to free it. But as it released, the trailer’s suspension jolted and the trailer rolled backwards, pinning Pat by the chest underneath one of its huge wheels.

“It was a horrific accident.

“You couldn’t imagine the weight,” Pat said.

“I was fully aware of everything and I thought it was all over. But I knew that Shane was able to hold his head under pressure.”

Shane drove the truck forward to free his father.

He contacted the emergency services and neighbours and set about saving his father’s life.

He cut away his boiler suit, and cut the hose from a welding kit’s oxygen tank and placed it close to Pat’s mouth.

“I would have died there and then only for the oxygen,” Pat said.

He was rushed to Bantry Hospital where he was stabilised, then to Cork University Hospital, before being transferred to MUH, where he was in a coma for six weeks before being released on December 23.

“This was a freak accident,” Pat said.

“I had done similar things over and over again and could see no danger in what I was doing this time.

“You could try it again over and over again and the trailer wouldn’t stir.

“But Shane was very professional. He thought I was dead but he didn’t put his hands around me and start crying.

“He contacted everyone that had to be contacted, held the hose in front of my mouth, cut my boiler suit off. He was really was very professional.”

Pat said he had to learn to walk again and he praised the medics at MUH, including surgeon, Mr Cristóir O Sulleabháin, for their care and professionalism.

“What they did for me, to get me back walking again is just unbelievable,” he said.

Pat’s daughter Geraldine, his nephew and niece Niall and Mary Healy, and friend Dan Kenny, will all complete a leg of the marathon in June to raise funds for the hospital foundation.

Race organisers have made special arrangements to let Pat complete the last few hundred yards with his grandson, Dylan. Pat’s wife, Eileen, will be waiting for them at the finishing line.

The Mercy University Hospital Foundation is fundraising to buy a €650,000 CT scanner.

The Bord Gáis Energy Cork City Marathon takes place on Bank Holiday Monday, June 7.

* mercyhospitalfoundation.ie