Berkeley survivor Clodagh on road to recovery

It’s an image to treasure, the uplifting photo of a smiling Clodagh Cogley, Berkeley tragedy survivor, crossing the Golden Gate Bridge with her father in fulfilment of one of the goals she had set herself.

The young Dubliner, from Milltown, lodged herself in the public consciousness with her inspirational Facebook post barely a week after the Berkeley balcony collapse that claimed the lives of five Irish students and one Irish-American and left seven seriously injured.

Despite breaking her spinal cord, Clodagh, 21, posted that although the chances of using her legs again were “pretty bleak” she intended to give rehab “everything I’ve got”.

Clodagh made good progress at the rehab facility in the Santa Clara Valley and returned home to Ireland last week, earlier than expected.

The administrator of the Clodagh Cogley Fund on Facebook has posted to say plans are “well under way for adapting the house to welcome Clodagh home in the near future and for anticipating some of her longer-term needs”.

“We arrived back in Ireland on the August weekend and Clodagh is now settling into the next phase of her rehabilitation. The staff in Dublin are also wonderful so it is really good to make such a smooth transition,” the administrator said.

Meanwhile, donations to the fund that will help pay for Clodagh’s rehabilitation are approaching €110,000.

Today Quality Dry Cleaners will donate half of all their takings on clothes brought to their three Dublin shops for cleaning — in Leopardstown Shopping Centre, Ballinteer Shopping Centre, and on Orwell Road in Rathgar.

A fundraising barbecue will also take place at the Leopardstown Shopping Centre today.

Three of the seven students injured in the disaster on June 16 — Aoife Beary, Niall Murray, and Hannah Waters — continue to receive treatment for serious injuries in San Jose.

Donate via www.gofundme.com/clodaghcogley