Brave teen hospitalised after protecting family home from flood says: I will go out again
A boy who was taken to hospital yesterday after working around the clock to protect his home from floodwaters, has vowed to carry on fighting against the rising tide that threatens his house.
Brave Philip Kinsella, (aged 15), along with his twin brother Jake and older brother Luke, 16, laid 500 sandbags around their home in Clonlara, Co Clare as the River Shannon overwhelmed the property last weekend.
The three teenage brothers, whose father passed away by suicide three years ago, have become local heroes in their community for their efforts in helping neighbours and friends protect their properties.
Last Sunday as the water rose to dangerous levels, Philip became weak and suffered an asthma attack after spending all night staving off the deluge.
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An ambulance was dispatched to the house but could not reach the swamped property as the water level had risen too much.
Speaking at his home today, Philip said he will not rest until the house is no longer in danger of flooding.
"Yeah I will go out again if it keeps getting worse," he said.
Describing what happened on Sunday, Philip said: "At the start I felt wheezy and then at one stage I couldn't breathe so we had to get the ambulance."
"People helped me walk up the road and then when I got into the ambulance I got oxygen and nebuliser and they brought me out to the Regional (hospital) then."
He added: "It was packed, they didn't really do anything with me. I was on a trolley for three hours."
"Then my mother decided I was wheezy so I went to Shannondoc and I got medicine straight away, the doctor was nice," he said.
Recuperating at home today, he said: "I'm alright, I'm still a bit wheezy, but I'm improving."
Asked would he go back out to the floodwaters if they continue to threaten his barrier of sandbags, he replied: "Yeah, I will."
Philip's mother Bridget today thanked "the kindness of strangers" after she received an email from a member of the Irish Muslim Flood Appeal Committee, set up in 2009 during the winter floods of that year.
Bridget thanked them for offering to give them Christmas presents and help provide study grinds for her three sons, who have missed the last week of school and are studying for their Junior and Leaving Cert exams.
"I'd like to thank them. I'm just amazed. I just can't believe that some people are so good and kind," she said. "It's just unbelievable - the kindness of strangers."
She said: "I cried Saturday. I just felt so isolated because I don't have any family here - my husband was an only child - and my sister died not long after my husband, and my parents are dead."
"I just felt so alone with the boys and I felt so sorry for them. They have had to grow up so quick since their father died."
"During the last flood Mike was here and I just felt so safe with him here, because he was well capable of dealing with (the flood)."
Bridget also thanked a "secret Santa" for sending her a voucher for her local butchers.
"I've no idea who you are, but thank you so much, it was so kind of you," she said.
"People are so wonderful and I really do appreciate it," she added.
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