Féile’s return home to Allihies is a ‘Christmas miracle’ 

14-year-old Féile O’Sullivan from West Cork
with fellow CHI patient Harry McCormack with Westlife's Nicky Byrne and Santa earlier this month. Picture: Andres Poveda

If ever there was a Christmas miracle, then the return home on Tuesday to West Cork for Féile O’Sullivan who lost her legs after a devastating farm accident in July must surely qualify.

To her delight, the teenager travelled in the children’s ambulance service Bumbleance, mother Maureen by her side. 

Ahead of the trip to Allihies, Maureen had told the Irish Examiner Féile really wanted to travel in the special ambulance as she was "really fed-up she doesn’t remember being in the helicopter" to Cork University Hospital after the accident.

The long road from where she has been treated since (CHI at Crumlin) to Allihies can be measured, but her own journey is just beginning.

“The aim for Christmas is being able to play games with her friends and her cousins, board games. Jenga is the one they love,” Maureen said.

“She will be able to do that which is phenomenal now. She can sit on her own, so considering her seated position isn’t her natural seated position, it’s great. She’s in the wheelchair and can sit out in an ordinary chair now, with small supports.” 

Maureen said this is a short home-coming for now.

The 13-year old however is so far mentally recovered she has been worrying about anyone who witnessed the shocking accident involving the tractor.

Some of them would be men in their 50s and she asked me to ring their mothers and check they were OK.

The trip to Allihies was not Féile's first foray from the hospital. Just a few weeks ago she and Maureen were able to leave Crumlin for a few hours, using an adapted car donated through a massive online fundraiser called Stand 4 Féile.

They visited the National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH) in Dun Laoghaire. This is where Féile will transfer when she is ready.

“We took our first spin in the car, and it was to the NRH which made it even more special,” Maureen said.

“It made us feel like we were independent, and going there and see how independent she could be was lovely.”

Organisers of Stand 4 Féile estimate it will reach around €1m from donations small and large as they prepare to close it on Christmas Eve. The funds are being transferred to a trust.

It was widely supported by many sports such as the GAA, soccer, swimming, rugby, cycling as well as the arts including musicians and painters, in addition to huge support from the farming community. Donations came from abroad including Montana with its historical connections to the Allihies mines.

A family donated the powered wheelchair the sports-mad teen is already using. An adapted car came through a golf tournament.

Just last Saturday Norma’s Pub in Goleen hosted a GAA fundraiser. This is expected to add about €40,000 when other Goleen events are included. Publican Michael Kingston said: “There is a lot of kindness in our society, it’s incredible to see.” 

Maureen stresses too the priceless value of what she calls “quiet help”. People sat in the hospital with her, phoned and listened, sourced information, sent prayers and many other invisible ways to show love.

Paralympians reached out “very early on “ Maureen said.

“She had video-calls with them and they showed her their prosthetics and their daily lives. It was amazing,” she said.

Those conversations have lit a spark too in the girl who loves so many sports including horse-riding.

“She’s still trying to blag horses out of us,” Maureen said with a laugh.

For now Jenga and time with family and friends are the goal, and after that only Féile knows.