I was blown away by film reception

LAST Sunday Steven and I finally launched our documentary No Limbs No Limits, a project that we only took seriously two years ago.

In the documentary, we remembered that speech at the United Nations, my Young Person of the Year award and so on. There was also exclusive interviews with my parents, Ann and Joe, myself, and my ‘twin’, Tina (the girl also born with Total Amelia).

Anyway, back to the launch. I, like my family, were blown away, overwhelmed, I don’t even know what other adjectives are there to describe our reaction with the crowd.

We would also like to thank our guests for showing up, like the Cork GAA stars, both male and female, Mary Lou McDonald, representatives from Rehab and the Irish Film Board, the man who gave us practically the storyline for the documentary, and the man who gave us €50,000 for the robot, Mr Paul Conneally from the United Nations.

I would also like to thank Trinity College Dublin for staying up all night and working their behinds off to get Robbie the robot up and running. If it wasn’t for you boys, there would be no robot and your dedication and hard work will stay with me forever. Like all new borns, Robbie didn’t show off his tricks, but I am certain this isn’t the last we will hear from the robotics engineering group in Trinity.

Finally, I’d like to thank you, the people of Ireland, for getting me up and running. Seeing all the footage I must admit made me emotional, just seeing how everyone got behind this random family in Cork to help brighten my future. It’s just unbelievable that this all happened because of one small nation’s thinking. I can safely say this recession won’t be putting us down and if we can come together again, we can easily run our own country, by ourselves.

Reflecting back on the entire day, I think I did the people of Ireland proud. I came back, 17 years on, still fighting and battling my way through life, and again it’s all thanks to you, the people of Ireland.

Now that the dust has settled, I have to return to reality, back to schoolwork, back to life. I cannot wait for 2014, both for the GAA and for my own personal life.

As the great Irish playwright, poet and author of numerous short stories and one novel, Oscar Wilde, once said, “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”