JT McNamara: The minute I got to Southport I began to thrive
Just shy of two years ago the sky fell in on John Thomas McNamara’s world after the popular jockey was left paralysed following a fall from Galaxy Rock in the Kim Muir Challenge Cup at the Cheltenham Festival.
Nothing would ever be the same again.
Yesterday in an extensive interview with The Racing Post’s Alistair Down, McNamara and his wife Caroline spoke openly about what life has been like since.
A seven-month spell at hospital in the Mater Hospital, Dublin between April and October of 2013 was particularly testing.
“Of course there have been low days and the worst were when I was in hospital in Dublin because they gave me no hope,” John Thomas said.
The one positive of those dark days was it brought out McNamara’s defiant streak.
“That just made me more determined and I said to myself this is not going to beat me. I’ll show ‘em.”
Things changed for the better when McNamara was moved to the North West Regional Spinal Injuries Centre in Southport.
Now he can spend up to four hours off a ventilator.
“I’d have died if I’d stayed in Dublin but the minute I got to Southport I began to thrive — a bit like a horse who suddenly starts doing well,” he said.
“The doctors were prepared to take risks and give things a go. I’d been told I would never breathe for one minute off the ventilator but straight away they started to get me off it.
“First it was five minutes, then five minutes four times a day. Then we got to 10, 15, 20 and so on. Even they were surprised by the progress, but they’d given me hope and told me, ‘We’ll get you home because you have a yard to run’. Throughout all this the one thing I wanted more than anything else was to be back home.”
Last June he got his wish, returning to Limerick, to Caroline and their three children — eight-year-old Dylan, six-year-old Harry and three-year-old Olivia.
“Not being able to play with the kids is the hardest thing. And it always will be.”
There are other less heart-breaking but practical challenges. The wheelchair for instance.
“I got the thing last February,” McNamara said. “When you go and buy a car the two things you need it to do is go forwards and backwards.
“This thing arrived without any reverse. Not until two days ago was that sorted, but now I can use it without help from anybody and that is a major boost to my independence.”
Caroline has been his rock but she is in awe with how her husband has coped.
“He has amazed me the way he has dealt with the total surrender of his privacy and dignity,” she said. “We have to have two carers here in the house 24 hours a day and the cost of looking after him is somewhere between €300,000 and €400,000 a year.
“He is less fazed by it than the rest of us as we have people in the house 24/7 and that takes a lot of getting used to.
“John has accepted that this is the way it is. As long as he gets to the yard every morning and can immerse himself in his horses — he leaves on the van at 10 to eight every morning on the dot — then he’ll be all right.”
She added: “Our lives have changed enormously but I can look beyond his disabilities. I have great respect for John and how he has dealt with all the issues and setbacks he has encountered. He still has that great strength and total determination that all jump jockeys require.”
John Thomas, for his part, is grateful for all the support he has received from the racing public.
He said: “The sheer number of visitors and the support from the racing public helped me keep going. All those people making the time to come to see me — it showed a few people liked me anyway!”
