They say there is no love like the love a parent has for their child and speaking to Paul O’Brennan about his son Cormac, that love is very clear to see. It is also evident that the devotion shown by Paul since he first reached his son’s bedside in Christchurch, New Zealand played a key role in his astonishing recovery from near-death brain injuries.
By Claire Corrigan
When twenty-year-old Cormac left for New Zealand on 3 September last, the family had no idea what the months ahead would hold. Then his parents and family members were devastated when they received an urgent call in early January saying that he had fallen 80 feet down a cliff, and was given less than a 10 per cent chance of survival.
Despite the frightening diagnosis, Cormac has battled back against all the odds and he arrived home last week, after an incredible recovery which has shocked medics at the Christchurch hospital where he initially fought hard for his life.
When he met the neurosurgeon afterwards, who had first spoken to his father Paul, and told him about his son’s slim chances following the brain damage, and saw how well he had recovered, she said: “Do you realise that this is a miracle?’
Paul O’Brennan, speaking to Topic, revealed he got the first available flight to New Zealand to be with his son after he hearing about the accident 18 hours after it happened when he was in New York, and he never left his side after getting to Christchurch, acting as a key part of his son’s “miraculous recovery”.
“I was with him every day and watching him from where I was about to lose him to almost perfect health now.”
Paul said his son, who is a trainee electrician, is already keen to go back to work but has been advised by doctors to delay his return for six months. “He wants to finish his apprenticeship and then perhaps do Electro Engineering in college.”
Paul explained that while Cormac’s sciatic nerve still needs to heal on his right leg, regarding his brain injury, his recovery has been nothing short of remarkable. “For what he went though, and what we were told in January, it really is amazing.”
Paul said that Cormac does not remember three of the last four months and his memory only returned after being transferred from the hospital to the Laura Fergusson Rehabilition Centre.
Recalling his own journey to New Zealand in January, Paul said he took the first flight available to be by his side. “The news was bad on the way. They called me when I was about to board the flight to tell that they had done the first operation to remove a portion of his skull. They said he was on life-support and would be alive when I got there but he had a very low change of survival.”
Paul, who is a businessman and former Mullingar Chamber president, said he was grateful that he was able to stay by his side until Cormac was well enough to leave Christchurch. “I said that I was going back with him one way or another. What we were first being told was that I would be coming back with him very quickly but he would not be sitting on the plane beside it. Thankfully that changed.”
He said that all the doctors that treated Cormac are “absolutely amazed” that not only did he survive but that he has suffered no lasting serious cognitive impairment from his injuries. “When they removed part of the brain, they asked if he was left-handed or right-handed and I told them he was right-handed. They said a left-handed or ambidextrous person can compensate much easier and with a right-handed brain, the chances are that there would be significant brain damage because they removed part of his front temporal lobe, because it was so badly bruised and damaged.”
HELPING AT WEEKEND
Despite this devastating prognosis last January, Cormac recovery has proved all the doctors wrong, as he is continuing to thrive. “Over the weekend, he was helping me out at the National Apalca Show. He was up at 7.30am helping to load the animals and all that. He had some fatigue around lunchtime so he went and had a nap and was fine afterwards. We are so lucky. Every doctor told us they had done what they could but they didn’t expect this- this is a miracle.”
Cormac’s mother and brother arrived in New Zealand three days after Paul and spent all their time with him. On 21 January, he first opened his eyes. “When he finally woke up, it was unfortunately the day after they had both returned to Ireland,” Paul explained.
“That was on a Sunday and on the Monday, he began communicating with me and he communicated again the next day. One of his friends was standing beside me and a nurse who was on duty was also in the room, and they both agreed that he was communicating with me. The next day I got all the six doctors into the room and asked Cormac questions to which he nodded yes or no and there were six mouths open that day.”
A few days later, the young man was transferred to the neurological ward and he continued to improve each day. “From the day I landed, I could see him improve. When I first got there, the section of brain where the bone was removed was pushing out higher than the rest of the skull but over the days it sank down. It looked a bit horrendous because there was a big dip on one side. But as we worked with him and spoke to him every single day, he recognised me, even though he’d forget that I was there the day before. After a while he would remember I had been there the day before.”
One day, the nurse encouraged Cormac to write his name which he did without any trouble. “She asked him who is this man with you all the time and he wrote ‘Dad’. He even wrote my phone number too! I said to him ‘You’re safe now’ and he nodded to say “Yes.”
It appears certain that Paul’s constant love, support and devotion towards his son ensured that he continued to progress. “The doctor said that that was what was needed. He wouldn’t let anyone give him an injection or do anything invasive unless I was there. He could get frustrated and pull out tubes and different things but once I was there, he would immediately settle down again.”
Paul highly praised New Zealand’s Accident Compensation Corporation, a no-fault scheme for people who have been injured in an accident, which covered Cormac’s medical costs, while Cormac’s VHI covered the repatriation costs of both himself and Cormac.
“They knew that Cormac couldn’t go into a crowded plane so he had to go business class. He was able to sleep a lot of the way back. The first flight was three and a half hours to Sydney and he was able to walk around and enjoy that flight and even took a picture of himself with a bottle of champagne. For the 14 hour flight, he slept for most of it. We changed in Dubai then for the eight hour home trip.”
REMEMBERS SIX WEEKS
Paul said Cormac can only remember the last six weeks and “it is only now that he is beginning to realise all he has been through”.
“He remembers having the piece of skull replaced in March. The whole system over there is just amazing and they were doing things to help him every day. They had a speech therapist, Occupation Therapist, physiotherapist and nursing team in the rehab and every single day, they were working on him, doing something. When he came out of the rehab unit to stay with me, they came to visit him too almost every day.
They would take him out on trips and I was working with the team all the time to make sure he was physically able to go to various places. We went to a shopping mall one day and we had lunch in a quiet corner. We’d play pool in the centre too and I could see him getting a bit competitive, which was great and showed that he was fully back. It was all about working with him all the time every day.”
Paul O’Brennan said that there are many people they want to thank for helping Cormac to recover.
“I want to thank Brendan McEvoy and Kasia Gaborec and everyone behind the fundraiser in the Annebrook. I want to thank Multy Gun Club and Stephen McConnell who organised a five-a-side fundraiser. To everyone who came and took part and all the bands – Finbar Coady, Fallen Lights and Declan Colgan. I also want to thank Sisk company who made a large contribution.” And he thanked all who contributed €8000 to a GoFundMe appeal.
Paul showed Cormac videos and photographs from all the events from his hospital bed. “He was fascinated. There was a video of the lads playing in The Annebrook and then photos from the football.”
The past three months plus have been traumatic and stressful in the extreme, something no family would every want to experience, but thankfully, for the O’Brennan family, their story is one which offers hope and consolation to others, and everyone in the Mullingar area and all who know them wish Cormac every blessing and progress in the period ahead.
