By Claire Corrigan
Family and colleagues of the late Alan Moran gathered at Coláiste Mhuire to make a very special presentation to the secondary school last week. Speaking to Topic, Gordon Mitchell said his brother-in-law was an avid sportsman. “Alan was a past student here as I was myself. He would have done a lot of cycling and played sport so we decided to raise some money to buy defibrillators. We organised a charity cycle in May that went from Edenderry to Mullingar and back again. 335 people took part and we had a 40 km and 90km cycle. We raised €8,500 by sponsoring jerseys and it was €20 to take part. We wanted to put the money into the two communities because Alan was stationed in Edenderry but lived in Mullingar. We have purchased two defibrillators so far and we also ran some CPR and defibrillator training for the secondary school and St. Mary’s in Edenderry. We have run five training days so far fully paid for by the money raised.”
Alan had only turned 40 when he passed away suddenly on 26 March 2015. “Alan passed away from a sudden heart attack so we wanted to do something heart related. We used to cycle together,” Gordon recalled. “He played with Mullingar Shamrocks and the school here as well. He cycled with the Wheelers and was involved with the Triathlon Club and a lot of sports clubs around the town so that’s why we thought the defibrillators were a great cause and they might save somebody else’s life.”
Principal Malachy Flanagan said that the school were very appreciative of the live-saving machine that works by delivering a dose of electric current to the heart. “We can’t thank Catriona and Gordon enough for putting this initiative together. Last week we had a defibrillator and first aid trainer in for two full days which provided training to over 30 of our staff as well as our students which is invaluable. Now we have the safety of bringing it to football matches and having a defibrillator on site.”
Alan’s father Tom said that it was nice to see that though a year and a half had passed since losing him, Alan’s generous spirit was being kept alive. “He was very active in sports and just a lovely lad and I miss him a lot especially coming up to Christmas. It’s a nice thing for people to do to remember him. Maybe if there had been a defibrillator near to him he would still be alive and it’s great that they are providing these. He would have done a lot of cycling and charity work around the town. He would have cycled for LARRC and a lot of the different charities. He was mad into sports, his job and his family. He’s sadly missed.”
