‘I'm livid with the world’
“We continued with his 40th birthday party because we had it planned. All his friends turned up one by one on Saturday night to celebrate it like he would have wanted.”
Those were the words of Annie McGrath, wife of Brian McGrath who tragically passed away last month as a result of a workplace accident.
Mr McGrath had been carrying out renovations on Kildorrery National School on 16 August when he fell from a height of approximately ten feet.
He was rushed to CUH where he remained in the ICU until 22 August when he passed away as a result of his injuries, just two weeks before his 40th birthday.
With less than 100 days to go before Christmas, Brian’s sister Ellen McGrath has set up a GoFundMe page to help alleviate any financial pressures that might come with the holiday season. As of Wednesday evening the page has raised €3,494, with an overall target set at €10,000. Now, on Friday afternoon, it has surpassed €10,000.
Brian and Annie had been married for ten years and had three children together, Katie, Kiara and Tyler.
Katie, who’s 14, is almost completely blind and has learning difficulties and suffers from extreme anxiety due to her condition. Kiara, 12, is severely autistic and non-verbal and requires 24 hour care seven days a week.
Both girls attend St Joseph's Holy Family School in Charleville which caters for the educational needs of children aged 4-18 years, with intellectual disabilities.
Their only son Tyler, nine, attends CBS National School in Mitchelstown where he is in third class having received his communion in May of this year.
Speaking to PJ Coogan on Cork’s 96FM’s Opinion Line, Annie said: “I’m livid with the world. Before this all happened, me and Brian had the attitude that we’d been hit by so much over the years with the girls that we just had to accept it and raise them as best we could, but now I have to take that on myself. I’ll do it, but it’ll be harder.
“At the moment I’m minding myself. I can’t break because of the girls. If I was sick, even from a headache before, I’d go to bed and Brian was there, but now I can’t do that. We got through it all, me and Brian. He was my rock. He was always there. He was a big man, a strong man. He never complained.”
Annie, 36, said that she was overwhelmed by the amount of support she has received since Brian’s death: “I’ve an amazing support team of friends. You never see it until it comes to your own door.”
To contribute to the fund go to gofundme.com.