The First, Irish, Blog Guest-article

I'd like to thank Cathal for submitting the first, of many, I hope, guest articles by an Irish author.

Guest Blogger: Cathal McCoy

WeWell. How are yis? Ah, I’m not too bad. All’s quiet. Sure I’ll head on here, make a start on this
blog.

Declan introduced the idea of me doing one of these a right wee while back. I said ‘I would, aye’,
and relegated it to the part of the memory where most people keep promises they’re fairly sure
will never be called upon.

For any readers outside of Dec’s family & friends – I hear this blog is fairly big in Asia –
something very similar happened to me as happened to Declan. ‘Very similar’ could’ve even
been in all caps there such was their similarity, but that would seem very shouty and common,
unbecoming of such a respectable blog.

I was hit by a car (‘hit and run’ driver) while on my hols nearly 7 years before Declan’s accident.
#Dec[Car emoji][‘The Scream’ emoji]: 16th September 2017, #McCoy[Car Emoji][Face Palm
Emoji]:16th November 2010. There were exactly 82 moons between our respective accidents.
And we were both born in 1982. [Theme from the Twilight Zone]

Just wanted to mention this so as to flirt with suspicion - something that I know both Declan and Claire properly despise. So much so that you’d be suspicious as to whether they’re not both actually really into it. Hmmm… [Thinking man emoji].

I should say though that as no two head or brain injuries are the same their lasting effects are
almost incomparable. So I’m about as qualified and have as much authority to write on Declan’s
recovery travails as a farmer, who foooters (I remain unsure of spelling) with his Lamborghini
tractor every now and then, belongs in a GT pitlane.

I’m happy with that analogy / simile and I’m sticking with it.

Declan has had many more and very different challenges (both mental and physical) to face than I ever had, and he’s doing with such courage and positivity that  I honestly find it inspiring.

Dec always made time for me after my accident, he always encouraged me to keep going
through what now seems like a Mickey Mouse ordeal in comparison. I took up swimming after
my accident when it became clear that I could no longer play football, which was all I did
beforehand. When I was ~5 years post injury Dec’d meet me in the evenings after work to go sea swimming. Maybe he just wanted to lord it over me, show me how much better he was, but I
appreciated it. I also appreciated the dose of reality he offered by reminding me that my swim lap times, of which I was proud, were essentially shite.

To be fair though, they were.

Anyway, a few of these guest blogs and we should be square ;P

Given that we’ve been through such similar experiences I probably should have something more to say but I’ll leave it there for now. I have identified some other areas of crossover and I’ll send these on, when I find the time to do so in a way that’s not too casual or too self-involved or too waffley.

You’ve managed to hit all 3 here anyway, says you.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Stutter

Image
This month's article has a very specific, target audience. Namely, people who stutter. According to National Stuttering Association of the USA that's about 1% of you. I am an ex-stutterer. One of the consequences of the accident, to me, was that I began speaking correctly and I feel it's only correct that I share with you, how I feel that was achieved. Firstly, a short disclaimer; I am not a medical professional, nor have I studied anything in the area of speech. I simply find myself as part of a rare group (definitely more rare than 1%), of people who used to, but no longer stutter.  The brain controls everything; the infrastructure that is responsible for human speech involves an extensive subset of those systems. Although I don't know anything about the speaker here , he outlines the basics around my journey from stutterer to regular person (normal), although I didn't know much about that journey while I was on it.  I'll guesstimate that I was around 10 yea
Read more

Relearning to Walk

Image
I would like to flesh this out a bit by explaining the premise as it relates to the blog title* etc.. My hopeful intention is to compete in an Olympic triathlon in 2019. This will not be my first such triathlon, having competed, halfheartedly, in a few of them before. Furthermore, I do not look like, nor am I, a classic athlete. I've been in hospitals for 8 months since my accident which has me in a condition, physically, that does not encourage me, or anyone, to aim high at triathlon. That is, however, what I plan to do. *the blog title has changed I should explain what my intentions are. Previously I have "broken" 3 hours in an Olympic. Most recently, however, I failed to do even that. In Dublin City Triathlon (DCT), 2015, I managed in just over 3, at 3:00:02 (annoying). I  plan to compete once again, in 2019, and this blog will chart my transition from chubby wheelchair user to, hopefully, athletic triathlete, breaking, comfortably, 2:45:00. Claire will again be need
Read more

2/4 Quarterly Update 2022

Image
  This is the first quarterly report, starting the new schedule, and name for these updates. The original name of this blog, coma2tri, although aspirational, was wholly unrealistic. So too was the frequency of these updates. The gradualism of my return to workable functionality is such that only quarterly updates could make for entertaining reading. With that additional recovery time, comes a brand new section which has its maiden outing this month, I enjoyed a visit last month from my brother and his wife, which provided an opportunity to break my 400M record in the Billtal Stadion. Break it I did; smashed it in fact, as you will see later. Walking Each morning begins with a short stretch of my hammies. This is followed by some squats -- it started as 100, then I decided, Monday morning, to go barefoot, which saw that drop to 50, with a view to daily increments of 10 -- I did 80 this, Thursday, morning. Next is a 500m stretch on the treadmill. The first of 2, bringing m
Read more