'Make it Count 4 Ms Brady' coffee morning fundraiser on Saturday

The ‘Make it count for Ms Brady’ coffee morning takes place in St Joseph’s Mercy Secondary School in Navan on Saturday, 10th March from 10am to 3pm. 
Tickets (€10) are available from the school office. You can also buy tickets online or make a donation on www.mercynavan.ie.

In November, Aisling Brady (26) from Trim suffered three cardiac arrests and a stroke brought on by a pulmonary embolism while on a career break in Dubai. A major fundraiser was launched to cover the cost of flying Aisling home to Ireland by air ambulance and is making progress in Dublin's Mater Hospital on what will be a long road to recovery. 

Aisling taught in Mercy Navan for three years before taking the career break and made a huge impression on staff and students in her time there. The entire community deeply upset by Aisling's illness and wanted to do something to help get Aisling in her recovery and rehabilitation and came up with the idea of having the 'Make it Count 4 Ms Brady' fundaiser.

Ahead of Saturday morning's fundraiser, Noelle Finegan visited the school where she met with students who recalled some memories of the teacher they looked on as a big sister and clearly adore.

 

Mercy family rally to 'Make it Count' for the teacher the girls called their 'big sister'

When Aisling Brady from Trim came to work in St Joseph’s Secondary School in Navan as a student teacher, principal Mary Mulligan was so impressed by the talented and vibrant young woman that she “held onto her” when she qualified.

In her three years teaching in Mercy Navan before embarking on a career break to travel to Dubai, Aisling(26) made a huge impression on staff and students not just as an excellent teacher but also because of the relationship she built up with the girls who adored her.
News of Ms Brady’s sudden and very serious illness while in Dubai shocked and devastated her students and as they talk to the Meath Chronicle about their much loved teacher, they are still clearly very upset by what happened.
Aisling was flown home to Ireland by air ambulance in early January and she remains in the Mater Hospital, Dublin, with a long road to recovery ahead.
Students and teachers wanted to so something to help Ms Brady and are holding a coffee morning in the school from 10am to 3pm on Saturday, 10th March to raise funds towards her rehabilitation. 
Tickets for ‘Make it Count for Ms Brady’ are on sale and anyone who can’t make it on 10th March can still help by making a donation. Aisling’s home class before she went to Dubai, now third year students, are very much leading this event along with Ms Mulligan and the staff.
“Some of the students came to me and wanted to do something, as did the staff, so we decided on a coffee morning. Our school is a community and we wanted to so something as a community,” said Ms Mulligan. She added that the school fraternity in Meath had all been hugely supportive and tickets are gone to all the local primary and secondary schools in Navan and other schools around the county as well.
Ahead of the coffee morning, the Meath Chronicle met with some of Ms Brady’s students and colleagues who speak so fondly of her, and couldn’t say enough good things about her.
“Just like a big sister,” is how students described their class teacher along with words like “brave, genuine, caring, reliable, and fun” but above all, an excellent teacher.
“She is a really good teacher, we learned so much. I love science now,” said Grace O’Neill.
“She was more of a friend than a teacher to us,” said Aisling Martyn, “and she made science fun”.
Eimear Fay was the only girl going to Mercy from her primary school and Ms Brady really looked out for her. “On my first day of school I had no friends. I didn’t know anyone. She knew I was a bit upset and she told everyone to be nice to me,” she recalled.
“In science one day a girl got sick and Ms Brady said it was all part of her mammy duty to look after us,” she added.
Emily Byrne recalled the day they found out Ms Brady taking a career break: “The last class we had before the summer exams was a double science. We heard rumours she might be leaving but she hadn’t told us yet so we didn’t really believe it. We asked if she was leaving and she said the reason she hadn’t told us yet was she didn’t know how to tell us. She told us all about Dubai and the school and we were asking lots of questions. She even showed us where it was in google maps.”
Jennifer Johnson spoke of how delighted they were to see here when she came back for a visit. “We were in the bathroom and we heard Ms Brady was back, we nearly pushed down the door and ran up the hall to see her.”
Rita Oguntade wanted to be a prefect in first year and had her speech all prepared to deliver in front of the class, but froze. “I looked at Ms Brady and she was encouraging me to keep going and Sarah and I got to be prefects. I was really happy and it was thanks to Ms Brady.” 

 

Principal Mary Mulligan and teacher Ciaran McCoy

Ciran McCoy took over as home teacher for the calss and said Ms Brady is a “hard act to follow”. As Aisling’s students struggled to come to terms with news of what had happened, Mr McCoy did all he could to support them. They all wanted to let Aisling know they were thinking of her and they sent a card and photo at Christmas.
School principal Ms Mulligan spoke of how impressed she was by Aisling when she first came to the school. 
“Even as a young student teacher Aisling stood out, her natural talent enthusiasm and sheer love of the profession shone through.
“When an opportunity arose for us to give employment to Aisling on a permanent basis we were so happy to be able to. She is a talented teacher of maths, science and physics. During her three years with us she was involved in many initiatives, particularly in the area of numeracy and mathematics. However Aisling got involved in many extra-curricular activities also. Above all a fabulous teacher, she took on the teaching of higher level Leaving Certificate mathematics, a role she excelled in.
“She is so kind and caring of our students. She loved her students and they loved her. She always wanted the best for Mercy and for the girls. All of our school community wish her well and we are praying for a full recovery”
 

Antoinette Pentony with Aisling Brady

Aisling’s friend Susan Carrie, also a teacher in the maths department spoke of how much they all love Aisling, with many of her students describing her as their favourite teacher.
“Before she left for her career break in Dubai, the students were openly upset when she broke the news she was leaving Mercy for a while. Fifth year Irish was timetabled just after fifth year maths and her pupils came in to my Irish class sobbing that she would not be having them for sixth year. They were devastated and she was so taken aback that her not having them the following year would have such an effect on them.”
Ms Carrie also spoke of what an excellent teacher Aisling is and her natural talent and passion for maths.
“Aisling was only one year qualified when she took on teaching higher level maths. She is a phenomenal maths teacher, She is a natural.” She spoke of how thorough and dedicated she is and would often give extra classes to third and sixth year students at lunch time and was often at school late into the evening preparing lesson plans.
Susan kept in touch with Aisling while in Dubai and they still often bounced ideas off each other. “She loved it there. She wanted to develop her teaching skills and wanted to come back to Mercy with new ideas and new skills she could use in the classroom”
“I’m missing her desperately. She has such a good sense of humour, such a fun attitude and is a really positive person. She is really witty and really bubbly, kind and good natured.”“Every euro we raise will go towardsAisling’s rehabilitation and help her get back here teaching and back to her old life again.”