Community rallies around Keegan Cup captain
Kilbride GAA club has launched a fundraising campaign in support of stalwart Austin Reddin who suffered horrific injuries after an accident in his family home in March.
Austin, who won several Keegan Cup medals with Kilbride in the 1960s and '70s, including as captain 1969, and also served as either club chairman or secretary between 1962 and 2009, fainted while gardening and broke his neck.
His wife, Bridgena, who was present at the time of the accident explained what happened.
“We were working in the garden at time. I was mowing the lawn on a ride-on mower and Austin was weeding the flower beds. After putting the lawnmower in the shed, I couldn’t find him.
Austin had sat down on the wall to take a break and fainted backwards, lying on the ground for 20 minutes before Bridgena found him.
“I shouted his name a few time and eventually I heard a muffled shout. I ran out the gate and found him flat on the ground with a graze on his head. His neck and head looked suspect.”
Bridgena, who is a qualified nurse, assessed Austin’s injuries at the scene of the accident“There was no other injuries apart from bruising to his knee and big toes which happened he sustained from his steel capped boots. I squeezed his ankle and asked can you feel me. Then I squeezed his knee and he couldn’t feel it followed by his hip. At this stage I knew he had a spinal injury so I rang me daughter Alanna who was in school in Dunboyne and an ambulance.”
In hospital a scan confirmed Bridgena's suspicions by identifying a fracture in his spine. He was also but on traction in an attempt to align the fracture which involved attaching a steel bar to his head and placing increasing weights on it until it reached 20 kg.
“He was eight hours on the operating table, said Bridgena where they repaired the fracture and they left space to allow the spinal cord to expand due to swelling because it was twisted. The surgery was a success but it was unclear whether he would regain any functions. Five days later he told me they told me he was unlikely to regain anything.
“We nearly lost him three times over Easter. He had pneumonia three times, included Covid pneumonia.”
The task for Bridgena now is to adapt the house for Austin coming home.
“It’s an old house, he was born in it in nearly 79 years ago. We did some renovations 20 years ago but more needs to be done to make it suitable."
She also paid tribute to the various community groups that have supported the family.
"We got great support from Kilbride GFC as well as PWC, KPMG, Master Joe Taekwondo, The Daisy School of Dance, Dunshaughlin Dance, St Peter's College Dunboyne, Austin's Cúrsa Gaeilge, Austin's tin whistle group, and the wider Kilbride and Meath community."
The chairman of Kilbride GAA Mick Faherty described Austin as a gentleman.
He said “As long as I’ve known him he’s been as great club man and very active in the community, they would help out with everything from GAA to the church to the Tidy Towns. He’s done so much for the club so Bridgenna came to ask for help, so we’ll do our very best with our campaign called ‘Get Austin Home’. It’s going to be very expensive to modify the house but we’re a very tight knit community here and we look after our own. If the shoe was on the other foot he’d do the same thing for us."
To donate to the fundraiser on gofundme click here