Appeal to support Navan man seriously injured in assault

A Go Fund Me campaign has been set up to support a Navan man who suffered life-changing injuries after being assaulted while walking home on the May Bank Holiday weekend.

Paddy Kellett (39) suffered a head injury and fractured neck as result of the assault and remains in hospital in Dublin.

The shocking incident happened in the Commons Road area of Navan.

Paddy required major surgery for the head injury and is facing into a long road to recovery but at this stage it is hoped that he will make a full recovery.

Good friend Russell Aldred, who works with him in Navan furniture factory M&A Morans, has set up a campaign to support Paddy in his recovery and also to support his partner and their young son.

He explained that Paddy will be unable to work for a long time and that his partner will also have to temporarily leave work to care for him.

Paddy had been due to fly to Brazil just two days after the assault to meet his partner's family for the first time and were bringing 15-month-old son to meet his grandparents.

Russell explained that Paddy is doing well in his recovery and is improving a little bit every day but has a long road ahead of him and will also require a lot of therapy including speech therapy.

"The surgery he had on the back of his head was major. They had to remove part of his skull to reduce the swelling on his brain so with that type of head trauma, he is where he should be and he is actually doing better than he should be, so in they are extremely happy with his progress.

"He is up and he is able to walk which means his brain function with his walking and that is all good.

"He was in a really bad way but he is such a warrior, when you look at how well he has done considering what happened to him," said Russell.

Paddy had part of his skull removed and when he is well enough he will undergo another surgery in about four weeks time to replace the part of the skull that was taken out.

Russell and his work colleagues have rallied to raise funds for Paddy and Russell said he set up the go fund me to spread the word so the Navan community can get behind him.

"I wanted to spread the web a bit more to get the word out there that this is what has happened to him. It is going to be a long road to recovery. It will be day by day, so every little will help.

"They are hopeful he is going to make a full recovery but it will take a long, long time."

Anyone who would like to donate toward the appeal can click here for the link to the Go Fund Me page.