Community pitches in for friend in need

ELEVEN months after sustaining head, neck and spinal injuries, which have left him paralysed from the chest down, 21-year-old Cian Cleary will briefly return to Kildysart this Bank Holiday Monday.

Accompanied by his parents, Jacko and Sheila, and his younger sister, Ciara, Cian will witness at first hand the esteem in which his community and surrounding parishes hold him in. 
Kildysart GAA field will stage a day-long series of matches on Monday with all proceeds going to the Cian Cleary Benefit Fund.
Long after all of the fundraising ceases though, Cian will be left to fend for himself, aided by his family and friends.
Eighteen years ago this September, Cian, who was then aged four, started primary school in Kildysart along with 26 class mates. Seán Clancy also started school that day and remains one of Cian’s closest friends along with people like Damien Murtagh, Paul O’Brien and Pat Coffey.
That class of 27 all subsequently attended Kildysart Community College while Cian and Seán both studied business at UL.
“You drift away from a few people once you go to secondary school but there was always a core of us that stayed very close. It continued then when we went to college,” Seán Clancy told The Clare Champion last Sunday.
College life wasn’t too thrilling for too long for either Cian or Seán. Both picked up glandular fever during their first term and sat their Christmas exams in unusual circumstances. 
“The two us were inside in the sick room together in UL doing our exams,” Seán recalled. 
Seán admits he is a bit jealous of his friend in one respect; Cian might have been younger than his peer group but that didn’t impact adversely upon him academically.
“Everything came naturally to him. He’d be shown something once and he’d retain it after that. The man did applied maths for the Leaving,” Seán noted, adding that Cian picked up 555 points in the Leaving Cert.
Life was simple and carefree for Cian Cleary and his friends until May 19, 2010. On his way home from a night out, Cian sustained serious injuries when he fell into a pond at UL. Seán was staying in Cian’s house that night and remembers the sequence of events vividly.
“I remember pulling up the bed against the room door. That was the done thing because when you’d lads coming into the house … forget about it. They’d be jumping on top of you and what not. I remember then around 6 o’clock, my phone rang around three times. I looked at the phone and it was Ciara ringing me. She just said that Cian was found in a pond and that he was critical,” Seán recalled. It was only when he saw his lifelong friend in the hospital that he realised how serious Cian’s injuries were.
“When I went to see him first, he’d tubes coming out of everywhere and the two blocks on the side of his head.”
Cian was later transferred to the Mater Hospital in Dublin and then to the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dun Laoghaire.
Seán feels that one of Cian’s personal characteristics will help him to deal with the challenges that will confront him in the years ahead.
“If he wanted to do something he’d be pure stubborn. He’d do it and that’d be it. Even if you were going out for a night or something you’d say, ‘do you want to go out tonight?’ He might say ‘No, I’m not going out’. Other lads might be persuaded but once he set his mind to something, that was it. He’d do it and achieve it,” Seán said.
“It’s the same way now in rehab. He’s positive the whole time. I try to see him probably at least once a week in hospital. Each time I’ve gone in, he’s always in good form. You’d always have a bit of craic and a bit of banter with him. There’s no negativity,” he added.
Seán has seen no sign of Cian feeling sorry for himself.
“I can honestly say that there hasn’t been. It would only be natural that someone would reflect and say ‘why did this happen to me?’ But that has been absolutely not the case at all. I’d say the only day he was upset was when he was told by the doctors in rehab that he wasn’t going to walk again. He was by himself when it happened. That was the only day he was upset although he was still in good form that evening when we met him,” Seán said of that day last January.
Cian has improved considerably since his accident, although Seán says nobody can remember exactly when he started to talk fairly freely again.
“That’s the funny thing about it. We were only talking about it a week ago last Saturday in the hospital. He was asking what was the first thing he said. But no one could pinpoint what he had said first. It was gradual. His process was incremental in that he didn’t just wake up and say ‘how’s the going?’ I remember in the Mater when he started talking a small bit, he’d whisper your name. To hear something like that after hearing that he probably won’t talk again, he won’t wake up, he won’t be himself anymore… Once he talked, it was a great feeling,” Seán reflected, adding that Cian was always very laid back.
“Cian was the soundest fella you could meet and didn’t deserve what happened to him. He was the type of fella you just got along with because he was so sound. He was always cool as a breeze. That’s how I’d describe him, just extremely laid back. Nothing fazed him at all. He always had a dry wit about him. He wasn’t the type of person who wanted to be the centre of attention or was loud when he was out. He’d just sit back and take it all in. Then he’d just pass a comment that was pure witty,” Seán said.
Cian’s sister, Ciara, is two years younger than him and according to Seán Clancy, has remained as strong as possible throughout the last 11 months.
“When that happened, she was only 19 but she grew up in an instant then. She’s always in good form and always positive and didn’t want to hear any negative talk. That’s her older brother. She’s looking at him finishing college and is proud of him for what he’s achieved. She’s probably looking forward to him going on and enjoying his life and having a good life for himself. When that happens to someone so close, it’s unthinkable,” Seán acknowledged.
While Cian will be home this weekend for a few days, Seán feels this visit is just a taste of what life will be like for him when he returns permanently to Kildysart.
“I suppose for Cian, Ciara, Jacko and Sheila, it’ll be tough coming home for the weekend. It’ll probably be a small glimpse as to what’ll be expected. He’s coming down but he knows he’ll be going back up in a couple of days. It’ll be different when he actually does come home full-time,” Seán believes.
Twelve months ago, life was straightforward for Cian Cleary, his family and friends. All of them now have to do their best to live with the fate that has been dealt to Cian.
“You don’t think something like that could happen to yourself or to one of your friends. At that age, I won’t say you feel untouchable but you probably feel ‘this is our time’. There’s still a very long road ahead for him. His life is starting again and it’ll be a different life. It’s going to be challenging for him,” Seán said.
It’s a challenge his friend is certain Cian will meet and overcome.
“Character-wise, he’s an absolute rock and I know he’ll be able for that. Just simply because of his character and because of his attitude towards everything. A year ago, life was life. There were no complications whatsoever. For us, at this point, I don’t think we can keep saying ‘I’d give anything to go back a year’. We can’t think like that anymore. We just have to say ‘here we are and we just need to plough on’. We need to do it for Cian above anything else,” Seán Clancy vowed.

Action-packed Bank Holiday Monday
ON Bank Holiday Monday, Kildysart GAA field will host a range of GAA matches including a game between the Clare senior footballers and Estuary Gaels, an amalgamation of Kildysart, Clondegad, Lissycasey, Coolmeen and Shannon Gaels. That game will throw in at 3.45pm.
Until his accident, Cian Cleary was one of Kildysart’s best young footballers and won a junior championship medal with his club in 2008.
At 1.45pm, the Clare senior ladies’ county team will play a local All-Stars selection, while an U-10 Go Games tournament will start at 3.10pm.
Retired GAA commentator Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh will be amongst the high-profile guests at the event, which will also feature live music, barbecues and a bouncy castle.
A Cian Cleary Benefit Fund bank account has been established at AIB Kildysart: Sort Code: 935387, account number: 21584098.