Duffy's father recalls harrowing tale
Credit:
Brian Duffy, the father of Irish international Shane, has gone through a rollercoaster of
emotions in the last seven days.
His son had a potentially deadly injury diagnosed and operated on in the nick of time thanks to the quick thinking of (Ireland team doctor) Alan Byrne and (Ireland team surgeon professor) John O’Byrne following his now-infamous collision with Irish amateur goalkeeper Adrian Walsh last week.
Brian was forced to look on in horror as his son was stretchered from the field and rushed to the Mater Hospital where surgeon Gerry McEntee – himself a GAA legend – operated on Shane, who was within minutes of losing his life.
However, following Shane’s miraculous recovery he was discharged from the Mater on Friday afternoon, where Brian spoke to the press about just how difficult an ordeal this week had been.
When asked if he felt he was going to lose his son, Duffy’s honest assessment was harrowing.
“Oh 100%. John O’Byrne told me there’s about 35/40 minutes [and then] Shane could die. So I had another 35/40 minutes to live with him. Siobhan (Duffy’s mother) wasn’t even here at the time. Was I going to tell her? Was I not going to tell her? Did I want her to land at the hospital with Shane lying dead? Because that was the way it was going,” he said.
“That weekend I’ll never forget it as long as I live. To have him standing here now is unbelievable,” said Duffy.
“Last Friday night, just after it happened on the pitch I thought ‘well he’s winded’. I think everybody thought he was winded. And then when he was laying down I thought ‘he’s got a cracked rib’. That’s the way I was thinking. I’ve seen tackles with Shane a thousand times,” he said.
“But when we got him into the ambulance – Professor John O’Byrne, it’s amazing, that man,” said Duffy in reference to the immediate realisation of the seriousness of the situation by the Irish medical staff.
“Nine times out of ten, Shane would have been lifted off the pitch – and then examined. That would have been too late. Shane would have been dead. John [O’Byrne] and Alan Byrne just had the sense to get him on that stretcher and get him down that road as fast as possible,” he said.
“I mean we nearly lost him in the ambulance. The crash team were sitting ready for us,” he added.
Asked when he felt Shane may recover, Brian attained that the excellent care his son had received at the Mater immediately put him on the road to recovery.
“Actually on Friday night after the operation we went down about 01:40 in the morning and Shane was lying with his eyes open and his hand out. He was on the road to recovery from the word ‘Go’.”
But with Shane’s announcement that he hopes to be playing football by October, his father was still unsure as to how he will ever recover from seeing his son in that way. “I said to him during the week, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to watch you. I really don’t know how I’m going to watch you [play]’. […] Hopefully us as a family, we’ll get the healing process ready for him,” he said.
Mr. Duffy was full of praise for the often-ridiculed FAI. “Oh my god, what can we say about the FAI. Without them […] four days ago we would have buried Shane. No question about it. It was so so serious.”
Incidentally,this incident appears to have underlined Duffy’s son’s desire to turn out for the Republic of Ireland in the future.
“There was never any question about it. This is just the icing on the cake. He always wanted to play. Hopefully we’ll see him pulling on the jersey again.”
His son had a potentially deadly injury diagnosed and operated on in the nick of time thanks to the quick thinking of (Ireland team doctor) Alan Byrne and (Ireland team surgeon professor) John O’Byrne following his now-infamous collision with Irish amateur goalkeeper Adrian Walsh last week.
Brian was forced to look on in horror as his son was stretchered from the field and rushed to the Mater Hospital where surgeon Gerry McEntee – himself a GAA legend – operated on Shane, who was within minutes of losing his life.
However, following Shane’s miraculous recovery he was discharged from the Mater on Friday afternoon, where Brian spoke to the press about just how difficult an ordeal this week had been.
When asked if he felt he was going to lose his son, Duffy’s honest assessment was harrowing.
“Oh 100%. John O’Byrne told me there’s about 35/40 minutes [and then] Shane could die. So I had another 35/40 minutes to live with him. Siobhan (Duffy’s mother) wasn’t even here at the time. Was I going to tell her? Was I not going to tell her? Did I want her to land at the hospital with Shane lying dead? Because that was the way it was going,” he said.
“That weekend I’ll never forget it as long as I live. To have him standing here now is unbelievable,” said Duffy.
“Last Friday night, just after it happened on the pitch I thought ‘well he’s winded’. I think everybody thought he was winded. And then when he was laying down I thought ‘he’s got a cracked rib’. That’s the way I was thinking. I’ve seen tackles with Shane a thousand times,” he said.
“But when we got him into the ambulance – Professor John O’Byrne, it’s amazing, that man,” said Duffy in reference to the immediate realisation of the seriousness of the situation by the Irish medical staff.
“Nine times out of ten, Shane would have been lifted off the pitch – and then examined. That would have been too late. Shane would have been dead. John [O’Byrne] and Alan Byrne just had the sense to get him on that stretcher and get him down that road as fast as possible,” he said.
“I mean we nearly lost him in the ambulance. The crash team were sitting ready for us,” he added.
Asked when he felt Shane may recover, Brian attained that the excellent care his son had received at the Mater immediately put him on the road to recovery.
“Actually on Friday night after the operation we went down about 01:40 in the morning and Shane was lying with his eyes open and his hand out. He was on the road to recovery from the word ‘Go’.”
But with Shane’s announcement that he hopes to be playing football by October, his father was still unsure as to how he will ever recover from seeing his son in that way. “I said to him during the week, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to watch you. I really don’t know how I’m going to watch you [play]’. […] Hopefully us as a family, we’ll get the healing process ready for him,” he said.
Mr. Duffy was full of praise for the often-ridiculed FAI. “Oh my god, what can we say about the FAI. Without them […] four days ago we would have buried Shane. No question about it. It was so so serious.”
Incidentally,this incident appears to have underlined Duffy’s son’s desire to turn out for the Republic of Ireland in the future.
“There was never any question about it. This is just the icing on the cake. He always wanted to play. Hopefully we’ll see him pulling on the jersey again.”
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