Limerick Leader team share their stories of the year

With 2023 drawing to a close, our Limerick Leader team choose their stories of the year

We loved granny but we love our hurling even more

PRIOR to 2018, for those of us who weren’t around in 1973 - when Limerick had last claimed the Liam MacCarthy Cup - the closest thing we got to a singular event capturing the imagination of thousands of Limerick people was a 25-foot-tall granny rambling the city’s streets in a green dress back in 2014.

The major street theatre event which formed part of the City of Culture celebrations, attracted crowds of some 230,000 people to the city's streets over three September days.

Since 2018, we, the people of Limerick, have had five big reasons to feel the same sense of magic and unity that the wonderful 85-year-old marionette sparked in us back in 2014.

On July 23 last, Limerick’s senior hurlers claimed the remarkable four-in-a-row in Croke Park - their fifth title in six years.

For those few hours and days from when the sliothar is thrown in at 3.30pm on All-Ireland final Sunday to when the last Limerick man is introduced at the homecoming celebrations, it feels as though those of us who are from Limerick are not just neighbours, work colleagues, acquaintances or friends, we’re family. And the rest of the world wants to be related to us.

Hurling is more than a game. It’s an identity. 2023 has been another great year that we, Limerick people, have been able to celebrate our unique identity.

While we adored the giant granny, we love our hurling giants even more. Roll on 2024! We cannot wait!

Áine Fitzgerald - Managing editor 

A brave two year battle won against blood cancer

LAST February Alannah Russell reached out to the Limerick Leader newsdesk, bravely hoping her story would be of benefit to others.

The 21-year-old from Foynes had been diagnosed with stage four Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of blood cancer.

“If you have worries, get them checked! €50 to go to the doctor is nothing compared to the amount of medical bills you may have to face. If I had caught it sooner, would I have had bone marrow tested, or even been on such intense chemo,” the TUS student told reporter Jasmin Griffin.

Collectively, she is one of 27 grandchildren, with no history of Hodgkin’s lymphoma on either side. Because of this, she put her symptoms down to college stress and believed they were easy to explain away.

Young Alannah questioned everything about her choices, from socialsing to her diet and more, before settling on what she knew she could now control - the ability to fight for her life back.

Fast forward to the summer and Alannah was back on the pages of the Limerick Leader - after she had breathed a sigh of relief that she had been waiting to release for two years - she was now cancer-free.

“I was stage 3.75 on the cancer scale, and now I’m 0.1,” Alannah smiled after her two year battle with cancer.

Leaving the hospital, the third- level student thought to record the videos of each person she facetimed to deliver the good news.

“Their reactions meant so much, and I have those now to look back on and keep forever,” she said.

The future is everything to Alannah, and she realises that she has every option open to her, including her dream to join An Garda Síochána, which her GP signed off on.

For now, she wants to share her support to anyone in her shoes.

Jerome O'Connell - News Editor

Communities celebrate St Patrick’s Day in style

IN MY role at the Limerick Leader/Limerick Live, hundreds of stories come across my desk on a weekly basis - from breaking news and weather warnings to public notices and photo galleries from major events.

However, one day immediately comes to mind when I look back and reflect on 2023.

Friday, March 17 saw the first full celebrations of St Patrick's Day in Limerick since Covid-19 and the Limerick Leader was literally on the ground across the city and county for most of the day.

It took weeks of preparation to finalise the logistics of getting reporters and photographers to towns and villages such as Mountcollins, Castlemahon, Abbeyfeale, Kilfinane, Rathkeale, Castleconnell and Kilmallock.

From early-morning, our website and social media platforms were jam-packed with videos and photographs of parades featuring floats and tractors, tricolours and, of course, St Patrick himself.

There were hundreds of images of men, women and children who were enjoying the day and were happy to be out and about supporting the efforts in their local community.

During the day, we revealed how former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern had been ‘spotted’ in Ballylanders and we reported on MC Johnny Walsh's running commentary in Mountcollins which had locals giggling throughout.

We had comprehensive coverage of the Limerick city parade, which was the biggest outside Dublin.

From my perspective, it was hugely enjoyable to be coordinating the coverage ensuring that readers - in Limerick and around the world - were able to get a sense of the atmosphere and goings-on as we celebrated our patron saint.

The end result, which attracted hundreds of thousands of views online, was also a testament to the team work of those working in the Limerick Leader / Limerick live.

David Hurley - Head of multimedia/Iconic Media Digital Hub

Wedding and a funeral

“I HAD to organise a wedding and a funeral in a week,” Dave McLoughlin told this reporter in an interview on a Sunday in April that I will never forget.

“We got married on a Monday and we had her wake on the following Monday. I never thought it was possible to feel pain like I feel it now. As the days go on the pain gets worse,” he said.

The 35-year-old Cappawhite man married his childhood sweetheart Michelle Crowe, 33, in a rare wedding ceremony in the chapel in University Hospital Limerick on Monday, March 20. Michelle passed away from an extremely aggressive form of breast cancer at 2.23am on the following Saturday.

Dave bravely spoke to the Limerick Leader/Limerick Live as he wanted as many people as possible to know “what an amazing human being Michelle was”. We spoke for around 30 minutes on the phone. I sat in silence for 30 minutes afterwards. I endeavoured to do Dave and Michelle justice.

The couple were together for almost 19 years and have two children - Cillian, then aged 13, and Oisín, then 14-months-old.

They met outside Cappawhite Church by chance when they were teenagers and were inseparable until the very end.

The couple had been engaged for seven years and had always planned on getting married, which Dave mentioned to a nurse on a Thursday. The nurse quickly put the wheels in motion. Four days later Michelle walked down the aisle.

Despite his own grief, Dave wished to thank all the nurses and staff, family and friends who helped to organise the wedding at such short notice. “She has left a hole that will never be filled,” he said.

Life can be so cruel.

Donal O’Regan - Reporter

In Pictures: Limerick community host festive fun events

School opening heralds the end of decade-long journey

A NEW CHAPTER in the celebrated educational history of Limerick began this year.

After almost a decade of campaigning to bring an Educate Together secondary school to the city, the doors of Limerick’s newest educational institution opened.

Under the stewardship of Eoin Shinners, the school’s staff and students moved into a purpose-built building at Towlerton near Ballysimon on the city’s outskirts.

Established in 2018, the school had spent its opening years at Fernbank in the former Salesians College at North Circular Road in the city.

It was always the plan for the move to happen for the start of the autumn term in 2023. Despite a small hold-up which saw the term begin in the old Salesians, the move was on.

The school was handed over on Wednesday, September 13.

Cue a Herculean effort as staff worked into the early hours of Thursday, September 14, to ensure when the bell rang that morning, the new school was fully functional.

A state-of-the-art facility, the school is in a colourful and vibrant setting, with wide corridors allowing for students to move freely.

There’s a beautiful general purpose area on the ground floor and a plaza adjacent.

Other features of the school include four classrooms, a multi-sensory room with a soft play area, a practical activity room, six state-of-the-art science labs, an engineering room, a technology room, two woodwork rooms, two art rooms and two  home economic rooms.

I’ve been fortunate enough to report on the development of the school from the moment former Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan announced plans for a new secondary, through to the campaign to bring such a school to the city and its journey to where it is now.

It was very pleasing for me personally to see the school reach its destination.

Nick Rabbitts - Reporter

Little boy with big heart saves mother in emergency

THROUGH my involvement with the Limerick Person of the Month awards I have met some incredibly inspiring people but none touched my heart quite like five year-old Ben Holland.

Ben is a small and unassuming boy but when it counted the most he summoned the bravery and calmness in an emergency that I as a 27 year-old could only aspire to.

Ben's mother Jennie has postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) which causes her to feel dizzy and faint, which is what happened on that eventful day in September.

The little boy jumped into action after his mother did not regain consciousness and dialled 999 with an ambulance arriving at the house just 12 minutes later.

Ben gave his full address to the emergency operator but as the house has no number, he told them the colour of the front door instead.

The junior infant pupil even told the dispatcher that his mum felt dizzy sometimes but this was different because he couldn't wake her.

To show such level-headedness at his young age is truly remarkable and just one of the reasons why he was named Limerick Person of the Month.

To recognise his bravery, Ben was also presented with a special bravery award by the National Ambulance Service.

The schoolboy was presented with a National Ambulance Service bravery award by members of the NAS in front of his parents and friends at St Michael’s Infant School in Limerick city.

Amidst all the darkness of this year, Ben's initiative and ability to say he truly saved his mother in her time of year brought a beam of light.

Frances Fitzpatrick - Reporter

Four wheels, one mission

MARKING one year with the Limerick Leader in January, it is fair to say it has been a rollercoaster.

One specific story comes to mind when asked to choose one, but it is hard to attach the word ‘favourite’ to any article.

I had the honour of writing the story of one young boy from Patrickswell and his journey through his debilitating illness.

Alex Heaney, who is nine-years-old, was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder, Duchenne, just before his fifth birthday.

The disease is one which affects Alex’s muscles, as protein leaks from them and breaks them down over time. Because of this, he is in a wheelchair.

The thing that puts a smile on my face remembering this story is the adventure that two family friends took on to raise some money for Alex. As well as this, the unwavering happiness and innocence of a child, who is always cheerful, despite his rather debilitating disease.

Friends of Alex’s mother Kate and stepfather Keith, Seán Putt and Fionnuala Crowe, took on the adventure of a lifetime as they cycled from France, home to Patrickswell. The epic feat is over 870km, and took the couple two weeks to complete.

Describing it as “truly amazing”, Fionnuala said the journey was full of highs and lows.

“From sunshine to floods, flat land to hills, bumps and bruises to serious injuries, our 872km cycle took us on many adventures!,” she said.

“Rolling down the hill in Patrickswell to be greeted by cheers was truly an amazing, emotional and a heartwarming moment, that made all the effort of the two weeks so worth it.”

Faye Dorgan - Reporter

When 11,000 people are united by just one goal

“LISTEN up HSE, give us back our A&Es! Listen up HSE, give us back our A&Es! Listen up HSE, give us back our A&Es!”

The chant that still to this day, lives in my head rent-free. Whenever I think of it, I think of people power.

The anger, the disparity, the distress, and the pleading from the people of the Mid-West was blatant on Saturday, January 21 as 11,000 took to the streets of Limerick city in protest over conditions at University Hospital Limerick.

The people of the Mid-West were united under one goal - to reinvest in the hospitals in the Mid-West region and to reopen the emergency departments at St John’s Hospital, Nenagh, and Ennis, to try end the overcrowding crisis once and for all.

During the winter of 2022/23 UHL had a plague, it was called an overcrowding crisis. A plague that never truly goes away but seemingly gets worse at certain times of the year - like the seasonal flu.

The number of people waiting on trolleys for a bed at UHL often reached over 100 16-year-old, Aoife Johnston among those to die unnecessarily. She contracted meningitis and later, sepsis. She spent 12 hours waiting in the emergency department.

The protest saw the 11,000 gather in Arthur's Quay Park where a number of emotional speeches were delivered, including

Melanie Cleary from Corbally, whose daughter Eve tragically passed away in 2019 after being discharged from UHL.

The protest showed that people power can help. For months following, ministers and TDs were questioned on their stance on the overcrowding crisis, and what is being done to alleviate it, and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar visited UHL.

But has anything truly changed? On Monday, October 23, 2023, 130 people were waiting on trolleys in UHL, breaking the previous record of 126 set in April 2022.

Cathal Doherty - Reporter