Ramelton’s Shaun Dunworth who suffered life threating injuries in Sydney at the end of July is leaving his hospital bed this weekend and will be back home in the Donegal on Tuesday evening, reports the Tirconail Tribune.
It is less than eleven weeks since Shaun fell from an overpass at the Harbour Bridge on the Sunday morning of July 29th.
He was rushed to intensive care in St.Vincent’s Hospital with serious head trauma and a number of other serious injuries to his face and hips.
Shaun awoke from a deep coma on his 21st birthday a month after the incident as his parents Stefen and Karen kept a vigil by his bedside and he’s not looked back since then.
News of his amazing recovery has reverberated with joy around Ramelton this week and while it was expected that he might be home for Christmas, there were no guarantees that would happen.
His doctors have described his recovery as truly amazing. He has had to undergo gruelling surgery on a number of occasions and this week he completes his rehabilitation programme.
Shaun is being discharged to his home in Ramelton and will be accompanied on the journey by his parents.
One of the town’s most popular exiles, Shaun’s accident inspired the small commmunity in Ramelton to raise close to €120,000 for his recovery fund.
They set up a Go FundMe page that generated over €55,000 and the big dance night in the Silver Tassie raised over €23,000.
In Sydney a function run by the Irish community brought in donations to the tune of 40,000 Australian dollars while back home a range of events added to the total figure.
Shaun’s aunt, Geraldine Magee has paid a heartfelt tribute to the local commmunity who rallied around the family in those dark hours from the night of July 28th when the Gardai came to the family home with the news and they huge volume of support that has been there ever since.
Geraldine said it is very difficult to put into words the family’s depth of gratitude they feel towards all those who came to make donations: strangers turned up at Steve’e Café to make donations and nobody knows who they were.
She has paid tribute to the event organisers, those who sold tickets: the musicians, committees and helpers and the venues involved, the Dunworth family says thank you kindly for all you’ve done for Shaun.
“We are indebted the staff of St. Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney who’ve looked after Shaun with such professional skills and loving care. We are thrilled that he’s coming home and somehow in our darkest hours we knew that with the support and prayers that surrounded us, Shaun would be back by Christmas. To everyone a very sincere and heartfelt thank you very much to one and all,” said Geraldine last night.
Meanwhile, Pat Gibson from the BBC Eggheads show and a winner on Who wants to be a millionaire show is coming to Ramelton on this Saturday for a Table Quiz.
Pat will be the quizmaster and he is also setting the questions.
The evening is being organised by Regina and Thomas of Frewin House in Ramelton with all proceeds going to the Shaun Dunworth Recovery Fund. The quiz begins at 7.30pm sharp in the Town Hall. The cost is €10 person with tea and coffee afterwards. Contact Regina or Thomas on 9151246 for details
