18 year old Colm Donnelly was carrying out repair work on his car in February when the vehicle fell on top of him, resulting in serious injuries. Colm was rushed to St Vincent’s University Hospital Dublin, where he sadly passed away. Colm spent 6 days in a coma in the hospital’s ICU. Colm’s parents Walter and Louise and his sister Niamh made the decision to donate Colm’s organs, saving 5 lives.
Colm was a sixth year student at Gorey Community School and was known for his passion for cars, farming, machinery and his beloved pets. In addition to playing rugby for his secondary school, where he won an award for his talent for the sport in 2020 Colm was a player with Gorey Rugby Club for several years and formed a strong bond with many of the club members.
Colm’s family are now organising a fundraiser in of honour his life in aid of St Vincent’s ICU, Friends of Gorey Hospital, Gorey Community School and Kilanerin National School. The fundraiser itself is a Road Run with tractors, lorries and vintage cars all set to take part. So far it has already gained a lot of traction and organisers are expecting about 500 vehicles. The Gorey fire brigade and Gardaí will be leading the run and also set up through out the day for pictures with children, etc. As well as some food trucks, face painting etc so it has really become a whole family day out.
All money being raised is going towards St Vincent’s ICU, Friends of Gorey Hospital, Gorey Community School and Kilanerin National School. A huge amount of Rugby players, GAA players, YouTubers and the likes of the two johnnys, Tadhg Furlong, etc have supported the event by creating videos.
So far €12,000 has been between private donations and go fund me, so they are expecting to raise a huge amount from the event in the day.
The event will take place in The Bunker Bar Gorey on Sunday April 23rd.
You can see full details of the event here: https://facebook.com/events/s/colm-donnelly-remembrance-road/579922034063097/
You can donate to the great causes here: https://gofund.me/371b0325
We spoke to Colm’s cousin Denis Jones this morning who described his cousin as leaving a legacy behind saying “he’ll be remembered as being caring’, you can hear the full interview with Denis here: https://pod.space/morningmix/colm-donnelly-road-run
Morning Mix with Alan Corcoran is on air weekdays from 10am to 12pm on South East Radio,
