Paraplegic Cork teen left without wheelchair after three storey fall

Late last month teenager Ciara O’Brien was on a night out with friends at the newly-opened The Moorings night club in Kinsale.

She has since been left paralysed and her family have said “her spirits were broken by the way she was treated by the health system.”

An accident at the venue saw Ciara fall two-and-a-half metres from a three storey building. She was taken to Cork University Hospital but was subsequently airlifted to the Mater in Dublin in order to receive specialist care for spinal injuries.

The 18-year old had just sat her Leaving Cert at Kinsale Community School and her family and friends were “devastated and shocked” by what had happened.

She suffered several spinal injuries after the fall and is now in a wheelchair. Her aunt, Maria O'Mahony, has said that the facilities in Cork were not equipped to for dealing with Ciara’s needs. When she first arrived in CUH after receiving treatment in Dublin since the accident, she was unable to get from her bed in her shared room to the bathroom facilities.

Speaking to the Irish Sun, Maria said Ciara had been doing very well while recovering at the Mater but upon moving back to CUH things had gone to well.

“It’s like she’s been forced to start her recovery all over again,” she explained.

A spokesperson for CUH told the Independent that when Ciara arrived the hospital was “exceptionally busy with approximately 80 emergency admissions daily.”

She has since been given a private room and the wheelchair which she now requires and is said to be “over joyed” with these improvements in her care.

The Irish Sun spoke with Kinsale Cllr Kevin Murphy at the times who said: “You don’t expect such a dreadful thing to happen when a young girl is out socialising.”

The 'freak accident' occurred only one month after the club had been reopened following renovations. Business continued as usual after Ciara's fall with Declan Ryan of The Moorings telling the Sunday World: 

“It was just an accident. She fell about 8 foot [2.5metres] from the side of the building. It wasn’t in the club it was beside it.”