Garden of Hope (Belfast)

A Place Apart

I should have been in Donegal the evening the bomb went off in the Glen Inn in Glengormley.

I didn’t go though when I realised it would’ve meant missing the Sunday night disco at the parish youth club, where I was DJ. Many a romance relied on that!

I’d called into the pub to collect the keys of the club to open up as usual the next night and was enjoying a quick pint with a couple of mates when the bomb exploded.

I don’t actually remember the blast. I was just aware of the smell of burning beer and the complete darkness around me.

I tried to move, but couldn’t. I started shouting for help, but there was no response. At the time, I didn’t know I’d lost my lower legs – my left below the knee and the right above it. I kept yelling for help and for my mum, and even though they were afraid another device would explode, an RUC officer dug me out and carried me to safety.

The unbearable pain only hit me when we got into the open air. I felt every bump on the road on the way to the Royal Hospital.

Acceptance

I was in intensive care for a week – my lungs were damaged and I was badly burned. A cross I’d been wearing round my neck was embedded in my sternum.

When I regained consciousness, I said to the nurse: ‘I’ve lost my legs haven’t I?’ I accepted it at once. I was 18 and all I wanted was to be alive.

I went on to get married and have four children. However, as is the experience of many traumatised as a result of the conflict, the relationship broke down and we divorced.

Life Lesson

In Northern Ireland, there’s a sense that you just get on with things, so it took me 25 years to ask for help, which I eventually found through the Wave Trauma Centre.

One of the most valuable lessons I have learned in that time is to see the person first, not their disability – or their religion.

This year, we received £50,000 from the Big Lottery Fund’s People’s Millions competition to develop a Garden of Hope in the grounds of our north Belfast base, which will stand as a living memorial to all those who died in the Troubles.

As Northern Ireland moves forward in this new era to what we hope will be a shared future, there will be many challenges. But most people would agree that those challenges are even greater for people injured or traumatised in the conflict.

The country still needs to seriously address the needs of the people affected by the Troubles and this Garden of Hope will be a place apart for those people. Please don’t forget about us.

Website: WaveTraumaCentre.org.uk