Family of county Tipperary boy saved by Community Air Ambulance organise thank you fundraiser

Caption: Little Jack O'Dwyer from Knockavilla pictured at home just before Christmas after making a full recovery 

A Knockavilla family, whose young son’s life was saved thanks to the quick response of the Irish Community Air Ambulance, is organising a fundraising event in Dundrum on Saturday, March 4 in aid of the charity responsible for the emergency helicopter service.

The Breen/O’Dwyer family in conjunction with Tipperary Foxhounds are organising a charity horse ride that will depart from Dundrum House Hotel at 1pm on March 4 with registration from 11am at The Venue on the hotel and golf resort’s grounds.

The ride will take about three hours and take participants over a mapped out course through the scenic countryside around Dundrum. It will finish back at The Venue where there will be refreshments served. The charity ride will be followed by an auction and raffle in The Venue.

The Community Air Ambulance, founded in 2009, is changing its name to CRITICAL, and the voluntary-run emergency helicopter service it operates will continue until February 28, after which it will be taken over by the new State-funded Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS).

The funds raised by the Dundrum charity ride will assist with CRITICAL’s new focus on expanding its network of ground-based volunteer emergency medicine doctors and responders into more communities across the country.

These volunteers are tasked by the National Ambulance Service to support the provision of pre-hospital emergency care to critically ill and injured patients in their local communities.

The charity has a fleet of rapid response vehicles that have facilitated critical care doctors and GPs to respond to more than 1,800 incidents since 2020.

Amanda and James O’Dwyer are organising the fundraiser as they are deeply grateful to the Irish Community Air Ambulance volunteers whose rapid response was crucial to saving the life of their son Jack when he was injured in a freak accident at his home on October 2 last year.

Jack, who was four-years-old at the time, lost consciousness and stopped breathing when the jersey he was wearing got caught in a running treadmill. A neighbour, who is a nurse, helped to save the child’s life by performing CPR on him as they waited for the emergency services.

“The Community Air Ambulance arrived within 40 minutes from its base in Rathcool, county Cork and airlifted Jack to Temple Street Hospital in Dublin,” said Amanda.

“Jack was put in an induced coma for four days. He made a full recovery and came out of hospital a week later.” Jack celebrated his 5th birthday on December 27 and the O’Dwyer family enjoyed a very special Christmas.

Amanda paid tribute to their neighbour and the Community Air Ambulance volunteers who came to their aid that day and did so much to save Jack’s life.

And she thanked all their family, friends and neighbours for their support in the week after Jack was injured. They were very touched by people’s kindness.

When the air ambulance volunteers came to their home, Amanda was struck by the fact that they weren’t being paid for the life-saving work they did in rural communities like theirs.

This is why she and her family have decided to organise this fundraising horse ride, auction and raffle to support and raise awareness of the wonderful work of the life-saving organisation that founded the emergency helicopter service.

Amanda pointed out that even if you aren’t riding on March 4, you can still support the fundraisers by making a donation on the day or online.

To make a donation online just click on the following: Plainsaling link:https://itsplainsailing.com/org/th#event-36898.

She thanked all the local businesses and people who have donated prizes and items for the raffle and auction and know how lucky Jack was that the Community Air Ambulance was available when it was needed.