Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
MARTINA COX HAS described the emotional moment when she saw her husband Sean walk again for the first time since a vicious attack left him with life-changing injuries five years ago.
Sean (57) received serious brain injuries following an unprovoked assault by Roma fans outside Anfield before Liverpool’s Champions League semi-final against the Italian club in April 2018.
In a programme on his recovery on RTÉ’s Prime Time last night, the family also called for the government to provide greater support to home carers.
Sean has recently started a new exoskeleton therapy in Dublin City University (DCU). The innovative treatment allows him to walk upright with the aid of a robotic skeleton.
“[It was] very emotional, really, really emotional to see him,” Martina told RTÉ’s Miriam O’Callaghan.
“He actually started in a sitting position and then he just stood up and then [just kinda] walked towards me. And even the look on his own face – it’s so good. We don’t know what is going to come out of this but psychologically it’s really good for him.”
During the interview at their Meath home, Martina and Sean reflected on his rehabilitation five years on since the attack near Anfield.
Martina said she doesn’t dwell on the anniversary with the family simply wanting to move on.
“Life is too short as well. We are just trying to move on, get the most out of life. Sean, he is a relatively young man still,” she said.
“We want to have really good memories. We are starting to go out a little bit more, we’ve gone on holidays. We just want to do more of those things.”
She added: “In sickness and in health, those words, they are so powerful. There was never a second thought I was going to do anything else but look after him.”
Sean has a number of carers who come to the house during the week to support him and Martina, and she feels the government need to be doing more to help with this vital service that carers provide for families like theirs.
“Home care is particularly tricky at the minute, it hasn’t been consistent. Sean’s needs are high, recently a lot of the hours are not met, and this is down to the fact that there are not enough carers,” Martina said.
“The demand is really, really high for both disability and the elderly in the home but the supply of carers is just not there because I think what they are being paid is too low. I think the government need to definitely look at investing more money into this area.”
The full interview can be found here on the RTÉ Player.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Some good news for a change..
FARCing great news.
“Obama vowed continuing support for Colombia, a key ally in the US war on drugs.”
Really Mr. Obama? Maybe have a look at your own security agencies who are up to their bloody elbows in the drugs business in Columbia and many other countries for over 70 years:
“The litany of this is a long one, with the OSS (the predecessor of the CIA) forming a strategic alliance with the Sicilian and Corsican mafia after World War II to prevent possible communist uprisings in Europe and to smash left-wing unions; the CIA’s assisting the Kuomintang with its opium trafficking operations to fund their joint anti-communist efforts in Asia; the CIA’s actual trafficking of opium out of Laos, Burma and Thailand to help fund the U.S. counter-insurgency effort in South East Asia; the CIA’s support of “the chief smugglers of Afghan opium, the anti-communist Mujahedin rebels in Afghanistan” in their efforts against the pro-Soviet government in Afghanistan, leading ultimately to Afghanistan becoming one of the largest opium suppliers in the world (a status only briefly interrupted when it was under Taliban control); and the Reagan Administration’s funding the Nicaraguan Contras (after such funding was outlawed by Congress) by, among other things, cocaine smuggling operations.
The book quotes the United Nations Drug Control Program (UNDCP) which concludes that, today, “the biggest heroin and cocaine trading institutions in the world are the militaries of Burma, Pakistan, Mexico, Peru and Colombia – ‘all armed and trained by U.S. military intelligence in the name of anti-drug efforts.’” In the case of Colombia, while the U.S., to justify its massive counterinsurgency program, vilifies the FARC guerillas as “narco-terrorists,” this title is more befitting of the Colombian state and its paramilitary allies.”
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/02/16/the-u-s-war-for-drugs-of-terror-in-colombia/
Good news all the same though Wally.
Good copy/paste job Billy. Wouldn’t call counterpunch a credible source though.
Can you identify anything incorrect in the article Tadhg?
The first rule of confirmation bias – go after the source
Billy, I can see something incorrect! – YOU!!
So no dispute as to the content of the article then Tadhg? Maybe you’d prefer the Nation Security Archive blow which also outlines the U.S involvement in drug trafficking:
“This electronic briefing book is compiled from declassified documents obtained by the National Security Archive, including the notebooks kept by NSC aide and Iran-contra figure Oliver North, electronic mail messages written by high-ranking Reagan administration officials, memos detailing the contra war effort, and FBI and DEA reports. The documents demonstrate official knowledge of drug operations, and collaboration with and protection of known drug traffickers. Court and hearing transcripts are also included.”
Evidently Ronald hadn’t heard about his wife Nancy’s “Just Say No” to drugs mass media campaign during the 80s.
@ Billy Mooney : North and South Korea are still technically at war, as they only signed an armistice, not a peace treaty. So that’s a longer war than the Farc one.
I won’t quibble with you over inconsequential technicalities Niall. When I asked Tadhg if there was anything incorrect in the article I was referring to the linked counterpunch piece.
@ Billy Mooney: no problemo. I was referring to the Journal’s abysmal record of exaggeration, lousy sub-editing, or simply getting things wrong.
This seems like great news, but in reality its a Trojan horse. The Farc were established as a Communist movement, they formed the guerrilla because Colombians voted in favour of Democracy and the Communist candidates never got enough votes. They were more popular in Rural Colombia, but still not popular enough to win an election. So what do you do when you are a stubborn Communist who always looses an election? Form a Guerrilla. These people are murderers, kidnappers, drug dealers. All with the pretexts of founding “the cause” Colombia gained the fame they have is thanks to Guerrillas, they enabled drug cartels. They made travelling by land impossible, because they would engage in kidnappings even having their own checkpoints in the roads, they had total control of rural Colombia and their roads. People up to date travel mostly by air within Colombia not to get kidnapped.
Many of the people who ruined Venezuela with Chavez and Maduro are Ex-Guerrilla members. They had the most senior positions in cabinet.
What will happen in Colombia its a What happened in Venezuela, but on Steroids. These assassins will now be free and be able to run for office and fool the vulnerable poor population with false promises just like Chavez did in the 1990s, Chavez even said that “He hates Socialism, he is pro free market and these Marxists ideas are outdated” And people bought it.
Don;t get me wrong, I am anti savage capitalism and anti oligarchy, this is the other extreme. But I dare any die hard leftists Marxists pro Cuba, Pro venezuela, Pro Communism to have the b.alls to come here and defend Farcs action, to defend Communism, Cuba and Venezuela without even been there for themselves. I dare someone who has been in in these places and say that Communism is the answer.
Ok Uribe.
Very good analysis Juan. You seem to know what you’re talking about.
FARC didn’t start this conflict, the army’s attacks on civilians did.
Colombia wasn’t a democracy- it was an oligarchy where only two parties could run for office until the early 90s. It was a ‘perfect dictatorship’ like Mexico, in the hands of an elite.
What happened every time FARC tried to demobilize? It’s members were assasinated. Google the genocide of the Union Patriotica.
Worried that poor people will vote for FARC? That speaks volumes about the country- the poor are so oppressed that they might vote for the hated guerrilla over the mainstream parties.
I’m no supporter of FARC but people need to stop acting as though they’re solely responsible for the war.
The United Nations are actually doing something useful! I need to lie down.
That’s good news ☮
Fantastic news for the SF bird watching society. They can now watch some birds in Colombia without coming under undue suspicion.
Congratulations to Eamon Gilmore as well.
What about the punishment for using child soldiers by farc.
Usually govt propaganda, helps to deprive your opponents of legitimacy
The army force poor Colombians who can’t bribe their way out to fight on the frontline. FARC aren’t alone in forced recruitment.
No more Sinn Fein/ IRA training trips. Whatever will they do with their free time?
All cause of the banana war started by the US and EU
http://www.triplepundit.com/2015/01/bananas-colombian-civil-war-u-s-supreme-court/
have your say