Scartaglen is bracing itself for a birthday, remembrance, fundraising coffee morning on Sunday, August 20th – the day on which the late Donal Kerin of Carker would have celebrated his 50th birthday.
Donal’s wife Annette and their children, Jack, Paul and Grace are very much to the fore in the organisation of the event and they’re surrounded by close family and good friends from far and near.
The coffee morning will be held from 10:30am to 12:30pm at the Sliabh Luachra Heritage Centre in the village and is in aid of the Kerry Hospice Foundation.
Because of the Kerin family experience during Donal’s illness, the foundation’s Specialist Palliative Care Services come in for praise and thanks in particular.
Life Limiting Illness
This service provides care to people who have been diagnosed with a life limiting illness and the service providers have been ‘angels’ to the Kerin family all through Donal’s illness.
“They were with us through all our tough times and Liz Reidy-McCarthy was with us on the night Donal passed away on St. Stephen’s night last year,” said Annette.
Annette Walsh from Sneem met Donal Kerin from Carker, Scartaglen in 1997. Annette was working in Parknasilla Hotel with another Scart native, Margaret Canty and she spent the odd weekend in Scart with Margaret.
“I came up with Margaret again on the 1997 October bank holiday weekend and we went to Fleming’s Bar in the village and I met Donal.
Bus to Castleisland
We got the bus to Castleisland later and we did a tour of a few pubs there. We went to The Snug and to Skevena’s for chips, we got the bus home to Scart – and, as they say, the rest is history, “ Annette recalled.
“Our first big, official outing was to Margaret’s and John’s wedding on December 6th 1997.
I was working in the Great Southern Hotel at this time and I went to Dublin in January of 1998 and travelled down to Kerry every weekend and I eventually came back to Kerry in September and I’m here since.”
Annette and Donal got married on November 28th 2003and they were blessed with three children. Jack was born in November 2005, Paul followed in May 2009 and Grace arrived in September 2013.
One of the Good Ones
“I tell people, who didn’t know Donal, what a lovely man he was and that he didn’t deserve what happened to him. We loved him and we know he loved us too. He really was one of the good ones.
“The closing line in my speech at his funeral was that my only regret was I hadn’t met him sooner and that is so true. Life can be so cruel sometimes but we still have to get up every day and keep going for our own sake and for the sake of our children.
“Donal’s life was filled with farming. He never looked at it as work. It was a vocation for him. You’d hear him on the phone to his family and friends and it would be nothing but farming.
“He played a bit of football with Scart in his young days and he’d go to support the lads if they were playing – but his love of the land around the place meant that his joy on a Sunday was to follow the hunt when it would be in the area.
Hunt Club Tribute
On the day of his funeral, Johnny O’Connor of the local hunt led the cortège on horseback in tribute to Donal.
“We’d go for a day to the races in Killarney and we made sure to go at least one day to Listowel Races,” Annette fondly recalled.
“Donal began to feel unwell in December 2021 and he went for tests and a scan early in the new year. He was diagnosed with bowel cancer on February 22nd 2022 – all the twos – we’ll never forget that.
“He underwent surgery in the Mercy Hospital in Cork the following week and the hardest thing about it was that, as Covid-19 was dominating everything at the time, and I couldn’t be with him.
“When we got to the reception desk in the hospital on that Monday night we were told to say our goodbyes there and then and that was it.
Never Sick in his Life
Donal was a man who was never sick in his life and never in hospital and now he had to face a serious operation and all that went with it on his own.
“I was sent home and not allowed to see him until the following Saturday. We stood outside the Mercy hospital that Monday night, holding hands and Donal said, ‘we can’t go back now’ and that is how he looked at everything, to keep going forward, he fought and fought every day and never gave up hope. We both never gave up hope.”
As to why Kerry Hospice Foundation is the beneficiary of the August 20th coffee morning in Scart, Annette put it very clearly and even in her late husband’s words: “They are so lovely and so positive,” Donal said on his first encounter with the service in Tralee.
Angels in Disguise
Annette, in her speech at Donal’s funeral service, described the Kerry Specialist Palliative Care Services providers as ‘Angels in disguise – they really are a different breed of person altogether.’
“When we knew the treatment that Donal was getting wasn’t working any longer, he was advised to stay in the hospital – but he wanted to come home.
“You should see how the team looked after him – and all of us in fact. They arranged for everything to be put in place around us and they monitored his condition and rang us to keep in touch and they were just there for us every time and when we needed them most.
“Even on the night Donal died, St. Stephen’s Night, we had the hospice clinical nurse manager Liz Reidy-McCarthy here. She was on her Christmas holidays and yet she was here for us and she was prepared to spend the night here with us if necessary.
Giving Something Back
“We didn’t think he would go so quickly but he slipped away at a quarter to 12 that night.”
“There are reasons for the fundraiser for the Kerry Hospice Foundation – apart from what I’ve already told you: “This time last year we really thought we’d all be sitting down to dinner to celebrate Donal’s 50th.
“Because of all that’s happened to us since and because of the involvement of the ‘Angels of Mercy’ in our lives and all they did for us – it was obvious that if we were to do something for Donal he’d certainly want us to give something back to the service.
“They were so good to him and it’s our way of showing how grateful we are for the level of care they provided to him and us when we needed it most,” said Annette in conclusion.
About Kerry Hospice Foundation
Kerry Hospice Foundation was founded in 1990. The palliative care services in Kerry have been developed over the years through the fundraising efforts of the Kerry Hospice Foundation and the people of Kerry.
Kerry Specialist Palliative Care Services provide care to people who have been diagnosed with a life limiting illness. Its aim is to enable the patient to continue to live at home for as long as possible with the best possible quality of life.
The service comprises two community nursing teams. One team is based onsite in Tralee covering North Kerry and the second team is based at St Columbanus’s Community Hospital in Killarney and covering South Kerry.
There is also a specialist Palliative Day Service based at University Hospital Kerry which opened in 2007. The 15 bed in-patient unit opened in December 2017 and there is a hospital based team at UHK.
“Kerry Specialist Palliative Care Service would not be where it is today without the efforts of Kerry hospice and the fundraising volunteers and I would like to thank them for everything that they do,” said clinical nurse manager, Liz Reidy-McCarthy.
“I would also like to thank Annette and all the Kerin family for organising this fundraising event in memory of Donal on what would have been his 50th birthday,” she added. For more information on the Kerry Hospice Foundation tap in: https://www.kerryhospice.com/how-you-can-help
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